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This qualitative case study involves a high school science teacher with a special education background in an urban school in the English School District of Newfoundland and Labrador. Conceptualized...

Our group of early- and mid-career women faculty members in a mid-sized Canadian university examined the peer review process and our experiences of being reviewed. Using post-structural feminist li...

Communities of practice, based on the work of Etienne Wenger, is being adopted as a framework in higher education to facilitate and foster professional learning. This article describes the emergenc...

This case study focuses on the professional learning of 38 K-9 teachers who engaged in a professional development (PD) programme in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through collaborative action research (CAR). Through the lens of CHAT or Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, the author examined what teachers were learning, the contextual factors that influenced their learning and classroom practice, and the outcomes of this PD initiative. The changing activity system of the teachers is described, as well as how they addressed contradictions in their practice. Addressing these contradictions resulted in an expansion of their object and professional growth. The study contributes to a growing body of research in teacher education which applies CHAT as a conceptual framework to understand teacher professional learning and how interactions among activity system components influence teachers’ development and practice.

Primary/elementary teachers are uniquely positioned in terms of their need for ongoing, science-focused professional development. They are usually generalists, having limited preparation for teaching science, and often do not feel prepared or comfortable in teaching science. In this case study, CHAT or cultural–historical activity theory is used as a lens to examine primary/elementary teachers’ activity system as they engaged in a teacher-driven professional development initiative. Teachers engaged in collaborative action research to change their practice, with the objective of making their science teaching more engaging and hands-on for students. A range of qualitative methods and sources such as teacher interviews and reflections, teacher-created artifacts, and researcher observational notes were adopted to gain insight into teacher learning. Outcomes report on how the teachers’ activity system changed as they participated in two cycles of collaborative action research and how the contradictions that arose in their activity system became sources of professional growth. Furthermore, this research shows how the framework of activity theory may be used to garner insight into the activity and learning of teachers as both their professional activities and the context change over time.

In this case study, two high school teachers, a university researcher, and 10 high school students (ages 16–19 years) were part of an action research group that addressed an issue – smoking on school grounds − identified by a high school population as being problematic. The research was guided by the following research questions: ‘Within a community of practice, what processes and practices will support mutual engagement in learning?’ ‘What type of partnership will emerge between youth and adults in this community of practice?’ and ‘What are group members’ perceptions of the value of cultivating a community of practice?’ Data methods and sources included field notes, student and teacher interviews, and document analysis. Using the lenses of communities of practice and youth–adult partnership, outcomes report on how mutual engagement and youth–adult partnership emerged.

In this self-study, Pamela, a new science teacher educator, adopted Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) in the context of an elementary science education methodology course. JiTT is a teaching and learning strategy involving interaction between web-based study assignments and face-to-face class sessions. Students respond electronically to web-based assignments that are due shortly before class. The teacher reads students' submissions just before class and adjusts teaching and learning activities based on the students' online feedback. This study was guided by the research question: How do an instructor's pedagogical content knowledge and classroom practice develop during Just-in-Tiime Teaching?

This study focused on teacher perceptions of the long‐term impacts of engaging in collaborative action research on professional identity and practice. This qualitative, phenomenological study focused on understanding the lived experiences of 10 teachers before, during, and after engaging in action research. Each teacher was interviewed before engaging in action research, after one year of engaging in action research, and two to four years after completing an action research project. Outcomes revealed that several aspects of teacher identity and classroom practice were changed. In addition, the impact of teacher engagement in action research on the broader educational context is discussed.

In this case study, teacher inquiry groups from 3 school districts engaged and transformed various facets of their professional knowledge and practice in the context of science education. To examine the nature of teacher learning, a 3-part teacher knowledge and learning framework, proposed by Cochran-Smith and Lytle in 1999, was adopted (knowledge-for-practice, knowledge-in-practice, and knowledge-of-practice). While 16 school-based inquiry groups participated in the collaborative action research project, one case study involving a primary teacher, Katrina, is highlighted to illustrate outcomes related to the role of collaborative inquiry in supporting teacher learning, contextual issues and concerns that impact teachers’ daily classroom practice, and the types of knowledge generated by teachers within collaborative inquiry communities.

While teacher identity has been conceptualized in different ways, research in teacher education has shown that the development of self‐understanding about being a teacher is critical to learning how to teach and can be shaped in multiple ways. Etienne Wenger argues that the formation of communities of practice is influenced strongly by the negotiation of identity and thus, to understand learning in relation to identity formation and communities of practice, three modes of belonging should be considered. Using data from a three‐year action research project, the author examines how modes of belonging (engagement, alignment, and imagination) were enacted in teacher‐centred action research communities of practice. As well, an ecological perspective is adopted to provide insight into how teachers' identities are formed and reformed in the context of teacher‐centred action research.

In this study, five elementary teachers and a university researcher developed and implemented problem‐based learning (PBL) experiences in the context of science teaching and learning. Collaborative inquiry was adopted as a methodology, while a variety of qualitative methods were used to examine the engagement and development of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). A PCK model is used as a framework to examine teachers’ professional knowledge growth in areas such as orientations to teaching science, knowledge of science curriculum, knowledge of students’ understanding of science, knowledge of assessment, and knowledge of instructional strategies. Implications for how teachers may be supported when adopting instructional innovations are discussed.

In this study, the participants conceptualized and implemented an action research project that focused on the infusion of inquiry principles into a neglected science curriculum. Specific objectives were to find (a) What factors challenge and support the evolution of an action research community of practice? (b) How are teachers’ beliefs about science teaching and learning transformed? and (c) How does teachers’ knowledge of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student learning change as a result of learning within a community of practice? In this instrumental case study (Stake 2000, In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 435–454). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage), a range of data collection sources and methods were adopted. Outcomes focus on how the design principles for cultivating a community of practice emerged in the action research group, as well as the types of teacher learning that occurred by engaging in action research.

This self-study was designed to explore problem-based learning (PBL) as an instructional approach in the context of a pre-service science education methods course. Through the development and implementation of PBL curriculum, the author's goals were to improve her classroom practice and her understanding of that practice, to contribute to the knowledge base of teaching and learning, and to immerse students in authentic learning experiences that would encourage them to adopt an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. In studying her own practice, the author adopted classroom-based action research as a strategy to explore PBL. Data collection methods and sources included field notes, interviews, and student-generated documents. The author describes how many aspects of her pedagogical content knowledge (conceptions of the purposes for teaching subject matter, knowledge of students’ understanding, curricular knowledge, and knowledge of instruction and assessment) and classroom practice were transformed.

(2005). Fostering Teacher Learning through Collaborative Inquiry. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas: Vol. 79, No. 2, pp. 88-92.

This paper describes how collaboration emerged in a school district–university partnership designed to foster teacher development in the context of elementary science education. The Teachers Researching Inquiry‐Based Science project involved four elementary teachers, a school district science mentoring teacher, a school district science coordinator and a university researcher. In this qualitative action research project, a variety of research methods and sources were adopted including participant observation, interviews, documents and journals. Research outcomes describe strategies adopted to foster collaboration and teacher learning.

In this qualitative case study, the author engages in critical selfreflection about her role as a researcher/facilitator of an action research group that explored multiple intelligences (MI) theory (Gardner, 1983) in the context of science education. Her multi-faceted role within the action research group and the nature of the research in terms of the orientation, purpose, and type of reflection are described. Through the process of reflective practice, both as the study was ongoing and after the completion, the author enhanced her understanding of the action research process and how to foster collaborative inquiry within the context of an action research group. In addition, the article reports on how MI theory was applied to classroom practice, the nature of collaboration that emerged and the perceptions of the teacher participants about the efficacy of action research as a form of teacher development.

This study explored the developing belief of a group of pre-senice and in-senice teachers (n=28) about the nature of giftedness and of teaching and learning of gifted learners as they participated ...