When the author was a little girl, her father told her the story of how he once saw the great Harry Houdini escape from a straight jacket. In the early 1900s, Houdini fascinated thousands of people by performing feats of life-threatening daring and agility. Houdini was a professional in the traditional sense: he acted alone, kept his trade secrets to himself, and instilled respect in his audience. As a teacher educator, the author now looks upon Harry Houdini's magic act as a metaphor for her...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Professional Development Schools, Field Tests, Teacher Educators, Inquiry, Standards,...
When a fire breaks out in the twin cities of Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, the firefighter response time is just a bit quicker these days, thanks to student research at Bates College. When the alarm sounds, firefighters click on a computer map that tells them the size of the burning structure, the quickest route to the fire, the closest hydrant and whether it can provide enough water. Before his graduation in 1999, Bates geology student Peter Beeson researched and developed a Geographical...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Community Development, Student Research, Community Needs, Reaction Time, Research...
This arts-based research invites the reader to consider the complex learning that emerged when a group of pre-service teachers collectively developed a play about anti-bullying as part of a teaching practicum. To capture the learning that emerged during the collective writing and rehearsing, the author engages in an artistic process by writing the key findings in the form of a drama. By using drama as a method of inquiry, as well as a way of documenting the learning, the author attempts to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Justice, Preservice Teacher Education, Bullying, Art Education, Preservice...
Designing an integrative research program requires that research leaders negotiate a balance between the scientific interest of research and the practical interests of non-scientific partners. This paper examines the ways integrated research is formally categorised, and analyses the tangible expressions of the practical politics involved in reconciling scientific and practical interests. Drawing on a comparative study of two Australian Cooperative Research Centres, I argue that categories used...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Projects, Interests, Comparative Analysis, Politics, Foreign Countries,...
Mobile learning is variously viewed as a fad, a threat, and an answer to the learning needs of time-poor mobile workers, so does it have a place in delivering mainstream learning? Based on a 2005 comparative research project, commissioned by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, the paper reports on research into Web-based information about the use of mobile technologies for commerce and learning, which was then tested through 29 interviews with manufacturers of mobile devices, businesses...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Computer Mediated Communication, Distance Education, Learning Activities, Internet,...
As students progress towards their PhD degrees, they will become more independent and practitioner-like; for those moving into academia, it is often assumed the programs of their PhD mentors will serve as prototypes for their own successful research programs. However, the author's research program as an Assistant Professor led him in directions never considered as a graduate student. The author had to make significant decisions in choosing a primary audience, finding an overarching theme,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Faculty, Research Projects, Chemistry, Educational Research, Science...
The Canadian government supports the transformation of education for health care providers based on the recognized need for an inter-professional collaborative approach to care. This first paper in a series of papers demonstrates the credibility of an action research approach for the promotion and understanding of inter-professional education (IPE). Located in the critical paradigm, this action research project is concerned with creating an educational environment that enhances the ability of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Qualitative Research, Action Research, Educational Environment, Professional...
The pilot research project reported on here was conducted between October 2005 and March 2006 on one campus of one of Ontario's 24 colleges. The college is located in an urban centre in southern Ontario. The main focus of this pilot study was the exploration of issues of accessibility and accommodation for students with disabilities as they engage in formal studies at the post-secondary level. The researcher has herself experienced education as a sightless student throughout her life. The...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Evaluation Research, Disabilities, Foreign Countries, Higher Education, Research...
This article seeks to present some of the key challenges in facilitating autonomous learning and effective engagement in the teaching of statistics to undergraduate medical students involved in short-term research projects. With a view to addressing these challenges, recommendations for good practice are presented in the form of ten tips for teachers of medical statistics. The ten tips are justified by appeal to the more general educational literature on self-directed learning and engagement....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Medical Students, Undergraduate Study, Independent Study, Research Projects,...
This paper draws on 159 survey responses of fourth year Education students as they embark on a research project based in their internship school. The project explores predisposition to research and the level of preparedness to undertake a research project. The students who met most frequently with their supervisor and showed higher research self-efficacy were also most likely to want to undertake postgraduate study and reacted positively to good personal support and a feeling of belonging to a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Attitudes, Research Projects, Self Efficacy, Research Methodology, Research...
The authors propose a risks evaluation model for research projects. The model is based on fuzzy inference. The knowledge base for fuzzy process is built with a causal and cognitive map of risks. The map was especially developed for research projects, taken into account their typical lifecycle. The model was applied to an e-testing research project: the probability of not obtaining quality results was computed considering the over-budget sum and the quality level of research idea. The computed...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Risk, Research Projects, Inferences, Models, Computation, Cognitive Mapping,...
Appropriate classroom assessment now tends to utilize formative measures with greater frequency, especially in the early grades and with learner groups at risk of not passing state-mandated standardized tests. Within the authentic context of an action research project, teacher candidates were given handheld computers equipped with data-collection software to assess the effectiveness of tutoring sessions with students identified with special needs. The data was collected and reviewed weekly as...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teachers, Research Projects, Action Research, Formative Evaluation,...
In a College Composition II (ENG 112) class offered during the spring of 2005 at John Tyler Community College (JTCC), the author implemented an information-literacy curriculum whose salient features include: students collaborated on a semester-long, original-research project. The Metro Richmond Supermarket Price Comparison provided a focused, achievable project relevant to JTCC's service area. The ENG 112 supermarket research project would investigate a topic that had plenty of background...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Projects, Higher Education, College English, Writing (Composition),...
In order to address a perceived gap between academic knowledge and education, The Dutch National Advisory Board on Education has suggested that there is a need for more communication between research and practice. For me the gap is more than simply a matter of lack of communication, than a result of the model of Research, Development and Diffusion implicitly privileged by the Board. This model is characterised by an objectivistic epistemology, a supposedly neutral ethics, and a view that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teaching (Occupation), Advisory Committees, Research Projects, Educational...
The educational research and policy scene in Australia over the past decade has featured a number of contradictory developments. National policy has sponsored more interdisciplinary and applied research, while moving down a Research Quality Framework pathway which prioritises measurable quality and impact measures. At the same time, recent international and national policies in literacy education have been dominated by a psychological (rather than socio-cultural) view of literacy, wrapped...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Literacy Education, Educational Research, Foreign Countries, Research Projects,...
Since the inauguration of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) in the United States, with a billion-dollar budget to induce educational reform, American schools have been under the microscope for meeting accountability standards for students. The performance pressures have intensified as the consequences for not achieving academic benchmarks have escalated. Schools have been mandated to report on student performance as measured by standardized tests and other instruments using...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Projects, Action Research, Federal Legislation, Standardized Tests, Academic...
Conversations continue as to whether and how community-based learning and research (CBLR) can be most effectively integrated into the mission and practice of institutions of higher education (IHEs). In 2005, eight District of Columbia- (DC-) area universities affiliated with the Community Research and Learning (CoRAL) Network engaged in a planning and evaluation exercise, applying a "rapid assessment" method to gauge baseline levels of CBLR institutionalization on each campus,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Colleges, Institutional Mission, Service Learning, College Environment, School...
This article reports on both writers' experiences as participants in a collaborative action research project in Hong Kong. The article draws a distinction between teachers as research consumers and teachers as research producers. The authors suggest that active teacher agency in research is a positive element in the professional development of English teachers. Teachers primarily become research producers through involvement in some form of action research project. Although action research is...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Researchers, English Teachers, Educational Research, Action Research,...
In community-based research (CBR), faculty, students, and community partners collaborate on research projects. This emerging pedagogy presents numerous challenges to instructors teaching CBR courses, including: finding a disciplinary connection, building CBR into the curriculum, ensuring student readiness, and structuring the CBR experience (Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoecker, & Donohue, 2003). In this article, these challenges are addressed by the instructor of a new CBR course for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Community Involvement, Research Projects, Student Projects,...
The vast majority of literature and practices in environmental education focuses on places and spaces. Little attention has been paid to time and temporalities as elements of environments, and the ways in which how we experience time affects our experience of place. This paper is an examination of the ways in which reflection on time can be incorporated into environmental education through a case study based on a workshop and continuing research project at Marylake Retreat Centre on the Oak...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Environmental Education, Foreign Countries, Workshops, Research Projects, Program...
This research study had as its focus the impact of a short-term international experience on teacher language awareness (TLA). In-country intensive immersion experiences were considered beneficial for language teacher professional development. This project examined the Australian teachers' perceptions of their teaching and home-stay experiences during a three week short-term international teaching and homestay experience in South Korea. Findings suggested that teacher language awareness was...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Metalinguistics, Foreign Countries, Professional Development, Immersion Programs,...
This instrumental case study documents a community-based participatory evaluation research (CBPER) project that involved a community partner, two graduate students, a faculty member, and an external funder. It highlights the fact that a participatory evaluation model is a viable way to conduct community-based research (CBR) when a community organization needs to know if the program services they are offering are effective. The identification of the promising aspects and shortcomings of this...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Graduate Students, Evaluation Research, Community Organizations, Evaluation Methods,...
A major challenge in teaching the process of science to students is designing and implementing laboratory activities that emulate what is actually done in a research laboratory. To facilitate this effort, science educators have been encouraged to design exercises that span multiple laboratory periods, encourage independent thinking, promote hypothesis-driven experimentation, and data collection and analysis. We have designed an inquiry-based, semester-long laboratory activity amenable to majors...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Majors (Students), Graduate Students, Research Projects, Distance Education,...
This article describes a collaborative action research project aimed at deliberately "re-placing" art in the elementary curriculum through targeted planning, implementation, and assessment of an art integrated unit in an urban 4th grade classroom. Findings and implications should be relevant to elementary teachers, administrators, art specialists, and teacher educators. Our findings illustrate the power of art-integrated education to support student learning at high levels and in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Integrated Curriculum, Research Projects, Action Research, Grade 4, Curriculum...
Many instructors teach courses that prepare students to do research individually or in teams. These instructors also supervise their students' research projects. Continuous and systematic use of action research principles can help instructors prepare for problems that may develop when students encounter unfamiliar issues at research sites due to their lack of knowledge or to their own assumptions about the sites. Students may also encounter unanticipated difficulties in team collaborations....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Action Research, Teaching Methods, College Faculty, Research Projects, Researchers,...
According to professionals in education, change is an ever-present and evolving process. With transformation in education at both state and national levels, technology education must determine a position in this climate of change. This paper reflects the views on the future of technology education based on an ongoing research project. The purpose of the project is to show a contemporary view of one direction that technology education can take for providing 21st century skills and learning to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Technology Education, Research Projects, Accountability, Federal Legislation,...
The value of increasing student input to learning opportunity design issues was explored through an action research project. In response to student-identified learning needs, a learning session on a first-year undergraduate research methods module was re-designed. The learning outcomes of two parallel student groups (one experiencing the original session, the other receiving the re-designed session) were compared by quantitative analysis. A significant improvement in assessment grades was found...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Research Methodology, Curriculum Design, Action Research, Research...
Recursive frame analysis (RFA) was used to conduct a single case investigation of Insoo Kim Berg's question utilization talk in a solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) session. Due to the lack of process research that explores how SFBT questions facilitate change, the author investigated how Berg's solution language influenced a client to respond in session. The purpose of this case study was to explore how SFBT questions served as interventions to facilitate change. The research question for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Psychotherapy, Case Studies, Intervention, Research Projects, Qualitative Research,...
The 14-base pair hypervariable region in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of Asian populations, specifically Japanese and Chinese students at Plattsburgh State University, was examined. Previous research on this 14-base pair region showed it to be susceptible to mutations and as a result indicated direct correlation with specific ethnic populations. Earlier studies provided the 14-base pair region sequence analysis for Asians in general. This inquiry-based project was generated in a junior/senior...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Science, Genetics, Biology, Information Science, Asians, Foreign Students,...
This article uses disability studies and the social model of disability as theoretical foundations for policy activism in postsecondary education. The social model is discussed and a model for policy activism is described. A case study of how disability studies and policy activism can be applied is provided utilizing the "3C Project to Provide Students with Disabilities a Quality Higher Education," a federally-funded development grant. (Contains 1 figure.)
Topics: ERIC Archive, Postsecondary Education, Disabilities, Social Justice, Activism, Policy Formation,...
We reflect on methodological issues arising in two of our own research projects as a form of practice, as a way of engaging in a praxis of project research. The projects chosen for this purpose are themselves concerned with teacher education and curriculum development in environmental education: they include participatory "reflective practice" processes in exploring issues relating to formal education in schools and informal education in communities and are grounded in the specific...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Development, Participatory Research, Informal Education, Environmental...
Student engagement is widely viewed as an important antecedent to learning and achievement; however, research finds that engagement declines sharply as students advance through school. This article uses a mixed-methods approach to examine the engagement of high school seniors working on the IB Diploma Program's extended essay. Average engagement levels differ widely across the 8 school programs studied; however, school and programmatic features, including structure and support practices, do not...
Topics: ERIC Archive, High School Seniors, Learner Engagement, Research Projects, School Activities, Case...
It's winter! While it is frosty outside, one can at least think warm thoughts by starting now to plan ahead for summer information literacy programs. This article is designed to provide some ideas for planning next summer's reading, sleuthing, and research programs. It features a variety of programs organized by academic librarians this past summer, often in collaboration with other partners. For many instruction librarians, summer presents an exciting time to work with special groups on campus...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Information Literacy, Librarians, Thinking Skills, Critical Thinking, Reading...
This paper reports on the experiences of a group of teachers engaged in an action research project to develop critical numeracy classrooms. The teachers initially explored how contexts in the media could be used as bases for activities to encourage student discernment and critical thinking about the appropriate use of the underlying mathematical concepts. As a result they found it is better to embed critical thinking in the design of whole units of study rather than just to treat it as an...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics Curriculum, Units of Study, Action Research, Critical Thinking,...
The faculty of an undergraduate research course with a diverse student body recognized that many students struggled with the concept of how to critique a research article. The traditional assignment method used to teach the critique process did not maximize student learning outcomes. The active learning strategy of peer review was used to enhance student understanding and engagement in the critique process. This active learning strategy involved small groups of students who worked together as a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Research, Learning Strategies, Active Learning, Research Methodology,...
Much has happened since nine teams across New Zealand engaged in a Ministry of Education-funded participatory action research project looking at effective practice for supporting children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in education. Building on earlier discussions, the project ran from 2002 to 2004, and until now the story has never been told in full. This article is intended to provide a background to the project, describe the project from a national perspective, profile...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Projects, Action Research, Foreign Countries, Disabilities, Autism,...
This paper examines a core leadership strategy for transforming learning and teaching in distance education through flexible and blended learning. It focuses on a project centred on distributive leadership that involves collaboration, shared purpose, responsibility and recognition of leadership irrespective of role or position within an organisation. Distributive leadership was a core principle in facilitating the transformation of learning and teaching through a Teaching Fellowship Scheme that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Distance Education, Transformational Leadership, Participative Decision Making,...
Michigan State University's Adolescent Project (MSUAP) was founded in the mid-1970s to create university-community collaboration through which innovative educational experiences would be offered, best practice intervention practices employed, and sound scientific methodology used to address the pressing social issue of juvenile delinquency. The project sought to create a more effective alternative to the juvenile justice system through the use of highly trained and supervised mentors (MSU...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Control Groups, Undergraduate Students, Social Problems, Mentors, Intervention,...
Insects are ideal models for demonstrating an array of biological and ecological concepts and the application of biology to solve real-world problems. Integrating service-learning, a pedagogy bridging theory and practice, into the entomology curriculum at the University of Georgia provides students an opportunity to participate in developing and implementing entomological programs for communities, both domestically and abroad. This research project seeks to develop, implement, assess, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, World Problems, Qualitative Research, Outreach Programs, Service Learning,...
The research project described in this paper was designed to explore the potential of a wiki to facilitate collaboration and to reduce the isolation of postgraduate students enrolled in a professional doctoral program at a Queensland university. It was also intended to foster a community of practice for reviewing and commenting on one another's work despite the small number of students and their disparate topics. The students were interviewed and surveyed at the beginning and during the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Social Networks, Communities of Practice, Doctoral Programs,...
The notion of a community curriculum in Thailand comes from widespread recognition that Thai society has been greatly influenced by the west in its development and modernization. According to many Thais, community curricula are needed to encourage young people to preserve Thai culture and revive local ways of thinking about "development" through gaining respect for local culture and history. This paper discusses an active research project through which Northern Thai teachers conducted...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Multicultural Education, Foreign Countries, Minority Groups, Teacher Researchers,...
Many undergraduate programs require students to complete an independent research project in their major field prior to graduation. These projects are typically described as opportunities for integration of coursework and a direct application of the methods of inquiry specific to a particular discipline. Evaluations of curricular projects have usually found that they positively impact students' knowledge and skills in that discipline. However, little attention has been devoted to the impact that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grounded Theory, Adult Development, Student Attitudes, Research Projects, Focus...
This article shows part of the results of a research project: The Impact of Social Change in Higher Education Staff Professional Life and Work (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, SEJ2006-01876). The main aim of this project was to explore and understand how scholars establish a dialogue, resist, adapt themselves or adopt changes, in the process of constructing their professional identities. As the members of the research team were scholars ourselves, teaching and carrying out research...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Higher Education, Research Projects, Participatory Research,...
The action research presented in this paper seeks the answer to the following research question: do targeted fluency interventions positively impact comprehension? This research included a test group of ten sixth grade Special Education students and a control group of ten sixth grade General Education students. Both the test and control groups participated in the STAR pre and posttest, which measures their individual instructional reading levels. The results of the pretest revealed that many...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Action Research, Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, Special Education, Grade 6,...
This call for action addresses the high-level benefits of adopting a university-wide policy regarding research data management. It identifies the various university stakeholders and suggests that the library initiate a conversation among them in order to get buy-in for a proactive, rather than reactive, high-level policy for responsible data planning and management that is supported and sustainable. The intended audience for this call for action is library directors, not because they alone can...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Libraries, Higher Education, Information Technology, Foreign Countries,...
The National Science Foundation contracted with Abt Associates to conduct an evaluation of its Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program, which supports intellectually substantive collaborations between U.S. and foreign researchers in which the international partnership is essential to the research effort. The evaluation compared the research outcomes of PIRE and comparison group awards (i.e., projects) and personnel (Principal Investigators, postdoctoral and graduate...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Program Evaluation, International Cooperation, International Programs, Scientific...
The National Science Foundation contracted with Abt Associates to conduct an evaluation of its Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program, which supports intellectually substantive collaborations between U.S. and foreign researchers in which the international partnership is essential to the research effort. The evaluation compared the research outcomes of PIRE and comparison group awards (i.e., projects) and personnel (Principal Investigators, postdoctoral and graduate...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Program Evaluation, International Cooperation, International Programs, Scientific...
This report provides a brief summary of the research projects that have been conducted to support the development of the new SAT.
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Entrance Examinations, Educational Research, Educational Change, Research...
The concept of "implementation fidelity" is broadly used to capture the extent to which an intervention is executed as intended by the designers of the intervention (Century, Rudnick, & Freeman, 2010; Huntley, 2005, McNaught, Tarr, & Sears, 2010, Munter, 2010). Though implementation fidelity instruments are often used to assess variability in teachers' implementations of an intervention and can be related to measures of student learning, the form and goals of the work involved...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Fidelity, Program Implementation, Barriers, Intervention, Research Projects, Research...
With the increasing complexity of technology and large quantities of data in our digital age, learning and training has become a major cost of employers. Employee competence depends more and more on how quickly one can acquire new knowledge and solve problems to meet pressing deadlines. This paper presents a practical method to use REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) projects and crowdsourcing to help students learn complex content as needed. The major question addressed in this work...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Students, Student Research, Research Projects, Student Projects, Group...