No description available.

This study investigated teachers' perceptions of the influences of action research on their thinking about instructional practices and the impact of this thinking on teaching practices. The four specific areas of investigation were teachers' perceptions about (a) the overall teacher role, (b) teachers' knowledge about teaching, (c) teaching practices, and (d) reflective practices. The data were collected from interviews with teacher researchers, informal classroom observations, and collection of teacher and student work and related artifacts. The data revealed that teachers perceived changes in the four areas of investigation. Engaging in the stages of action research provided teachers with a methodical structure for implementing and analyzing the teaching and learning process. This defined structure guided teachers through more systematic and conscious data collection, data analysis, and reflection. / Ph. D.

This study documented the initial planning process of a group of sixth grade teachers on a collaborative team over a six-month period. Using action research, this team of teachers examined their own practices of planning and implementing instruction. The teachers identified a focus area, planned for instruction, implemented the plan, observed the results of their plan, reflected upon the results and revised the plan (Kemmis and Wilkinson, 1998) to map their instruction. The teachers used archival, conventional and inventive information sources (Calhoun, 1994) to collect their data on the identified focus areas. The teachers used the concept of curriculum mapping (Jacobs, 1997) to plan instruction for their assigned students. The researcher originally had planned to assume three roles in the study: a coach or facilitator, a participant and a participant-observer. As the study progressed the researcher also assumed the role of a member/learner (Mertens, 1998) in the process. Classroom observations, transcribed audio-tapes of planning meetings, field notes, teacher lesson plans, the team's reflection journal, teacher biographical information, interviews and visual curriculum maps designed by the teachers provided data for the study. Emergent themes in teacher planning included instructional design, student personal information and parent communication. The themes were defined by the supporting actions of the teachers. Instructional design was defined in the study with mapping, curriculum and instructional strategies. Student personal information encompassed personal learning styles, information regarding student feelings and behaviors, and instructional strategies specifically identified for individual students. Parent communication included school, classroom and student information shared with parents. The research questions explored were: How does the planning process take place? How did the planning process change as the team worked through the action research process? The findings show that: (1) a team of teachers can become stronger when they articulate their plan for instruction in writing (or in this case, drawing). (2) The concept of curriculum mapping can be a vehicle to insure a systematic instructional planning process. (3) Teachers detail individual assessment and instruction in planning sessions, lesson plans or curriculum maps. (4) Action research can provide a means for teachers to examine their own practices in a non-threatening format when they identify the focus areas of examination. (5) Teachers can learn from each other and share learned information in team planning if they perceive shared beliefs. (6) Teachers can plan for the success of all students when they consider essential questions to be learned and the individual learning styles of their students. (7) Teachers and administrators can work collaboratively in examining planning and instructional practices. (8) Teachers can identify their own professional growth needs when they examine their own practices. The findings also indicated that these middle school teachers created their own visual description of their planning for instruction, bringing ownership and empowerment to the process. The implication of these research results is that teacher planning in a team can be a powerful force in the improvement of instruction influencing the design of an instructional plan, the implementation of the plan and teacher reflection on the results of the plan in student learning and success within the classroom. Recommendations for future research are discussed. / Ed. D.

No description available.

Action research has become a widely accepted and popular form of teacher professional development/learning, within the UK and internationally, and forms part of the professional actions of the Scottish Chartered Teacher. Whilst action research may be a valuable form of professional development supported through awardbearing courses (such as the Scottish Chartered Teacher programmes), funded projects or partnerships with university colleagues, it is questionable to what extent this is continued or even valued by teachers beyond the parameters of CPD courses. If Chartered Teachers are to engage meaningfully in action research then it is vital we understand how they perceive the nature and purpose of such activities and explore the opportunities and limitations they may face. This is not just an issue for Chartered Teachers in Scotland but one that may concern any teacher attempting to engage in action research as part of their practice. To explore teachers’ lived experience of engaging in post-award non-funded action research a case-study approach was adopted. The case study comprised six qualified Chartered Teachers with this thesis focusing on the stories from three of the teachers. In-depth loosely structured interviews were held with participants at three intervals over the course of a year to discuss their current and ongoing action research work. In addition visual data was created by participants to explore, share, (re)present and negotiate their understandings of action research. Documentary data was also collected. A broadly inductive approach to the analysis was taken, coding both within and across cases. A thematic narrative analysis of the individuals’ stories was also undertaken because I believe teachers’ individual stories are critically important and was keen not to reduce these to ‘codes’ and ‘categories’. Emerging from the data are three significant themes - the importance of understanding the nature and purpose of action research; the teachers’ evolving identities as Chartered Teachers/action researchers; and the need to develop and promote a Third Space – creating a conceptually different way of being a teacher. The data shows that traditional notions of research are influencing these teachers’ understanding of action research and this limits their action research work. How teachers understand the nature and purpose of action research is deeply interrelated with their identity as a teacher/Chartered Teacher/action researcher. Their identity(ies), I suggest, is/are a site of struggle, contestation and negotiation and Chartered Teachers are, arguably, in an in-between space: they are simultaneously teacher and researcher, yet they are neither one nor the other. It is possible, then, to understand Chartered Teacher as a hybrid identity and I draw upon Third Space theory as a heuristic to understand Chartered Teacher as a distinctly different way of being a teacher. I argue that a more complex view is needed that promotes the dynamic and fluid nature of action research. The insights drawn from this study offer some understandings that may help us to (re)consider and (re)frame the way in which we understand the teacher as researcher.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 91-94).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-94). Also available in print.

This study is an account of an action research process to develop a planning, learning and accountability (PLA) system for the sustainable agriculture chain development programme of VECO (Vredeseilanden Country Office) Indonesia. Many monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes in development programmes are largely carried out to provide information for funding agencies, to meet external accountability requirements and for symbolic protection. This study generates insights into an integrated, learning-oriented monitoring practice which fosters reflective practice, provides feedback to programme stakeholders about performance, progress and results achieved, facilitates improved accountability, and generates information and knowledge useful for the programme stakeholders to take decisions for improved action. It is argued that M&E systems have the potential, if developed well, to serve as a framework or ‘carrier’ for organisational and institutional learning – an essential requirement to respond to the complex nature of development processes. Outcome mapping is presented as a possible approach to be used as the basis for such a M&E system. This study was underpinned by a socially critical orientation to development (programmes) and by an action research method to guide the PLA system design process. The design process was organized around seven steps - which in themselves were a result of the action research process – including specific steps to ensure a learning-oriented M&E system. Based on the agreed purposes and intended uses of the monitoring and learning process, the resulting PLA system is focused around the organizational spaces and rhythms of VECO Indonesia which are central to sharing, debate, learning and decision-making. In this way, the PLA system becomes integral to the thinking and doing of the organization. It is built on the premise that monitoring does not end with gathering data; it also needs to include a process of understanding and deciding how data can best be used and analysed to strengthen concerted action and facilitate decision-making. It highlights the importance of sense-making – interpreting information to make it usable for action. Furthermore, it incorporates an approach to assess and consciously plan for the creation of the necessary organisational conditions to implement and maintain a learning-oriented M&E system. The study is completed by critical reflection on the relevance of VECO’s new PLA system for planning, learning and accountability, combined with the use of a future scenario technique to generate recommendations and identify critical future directions. Further exploration of ‘intelligent’ information-seeking methods and processes is called for; and a practice which moves beyond intra-organisational monitoring – focusing on VECO’s own monitoring needs – towards a monitoring process that facilitates change based on the viewpoints of, and in collaboration with local actors, i.e., institutional monitoring and learning, is recommended. VECO is encouraged to continue developing a mindset and practice whereby the programme team and partners have the ability to leave the safe zone of pre-determined outcomes and actions, and to make sense of the world as they engage in action.

This research innovation reports on the application of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® theory in facilitating and assessing learning in Mathematics in the senior phase, Grades 7 - 9. It is a two-part interrelated initiative that seeks both to augment current Mathematics-specific educational theories to improve practice, as well as to reflect on ways that these theories impact on the teaching practice. The literature review synthesises existing educational theories in terms of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® model into a new proposed comprehensive Mathematics-specific Whole Brain® model. This synthesis of existing “good practices” in Mathematics education in terms of Herrmann’s Whole Brain® model, supports the need for a Whole Brain® approach to teaching Mathematics. Furthermore, it hopes to be a user-friendly model with which teachers can plan and facilitate learning and assessment opportunities in Mathematics. Data was collected on the thinking preferences of each Mathematics teacher participant, as well learners’ perception of their teachers’ thinking preferences. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used to report on the findings. Individual and collective reflective practices, situated in the framework of professional development and action research, were used to analyse and report on the findings. The reflective practice resulting from the initiative is in itself an outcome of the research, since “those teachers who are students of their own effects are the teachers who are the most influential in raising students’ achievement” (Hattie & Yates, 2014, p. 24). The degree to which the reflective process impacted on each participant’s practice appears to be dependent on each teacher’s level of professional development. Teacher participants engaging in post-graduate studies showed the ability to complement their “existing competencies with needed situational competencies” (Herrmann, 1996, p. 39), meaning that these teachers were not limited by their thinking preferences, but were able to employ lesser preferred preferences when needed. Each teacher participant’s unique set of thinking preferences was obtained using the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI®). When each of these unique profiles were combined, they produced a compound Whole Brain® profile. This supported Herrmann’s (1990, p. 10) notion that every sizeable group would consist of a “composite whole brain”, but also showed that there is no specific set of thinking preferences unique to a Mathematics teacher. The learner questionnaires also indicated a reasonably balanced Whole Brain® profile amongst learners, supporting the need for a Whole Brain® approach to facilitating learning and assessing in Mathematics. The reflective cyclic process of theory informing practice and practice in turn informing theory is at the core of this research innovation. This cyclic process has become my living theory from which I hope to inspire others to engage in similar initiatives. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Humanities Education / PhD / Unrestricted

No description available.