Improving Social Skills through the Use of Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dollman, Lucinda; Morgan, Catherine; Pergler, Jennifer; Russell, William; Watts, Jennifer

2007-01-01

The purpose of this action research project is to improve student social skills through the use of cooperative learning, in order to develop a positive classroom environment that is conducive to learning. The action research project will involve approximately 95 students, 95 parents, and 200 teachers. It is the intent of the teacher researchers to…

Learning from Experience: A Collection of Service-Learning Projects Linking Academic Standards to Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babcock, Barbara, Ed.

Service-learning projects combine community service with student learning in a practical way that enhances academic knowledge and improves community environments and fellowship. This compilation is designed to show the service-learning process in action. The collection presents outstanding examples of successful service-learning projects as…

Distributed Leadership as a Factor in and Outcome of Teacher Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dinham, Stephen; Aubusson, Peter; Brady, Laurie

2008-01-01

This paper reports an evaluation of Quality Teaching Action Learning (QTAL) projects conducted at New South Wales (NSW), Australia public (state) primary and secondary schools and explores how distributed leadership facilitated and was an outcome of the QTAL projects. The evaluation encompassed all 50 projects at 82 NSW public schools, and nine of…

Science in Action: How Middle School Students Are Changing Their World through STEM Service-Learning Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newman, Jane L.; Dantzler, John; Coleman, April N.

2015-01-01

The purpose of Science in Action (SIA) was to examine the relationship between implementing quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) service-learning (SL) projects and the effect on students' academic engagement in middle school science, civic responsibility, and resilience to at-risk behaviors. The innovative project funded by…

Project CAPABLE: Model Unit.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Madawaska School District, ME.

Project CAPABLE (Classroom Action Program: Aim: Basic Learning Effectiveness) is a classroom approach which integrates the basic learning skills with content. The goal of the project is to use basic learning skills to enhance the learning of content and at the same time use the content to teach basic learning skills. This manual illustrates how…

Beyond You and Me: Stories for Collective Action and Learning? Perspectives from an Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gearty, Margaret

2015-01-01

This paper explores the combination of storytelling and reflective action research as a means to effect change and learning within and across communities and organizations. Taking the complex challenge of "pro-environmental behaviour change" as an example, the paper reflects on the experiences of a pilot project run for the UK government…

Civil Society, Adult Learning and Action in India.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tandon, Rajesh

2000-01-01

Five case studies of individual and collective learning projects in India demonstrate that (1) the impetus for civic action arises from local conditions; (2) transformative action requires sustained adult learning; and (3) civil society is a complex concept reflecting diverse priorities and perspectives. (SK)

Business Action Learning Tasmania (BALT)--An Account of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cother, Genevieve; Cother, Robert F.

2017-01-01

Business Action Learning Tasmania's (BALT) mission is self-reliant industry development, with diverse companies co-operating to improve their profitability, develop their people and grow the local economy. This is achieved through collaborative action learning, with companies working together on projects of vital importance and sharing the…

An Action Research Project by Teacher Candidates and Their Instructor into Using Math Inquiry: Learning about Relations between Theory and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Betts, Paul; McLarty, Michelle; Dickson, Krysta

2017-01-01

This paper reports on what two teacher candidates and their instructor learned from an action research project into the use of inquiry to teach mathematics. We use a model of the relation between theory and practice in teacher education to interpret what we learned about inquiry. This model describes three modes for teacher candidates to learn…

An Action Learning Project on Diversity: Pitfalls and Possibilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hite, Linda M.

1997-01-01

In a college course on diversity in the workplace, students' experiences with conducting a cultural audit of the university as a workplace illustrate the dilemmas that can arise when students conduct action research in a real client system. Despite the inherent problems, the project resulted in significant student learning about the subject and…

An Action-Research Project: Community Lead Poisoning Prevention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rajaram, Shireen S.

2007-01-01

This action-research project focused on gathering data on awareness of lead poisoning, as well as disseminating information on lead poisoning prevention in a metropolitan midwestern city. This project reflects an action-research approach to service learning and was in collaboration with a grass-roots organization. This paper outlines the daunting…

Reflections on a Failed Action Learning Intervention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, John

2008-01-01

This paper reflects on the failure of a recent action learning intervention with a UK television company. The aim of the project was to gain insight into the reasons why the viewing figures of their factual programming channels were in decline and to develop a new strategy enabled by the action learning methodology. Unfortunately, this…

Participating in a Collaborative Action Learning Set (CAL): Beginning the Journey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCormack, Brendan; Henderson, Elizabeth; Boomer, Christine; Collin, Ita; Robinson, David

2008-01-01

Action learning is being increasingly utilised as a strategy to underpin practitioner focused development and research projects in healthcare generally and nursing in particular. Whilst facilitators of and participants in action learning have a variety of resource materials to guide their practice and participation, there continue to be few…

Action Learning--A Process Which Supports Organisational Change Initiatives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joyce, Pauline

2012-01-01

This paper reflects on how action learning sets (ALSs) were used to support organisational change initiatives. It sets the scene with contextualising the inclusion of change projects in a masters programme. Action learning is understood to be a dynamic process where a team meets regularly to help individual members address issues through a highly…

ICT, Professional Learning: Towards Communities of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Webb, Ivan; Robertson, Margaret; Fluck, Andrew

2005-01-01

This article reports on findings from "action research" pilot projects in four Tasmanian primary schools. The projects focused on the provision of professional learning to support the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching and learning. These pilot projects used an approach developed from observations of…

Procuring a Sustainable Future: An Action Learning Approach to the Development and Modelling of Ethical and Sustainable Procurement Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boak, George; Watt, Peter; Gold, Jeff; Devins, David; Garvey, Robert

2016-01-01

This paper contributes to an understanding of the processes by which organisational actors learn how to affect positive and sustainable social change in their local region through action learning, action research and appreciative inquiry. The paper is based on a critically reflective account of key findings from an ongoing action research project,…

Assessing the Impact of Learning Environments on Students' Approaches to Learning: Comparing Conventional and Action Learning Designs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilson, Keithia; Fowler, Jane

2005-01-01

This study investigated whether students' approaches to learning were influenced by the design of university courses. Pre- and post-evaluations of the approaches to learning of the same group of students concurrently enrolled in a conventional course (lectures and tutorials) and an action learning-based course (project work, learning groups) were…

Projective simulation for artificial intelligence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briegel, Hans J.; de Las Cuevas, Gemma

2012-05-01

We propose a model of a learning agent whose interaction with the environment is governed by a simulation-based projection, which allows the agent to project itself into future situations before it takes real action. Projective simulation is based on a random walk through a network of clips, which are elementary patches of episodic memory. The network of clips changes dynamically, both due to new perceptual input and due to certain compositional principles of the simulation process. During simulation, the clips are screened for specific features which trigger factual action of the agent. The scheme is different from other, computational, notions of simulation, and it provides a new element in an embodied cognitive science approach to intelligent action and learning. Our model provides a natural route for generalization to quantum-mechanical operation and connects the fields of reinforcement learning and quantum computation.

Projective simulation for artificial intelligence

PubMed Central

Briegel, Hans J.; De las Cuevas, Gemma

2012-01-01

We propose a model of a learning agent whose interaction with the environment is governed by a simulation-based projection, which allows the agent to project itself into future situations before it takes real action. Projective simulation is based on a random walk through a network of clips, which are elementary patches of episodic memory. The network of clips changes dynamically, both due to new perceptual input and due to certain compositional principles of the simulation process. During simulation, the clips are screened for specific features which trigger factual action of the agent. The scheme is different from other, computational, notions of simulation, and it provides a new element in an embodied cognitive science approach to intelligent action and learning. Our model provides a natural route for generalization to quantum-mechanical operation and connects the fields of reinforcement learning and quantum computation. PMID:22590690

Toward Solutions: The Work of the Biology Action-Research Group. Learning in Science Project. Working Paper No. 29.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boe, Robyn; And Others

Many students, even after formal science instruction, have not developed a scientifically acceptable concept of "living,""animal," or "plant." Therefore, as part of the action-research phase of the Learning in Science Project, a working group was formed to explore (with teachers) some possible strategies aimed at…

Preschool Work against Bullying and Degrading Treatment: Experiences from an Action Learning Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Söderström, Åsa; Löfdahl Hultman, Annica

2017-01-01

This article deals with experiences from an action learning project against bullying and degrading treatment among nine Swedish preschools. Even though definitions of bullying and degrading treatment tend to lead to thoughts of school-age children rather than preschoolers, previous research shows that bullying occurs in preschool as well. Our data…

The Effect of an Energy Audit Service Learning Project on Student Perceptions of STEM Related Disciplines, Personal Behaviors/Actions towards the Environment, and Stewardship Skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gullo, Michael

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not service learning could be considered an alternative teaching method in an environmental science classroom. In particular, the results of this research show whether an energy audit service learning project influenced student environmental awareness (knowledge of environmental issues, problems, and solutions), student personal actions/behaviors towards the environment, student perceptions and attitudes of science related careers, and community partnerships. Haines (2010) defines service learning as “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities” (p. 16). Moreover, service learning opportunities can encourage students to step out of their comfort zone and learn from hands-on experiences and apply knowledge obtained from lectures and classroom activities to real life situations. To add to the growing body of literature, the results of this study concluded that an energy audit service learning project did not have a measureable effect on student perceptions and attitudes of science related careers as compared to a more traditional teaching approach. However, the data from this study did indicate that an energy audit service learning project increased students personal actions/behaviors towards the environment more than a direct teaching approach.

Organizing Project-Based Learning in Work Contexts: A Cross-Cultural Cross Analysis of Data from Two Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poell, Rob F.; Yorks, Lyle; Marsick, Victoria J.

2009-01-01

The authors describe research aimed at developing a more comprehensive framework for project-based learning in work contexts. This grows out of a cross-cultural reanalysis of data from two previous studies using two different frameworks: actor-centered learning network theory and a critical pragmatist lens on action reflection learning. Findings…

Managing and learning with multiple models: Objectives and optimization algorithms

USGS Publications Warehouse

Probert, William J. M.; Hauser, C.E.; McDonald-Madden, E.; Runge, M.C.; Baxter, P.W.J.; Possingham, H.P.

2011-01-01

The quality of environmental decisions should be gauged according to managers' objectives. Management objectives generally seek to maximize quantifiable measures of system benefit, for instance population growth rate. Reaching these goals often requires a certain degree of learning about the system. Learning can occur by using management action in combination with a monitoring system. Furthermore, actions can be chosen strategically to obtain specific kinds of information. Formal decision making tools can choose actions to favor such learning in two ways: implicitly via the optimization algorithm that is used when there is a management objective (for instance, when using adaptive management), or explicitly by quantifying knowledge and using it as the fundamental project objective, an approach new to conservation.This paper outlines three conservation project objectives - a pure management objective, a pure learning objective, and an objective that is a weighted mixture of these two. We use eight optimization algorithms to choose actions that meet project objectives and illustrate them in a simulated conservation project. The algorithms provide a taxonomy of decision making tools in conservation management when there is uncertainty surrounding competing models of system function. The algorithms build upon each other such that their differences are highlighted and practitioners may see where their decision making tools can be improved. ?? 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Place-Based Learning: Action Learning in MA Program for Educational Practitioners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glassner, Amnon; Eran-Zoran, Yael

2016-01-01

The study presents a new pedagogical idea and practice for educational practitioners. The practice was developed as a workshop of MA program in order to change and expand the meaning of education for the wellbeing of the community. The "place-based learning" workshop combined action learning (AL) with project-based learning (PBL). The…

Facilitating Conversational Learning in a Project Team Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sense, Andrew J.

2005-01-01

Purpose: This paper seeks to provide an empirical insight into the facilitation dilemmas for conversational learning in a project team environment. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is an outcome of a participative action research process into the dynamics of situated learning activity in a case study project team. As part of their…

"Cast Your Net Widely": Three Steps to Expanding and Refining Your Problem before Action Learning Application

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reese, Simon R.

2015-01-01

This paper reflects upon a three-step process to expand the problem definition in the early stages of an action learning project. The process created a community-powered problem-solving approach within the action learning context. The simple three steps expanded upon in the paper create independence, dependence, and inter-dependence to aid the…

Strategic Management: An Evaluation of the Use of Three Learning Methods.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jennings, David

2002-01-01

A study of 46 management students compared three methods for learning strategic management: cases, simulation, and action learning through consulting projects. Simulation was superior to action learning on all outcomes and equal or superior to cases on two. Simulation gave students a central role in management and greater control of the learning…

Awakening Sleepy Knowledge: Transformative Learning in Action. Final Report of the Transformative Learning through Environmental Action Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

York Univ., Toronto (Ontario).

This document summarizes and presents materials produced during a qualitative international study of the role of transformative learning in achieving sustainable societies and global responsibility that included the following activities: case studies of experiences with transformative learning in seven countries; international survey and workshop;…

An Architecture for Learning in Projects?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sense, Andrew J.

2004-01-01

This paper reports upon a two-year, qualitative, case study action research investigation into "learning within a project team". This project team undertook a significant socio-technical redesign project within a major Australian heavy engineering/manufacturing operation. The paper identifies and elaborates upon a number of elements that…

Service Learning: An Action Oriented Program Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelley, George

2013-01-01

Service learning is an academic discipline that provides students with "hands-on" opportunities for developing skills in real-world, community-based projects that serve and benefit community members. This dissertation reflects an action-oriented process for improving the quality of the Service Learning Program at City University of…

Facilitating Lecturer Development and Student Learning through Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Westhuizen, C. N.

2008-01-01

The aim of the action research project is to improve my own practice as research methodology lecturer to facilitate effective student learning to enable students to become reflective practitioners with responsibility for their own professional development through action research in their own classrooms, and to motivate the students and increase…

Building Civic Bridges: Community-Centered Action Civics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LeCompte, Karon; Blevins, Brooke

2015-01-01

Project-based learning is an example of powerful social studies learning in which student engage in active inquiry. Action civics is a relatively new educational practice in which students "act as citizens" through a cycle of research, action, and reflection about problems they care about in their community. "Building Civic…

The Role of the NHS in the Development of Revans' Action Learning: Correspondence and Contradiction in Action Learning Development and Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brook, Cheryl

2010-01-01

In adapting Bowles' and Gintis's correspondence principle of education, this paper suggests that there are ways in which the theory and practice of action learning developed "in correspondence" with the NHS. In doing so, the paper draws, in part, upon an historical assessment of Revans' Hospital Internal Communications Project of the…

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chien-Hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-02-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies, the incorporation of technology and project-based learning could motivate students in self-directed exploration. The students were excited about the autonomy over what to learn and the use of PPT to express what they learned. Differing from previous studies, the findings pointed to the lack information literacy among students. The students lacked information evaluation skills, note-taking and information synthesis. All these findings imply the importance of teaching students about information literacy and visual literacy when introducing information technology into the classroom. The authors suggest that further research should focus on how to break the culture of "copy-and-paste" by teaching the skills of note-taking and synthesis through inquiry projects for science learning. Also, further research on teacher professional development should focus on using collaboration action research as a framework for re-designing graduate courses for science teachers in order to enhance classroom technology integration.

Service Learning and Social Action: Feeding Preservice Teachers' Souls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eidson, Karla W.; Nickson, Lautrice; Hughes, Teresa

2014-01-01

Preservice teacher education candidates identified personal and professional benefits of participating in a service-learning project helping a food pantry, culminating in a 48-hour fast. At the end of the project, student reflections revealed that the service-learning component influenced participants' preconceptions about hunger.

Improving Governance, Leadership, and Learning in New Jersey. State Action for Education Leadership Project (SAELP) Forum, January 28-29, 2003. Field Notes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bleistein, Stacey, Ed.

2004-01-01

New Jersey is one of fifteen states selected by the Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to receive a planning and implementation grant for setting a reform agenda for a series of state policies that are designed to improve educational leadership and student learning. Under this grant, the State Action for Education Leadership Project (SAELP)…

California Freshwater Shrimp Project: An Eco-Action Project with Real Life Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rogers, Laurette H.

The California Freshwater Shrimp Project is an example of a student-initiated, eco-action project. Students, from a fourth grade class in the Ross Valley School District in San Rafael, California, were linked to their community and environment through their work in rehabilitating habitat and educating the public. The paper gives an overview of a…

Action Research in a Business Classroom--Another Lens to Examine Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Janice Witt; Clark, Gloria

2010-01-01

This research study looks at the implementation of an action research project within a blended learning human resource management class in employee and labor relations. The internal and external environment created conditions that converged in the Perfect Storm and resulted in an almost disastrous learning experience for faculty and students. What…

The Art and Science of Rain Barrels: A Service Learning Approach to Youth Watershed Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rector, Patricia; Lyons, Rachel; Yost, Theresa

2013-01-01

Using an interdisciplinary approach to water resource education, 4-H Youth Development and Environmental Extension agents enlisted 4-H teens to connect local watershed education with social action. Teens participated in a dynamic service learning project that included learning about nonpoint source pollution; constructing, decorating, and teaching…

Enhancing Transfer of Learning among Seventh Graders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Penn, Cheryl; Shelley, Sherry; Zaininger, Lucie

The difficulty students have in transferring what they have learned to "real life" situations is emerging as a major problem. This action research project examined the impact of an intervention to improve transfer of learning by means of student journals and projects, and graphic organizers. Participating in this research were 68…

A case study of the development of environmental action projects from the framework of participatory action research within two middle school classrooms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Charmatz, Kim

The purpose of this study was to understand student and teacher empowerment through a socially critical environmental education perspective. The main research question guiding this study was: How do participants make sense of a learning experience in which students design and carry out an environmental action project in their community? This study used participatory action research and critical theory as practical and theoretical frameworks. These frameworks were relevant as this study sought to examine social change, power, and relationships through participants' experiences. The context of this study was within one seventh and one eighth grade classroom participating in environmental projects. The study was conducted in spring 2005 with an additional follow-up data collection period during spring 2006. The school was located in a densely populated metropolitan suburb. Fifty-three students, a teacher researcher, and three science teachers participated. Data sources were written surveys, scores on Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey Instrument (MSELI), observations, interviews, and student work. This study used a mixed methodological approach. Quantitative data analysis involved dependent samples t-test scores on the MSELI before and after the completion of the projects. Qualitative data were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach. This study has implications for educators interested in democratic education. Environmental action projects provide a context for students and teachers to learn interdisciplinary content knowledge, develop personal beliefs, and learn ways to take action in their communities. This pedagogy has the potential to increase cooperation, communication, and tensions within school communities. Students' participation in the development of environmental action projects may lead to feelings of empowerment or being able to make a difference in their community, as an individual or member of a group. Future research is needed to discern why participants experience this type of educational experience differently, for example, how does the type of environmental action project influence individual and group empowerment?

A Collaborative Action Research Project towards Embedding ESD within the Higher Education Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cebrián, Gisela

2017-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to present a collaborative action research project conducted at the University of Southampton with the aim to promote curriculum and professional development in education for sustainable development (ESD) and learn from everyday practices of academics. Design/methodology/approach: An action research approach guided by…

Empowering English through Project-Based Learning with ICT

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marwan, Ardi

2015-01-01

This paper reports the findings of an action research implementing project-based learning (PBL) with information and communication technology (ICT) in an English classroom. Twenty-five students from a vocational higher institution were interviewed after the conduct of three project activities over a six-week period. They were also observed while…

Project InterActions: A Multigenerational Robotic Learning Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bers, Marina U.

2007-12-01

This paper presents Project InterActions, a series of 5-week workshops in which very young learners (4- to 7-year-old children) and their parents come together to build and program a personally meaningful robotic project in the context of a multigenerational robotics-based community of practice. The goal of these family workshops is to teach both parents and children about the mechanical and programming aspects involved in robotics, as well as to initiate them in a learning trajectory with and about technology. Results from this project address different ways in which parents and children learn together and provide insights into how to develop educational interventions that would educate parents, as well as children, in new domains of knowledge and skills such as robotics and new technologies.

Full Circle: Stakeholders' Evaluation of a Collaborative Enquiry Action Research Literacy Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forey, Gail; Firkins, Arthur S.; Sengupta, Sima

2012-01-01

This paper reports on school-university collaboration during an action research project, which aimed to build a writing pedagogy for students with Learning Disabilities in the trilingual, biliterate educational context of Hong Kong. The project was established through interpersonal relationships built from the ground up between stakeholders from a…

School-University Action Research: Impacts on Teaching Practices and Pupil Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Attorps, Iiris; Kellner, Eva

2017-01-01

The aim of this article is to describe a design and implementation of a school-university action research project about teaching and learning biology and mathematics in primary school. Nine teachers in grades 1 to 6, in collaboration with two researchers, were using content representation (CoRe) in learning study (LS)-inspired cycle as pedagogical…

Collaborative Action Research on Technology Integration for Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Chien-hsing; Ke, Yi-Ting; Wu, Jin-Tong; Hsu, Wen-Hua

2012-01-01

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies,…

Breaking Ground on the University Garden: Service-Learning and Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Bryce Collin

2014-01-01

The purpose of this dissertation was to document, analyze, understand, and describe how the environmental virtue ethics of undergraduate students were impacted after participating in a service-learning project designed to establish a new university garden. This service-learning project occurred during the fall semester of 2011, on the campus of…

Organizational Learning in Shop Floor Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheung, Che Keung; Geng, Shuang; Chuah, Kong Bieng; Chau, Yiu Chung; Kwong, Kar Fai

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to present the result of the pilot run of a research project which aims at evaluating the applicability of project-based action learning (PAL) to shop floor organizational learning (OL) component in a manufacturing company in Dongguan, China. How the PAL framework was introduced and implemented is described. The factors…

Promoting Shifts in Preservice Science Teachers' Thinking through Teaching and Action Research in Informal Science Settings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, Carolyn S.

2013-08-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of an integrated experiential learning and action research project on preservice science teachers' developing ideas about science teaching, learning, and action research itself. The qualitative, interpretive study examined the action research of 10 master's degree students who were involved in service learning with children in informal education settings. Results indicated that all of the participants enhanced their knowledge of children as diverse learners and the importance of prior knowledge in science learning. In-depth case studies for three of the participants indicated that two developed deeper understandings of science learners and learning. However, one participant was resistant to learning and gained more limited understandings.

Developing an effective corrective action process : lessons learned from operating a confidential close call reporting system

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-03-05

In 2007, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched : C3RS, the Confidential Close Call Reporting System, as a : demonstration project to learn how to facilitate the effective : reporting and implementation of corrective actions, and assess t...

Library Spaces for Urban, Diverse Commuter Students: A Participatory Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown-Sica, Margaret S.

2012-01-01

A data-gathering project using elements of Participatory Action Research was conducted at the Auraria Library, which serves the University of Colorado Denver, the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Community College of Denver. The project was administered in order to shape a plan to develop a Learning Commons environment at the library.…

Developing effective assignment feedback for an interprofessional learning module-An action research project.

PubMed

Strudwick, Ruth; Day, Jane

2015-09-01

The first year interprofessional learning module at University Campus Suffolk (UCS) is delivered to 300 students and the students' assignments are marked by 20 members of staff from different health and social care professions. We were keen to find a way to reduce any inconsistencies and work with both staff and students to ensure that the essay and subsequent feedback were useful for all involved. The aims of the project were to evaluate the current marking process and feedback sheets used for year one inter-professional learning (IPL) marking, and to develop an appropriate marking tool and feedback sheet that would enable markers to provide more consistent feedback to the students. Participatory action research was used with both students and staff members being involved. Focus group and questions were used to ascertain views about the assignment feedback. The feedback from this action learning project helped us to enhance the feedback for students. There was also an increase in engagement with the assessment and feedback process amongst both staff and students. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introducing a New Learning and Teaching Evaluation Planning Framework for Small Internally Funded Projects in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huber, Elaine

2017-01-01

Scholarly evaluation practices in learning and teaching projects are under-reported in the literature. In order for robust evaluative measures to be implemented, a project requires a well-designed evaluation plan. This research study describes the development of a practical evaluation planning framework through an action research approach, using…

"It's Really Making a Difference": How Small-Scale Research Projects Can Enhance Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dexter, Barbara; Seden, Roy

2012-01-01

Following an internal evaluation exercise, using Action Research, this paper identifies the positive impact of small-scale research projects on teaching and learning at a single case study UK University. Clear evidence is given of how the projects benefited students and staff, and enhanced institutional culture. Barriers to better practice are…

Statistics in Action: The Story of a Successful Service-Learning Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeHart, Mary; Ham, Jim

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to share the stories of an Introductory Statistics service-learning project in which students from both New Jersey and Michigan design and conduct phone surveys that lead to publication in local newspapers; to discuss the pedagogical benefits and challenges of the project; and to provide information for those who…

Minesweeper and Hypothetical Thinking Action Research & Pilot Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Jacob J.

2010-01-01

This Action Research project and Pilot Study was designed and implemented to improve students' hypothetical thinking abilities by exploring the possibility that learning and playing the computer game Minesweeper may inherently help improve hypothetical thinking. One objective was to use educational tools to make it easier for students to learn the…

Unlearning, Critical Action Learning and Wicked Problems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pedler, Mike; Hsu, Shih-wei

2014-01-01

This paper explores the idea of unlearning in Critical Action Learning (CAL) as applied to the wicked problems of organisations and societies. It draws on data and ideas developed during a research project conducted for "Skills for Care" by Pedler, Abbott, Brook and Burgoyne ("Skills for Care" 2014) and from experiences on…

Two Project Methods: Preliminary Observations on the Similarities and Differences between William Heard Kilpatrick's Project Method and John Dewey's Problem-Solving Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sutinen, Ari

2013-01-01

The project method became a famous teaching method when William Heard Kilpatrick published his article "Project Method" in 1918. The key idea in Kilpatrick's project method is to try to explain how pupils learn things when they work in projects toward different common objects. The same idea of pupils learning by work or action in an…

Learning How to Manage Bias: A Case Study of Youth Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirshner, Ben; Pozzoboni, Kristen; Jones, Hannah

2011-01-01

Youth programs that are organized around intellectually challenging, socially relevant projects create opportunities for deep cognitive engagement. One type of authentic project that deserves attention from applied developmental scientists is youth participatory action research (YPAR), in which participants study a problem relevant to young…

An Action Research Project Exploring the Psychology Curriculum and Transitions to Employment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMurray, Isabella; Roberts, Pat; Robertson, Ian; Teoh, Kevin

2011-01-01

Within the UK, traditional subject-specific areas are increasingly being complemented by the provision of opportunities to foster students' personal development planning as an aide to support their future employment and lifelong learning. This paper describes an action research project which examined employability skills within a psychology…

Creating Asynchronous Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerr, Crystal

2009-01-01

This research project examined how to develop and sustain online, asynchronous learning communities in continuous intake, distance education environments for learners in grades 7 through 10. The study is an action research project that is based upon in-depth, qualitative data. Interviews were conducted with distance education teachers,…

Improving Community Involvement and Citizenship among Elementary School Students through Service Learning Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Mandi

2007-01-01

This Action Research Project was designed to increase student awareness and involvement of socio-economic differences and how the children can make a difference in their community. Service learning projects were non-existent at the Academy causing the young children to miss out on learning experiences that would teach them how to make a difference…

Learning from Lessons: studying the structure and construction of mathematics teacher knowledge in Australia, China and Germany

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Man Ching Esther; Clarke, David J.; Clarke, Doug M.; Roche, Anne; Cao, Yiming; Peter-Koop, Andrea

2018-03-01

The major premise of this project is that teachers learn from the act of teaching a lesson. Rather than asking "What must a teacher already know in order to practice effectively?", this project asks "What might a teacher learn through their activities in the classroom and how might this learning be optimised?" In this project, controlled conditions are created utilising purposefully designed and trialled lesson plans to investigate the process of teacher knowledge construction, with teacher selective attention proposed as a key mediating variable. In order to investigate teacher learning through classroom practice, the project addresses the following questions: To what classroom objects, actions and events do teachers attend and with what consequence for their learning? Do teachers in different countries attend to different classroom events and consequently derive different learning benefits from teaching a lesson? This international project combines focused case studies with an online survey of mathematics teachers' selective attention and consequent learning in Australia, China and Germany. Data include the teacher's adaptation of a pre-designed lesson, the teacher's actions during the lesson, the teacher's reflective thoughts about the lesson and, most importantly, the consequences for the planning and delivery of a second lesson. The combination of fine-grained, culturally situated case studies and large-scale online survey provides mutually informing benefits from each research approach. The research design, so constituted, offers the means to a new and scalable vision of teacher learning and its promotion.

Learning from Action Research about Science Teacher Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mitchener, Carole P.; Jackson, Wendy M.

2012-01-01

In this article, we present a case study of a beginning science teacher's year-long action research project, during which she developed a meaningful grasp of learning from practice. Wendy was a participant in the middle grade science program designed for career changers from science professions who had moved to teaching middle grade science. An…

Revans Reversed: Focusing on the Positive for a Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Jeffrey

2014-01-01

The classical principles of action learning, based on the work of Revans, usually include working with problems as the core. This article aims, by contrast, to show how a recent project of change has incorporated principles of appreciative inquiry (AI) based on social constructionism and positive psychology into an action learning process…

With Africa for Africa. Towards Quality Education for All. 1999 MLA Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chinapah, Vinayagum; H'ddigui, El Mostafa; Kanjee, Anil; Falayajo, Wole; Fomba, Cheik Omar; Hamissou, Oumarou; Rafalimanana, Albert; Byomugisha, Albert

Monitoring Learning Achievement (MLA), a joint UNESCO-UNICEF international education assessment initiative, obtains information on the "effectiveness of basic education provision[s] in terms of actual learning achievement." The empirical evidence from the 1999 MLA project countries provides both a diagnosis and possible actions to be…

"Information in Context": Co-Designing Workplace Structures and Systems for Organizational Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Somerville, Mary M.; Howard, Zaana

2010-01-01

Introduction: This paper discusses an "information in context" design project at Auraria Library in Denver, Colorado which aims to collaboratively create organizational structures and communication systems with and for library employees. Method: This action research project is founded within shared leadership, informed learning and…

Assessment of Inquiry Skills in the SAILS Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, Chris

2014-01-01

Inquiry provides both the impetus and experience that helps students acquire problem solving and lifelong learning skills. Teachers on the Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science Project (SAILS) strengthened their inquiry pedagogy, through focusing on seeking assessment evidence for formative action. This paper reports on both the…

The LEONARDO-DA-VINCI pilot project "e-learning-assistant" - Situation-based learning in nursing education.

PubMed

Pfefferle, Petra Ina; Van den Stock, Etienne; Nauerth, Annette

2010-07-01

E-learning will play an important role in the training portfolio of students in higher and vocational education. Within the LEONARDO-DA-VINCI action programme transnational pilot projects were funded by the European Union, which aimed to improve the usage and quality of e-learning tools in education and professional training. The overall aim of the LEONARDO-DA-VINCI pilot project "e-learning-assistant" was to create new didactical and technical e-learning tools for Europe-wide use in nursing education. Based on a new situation-oriented learning approach, nursing teachers enrolled in the project were instructed to adapt, develop and implement e- and blended learning units. According to the training contents nursing modules were developed by teachers from partner institutions, implemented in the project centers and evaluated by students. The user-package "e-learning-assistant" as a product of the project includes two teacher training units, the authoring tool "synapse" to create situation-based e-learning units, a student's learning platform containing blended learning modules in nursing and an open sourced web-based communication centre. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Socio-Environmental Projects of Jewish and Bedouin Youth in Israel on Students' Local Knowledge and Views of Each Other

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alkaher, Iris; Tal, Tali

2014-01-01

This study is part of a first study of collaborative socio-environmental projects that engage Jewish and Arab students in Israel in learning about their local environment and about each other through outdoor learning and environmental action. We used ideas of social learning and environmental citizenship to frame our research. We investigated…

Dealing with Messiness and Uncertainty in Practitioner Research: The Nature of Participatory Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodnough, Karen

2008-01-01

This article reports on the experiences and perceptions of K-12 teachers as they engaged in a participatory action research (PAR) project, "Science Across the Curriculum." Although the experiences and professional learning of two of the project participants are highlighted, the challenges that all participants experienced as they conceptualized…

ARISE to the Challenge: Partnering with Urban Youth to Improve Educational Research and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Tara M.

2010-01-01

This paper examines Action Research into School Exclusion (Project ARISE), a two-year research partnership between K-12 students and university researchers. Based on the principles of participatory action research (PAR), the project intentionally brought together university researchers, K-12 students, and pre-service teachers to bridge research…

Health Activities Project (HAP): Heart Fitness and Action Module.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buller, Dave; And Others

Contained within this Health Activities Project (HAP) learning packet are activities for children in grades 5-8. Design of the activities centers around the idea that students can control their own health and safety. Within the Heart Fitness and Action Module are teacher and student folios describing five activities which involve students in…

An Action Research Project: Development of a Pre-Licensure Examination Review Course for Emergency Medical Technician Program Graduates at a Rural Community College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boucher, Daryl

2013-01-01

This action research project examined how "Efficiency in Learning" ("EL") strategies, "Appreciative Inquiry" ("AI") and the "Interactive Model of Program Planning" ("IMPP") could be used to discern the content and preferred pedagogical approaches in the development of a pre-licensure…

Weaving Curricular Standards into the Language Classroom: An Action Research Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamada, Yuko; Moeller, Aleidine J.

2001-01-01

This action research study examines the perspectives and voices of students in a postsecondary Japanese class through an authentic project--a pen pal letter exchange. The project's effects on student motivation and learning are analyzed through the lens of the five goals of the national standards: communication, cultures, connections, comparisons,…

A Constructivist Approach to Game-Based Language Learning: Student Perceptions in a Beginner-Level EFL Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

York, James; deHaan, Jonathan William

2018-01-01

This article provides information on an action research project in a low-level EFL setting in Japan. The project aims were to (1) foster spoken communication skills and (2) help students engage with their own learning. The project investigated the applicability of board games as a mediating tool for authentic communication as part of a wider TBLT…

Comparing Team Learning Approaches through the Lens of Activity Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Sunyoung; Cho, Yonjoo; Yoon, Seung Won; Han, Heeyoung

2013-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the distinctive features of three team learning approaches (action learning, problem-based learning, and project-based learning), compare and contrast them, and discuss implications for practice and research. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used Torraco's integrative literature review…

Connecting Entrepreneurial and Action Learning in Student-Initiated New Business Ventures: The Case of SPEED

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rae, David

2009-01-01

The Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education (SPEED) project ran in 12 higher education institutes in the UK between 2006 and 2008, providing an innovative, action learning-based route that enabled students to start new business ventures as self-started work experience, and has influenced successor programmes. The paper addresses three…

Using a Critical Reflection Framework and Collaborative Inquiry to Improve Teaching Practice: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Briscoe, Patricia

2017-01-01

This action research reports on a three-year collaborative learning process among three teachers. We used current literature and a critical reflection framework to understand why our teaching approaches were not resulting in increased student learning. This allowed us to examine our previously unrecognized and uninterrupted--and often,…

Using Art Installations as Action Research to Engage Children and Communities in Evaluating and Redesigning City Centre Spaces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Percy-Smith, Barry; Carney, Clare

2011-01-01

This paper discusses learning from a project that set out to explore how the general public perceived the value of public art in the context of urban regeneration of a city centre space. Whilst not set up explicitly as an action research project, the paper discusses the way in which participatory public art projects of this kind can be understood…

Transformational Bilingual Learning: Re-Engaging Marginalized Learners through Language, Culture, Community, and Identity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tulloch, Shelley; Kusugak, Adriana; Chenier, Cayla; Pilakapsi, Quluaq; Uluqsi, Gloria; Walton, Fiona

2017-01-01

The Miqqut project was a participatory action research project through which Inuit language and literacy learning was embedded in a traditional skills program. Community-based researchers tracked learners' progress through entrance, exit, and post-program interviews and questionnaires, as well as through participant observation. Results show that…

Difference, Ambiguity and Potential for Learning--Local Communities Working in Partnership with Local Government.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaxter, Loraine; Farnell, Richard; Watts, Jane

2003-01-01

An action learning project for neighborhood regeneration in Coventry, England, showed that differences of power and viewpoint were inevitable and essential. More open networks enabling communication among community groups were needed. Funding for community networking needed to go beyond short-term projects supported by the current policy agenda.…

Increasing High School Student Interest in Science: An Action Research Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vartuli, Cindy A.

An action research study was conducted to determine how to increase student interest in learning science and pursuing a STEM career. The study began by exploring 10th-grade student and teacher perceptions of student interest in science in order to design an instructional strategy for stimulating student interest in learning and pursuing science. Data for this study included responses from 270 students to an on-line science survey and interviews with 11 students and eight science teachers. The action research intervention included two iterations of the STEM Career Project. The first iteration introduced four chemistry classes to the intervention. The researcher used student reflections and a post-project survey to determine if the intervention had influence on the students' interest in pursuing science. The second iteration was completed by three science teachers who had implemented the intervention with their chemistry classes, using student reflections and post-project surveys, as a way to make further procedural refinements and improvements to the intervention and measures. Findings from the exploratory phase of the study suggested students generally had interest in learning science but increasing that interest required including personally relevant applications and laboratory experiences. The intervention included a student-directed learning module in which students investigated three STEM careers and presented information on one of their chosen careers. The STEM Career Project enabled students to explore career possibilities in order to increase their awareness of STEM careers. Findings from the first iteration of the intervention suggested a positive influence on student interest in learning and pursuing science. The second iteration included modifications to the intervention resulting in support for the findings of the first iteration. Results of the second iteration provided modifications that would allow the project to be used for different academic levels. Insights from conducting the action research study provided the researcher with effective ways to make positive changes in her own teaching praxis and the tools used to improve student awareness of STEM career options.

Action Research Monographs. Complete Set. Pennsylvania Action Research Network, 1998-99. A Section 353 Project of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education. A Learning from Practice Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennsylvania State Univ., McKeesport.

This publication consists of the complete set of 23 monographs developed by the Pennsylvania Action Research Network to supplement the 67 monographs produced over the past 3 years. The specific audience are literacy, General Educational Development (GED), and English-as-a Second Language (ESL) practitioners. The titles are: "Use of…

Putting into practice error management theory: Unlearning and learning to manage action errors in construction.

PubMed

Love, Peter E D; Smith, Jim; Teo, Pauline

2018-05-01

Error management theory is drawn upon to examine how a project-based organization, which took the form of a program alliance, was able to change its established error prevention mindset to one that enacted a learning mindfulness that provided an avenue to curtail its action errors. The program alliance was required to unlearn its existing routines and beliefs to accommodate the practices required to embrace error management. As a result of establishing an error management culture the program alliance was able to create a collective mindfulness that nurtured learning and supported innovation. The findings provide a much-needed context to demonstrate the relevance of error management theory to effectively address rework and safety problems in construction projects. The robust theoretical underpinning that is grounded in practice and presented in this paper provides a mechanism to engender learning from errors, which can be utilized by construction organizations to improve the productivity and performance of their projects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Learning through Action: Parallel Learning Processes in Children and Adults

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ethridge, Elizabeth A.; Branscomb, Kathryn R.

2009-01-01

Experiential learning has become an essential part of many educational settings from infancy through adulthood. While the effectiveness of active learning has been evaluated in youth and adult settings, few known studies have compared the learning processes of children and adults within the same project. This article contrasts the active learning…

Connecting Neighborhood Councils and City Agencies--Evaluation of the Learning and Design Forums and Role of the University as a Mediating Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kathi, Pradeep Chandra

2012-01-01

The School of Planning Policy and Development at the University of Southern California brought together representatives of neighborhood councils and city agencies of the city of Los Angeles together in an action research program. This action research program called the Collaborative Learning Project developed a collaboration process called the…

Improving 10th Graders' English Communicative Competence through the Implementation of the Task-Based Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buitrago Campo, Ana Carolina

2016-01-01

This article reports the results of an action-research project focused on improving students' communicative competence in English through the task-based learning approach. This study was conducted in a co-educational public school in Medellín (Colombia) with thirty-four tenth graders. Actions implemented include the development of a series of…

Reinventing the High School Government Course: Rigor, Simulations, and Learning from Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Walter C.; Lo, Jane C.

2016-01-01

The high school government course is arguably the main site of formal civic education in the country today. This article presents the curriculum that resulted from a multiyear study aimed at improving the course. The pedagogic model, called "Knowledge in Action," centers on a rigorous form of project-based learning where the projects are…

Nurturing Lifelong Learning in Communities through the National University of Lesotho: Prospects and Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preece, Julia; Croome, David; Ntene, Mankatso; Ngozwana, Nomazulu

2011-01-01

This paper analyses one aspect of a pan-African action research project called ITMUA (Implementing the Third Mission of Universities in Africa). This particular paper draws on the data from that project to explore the National University of Lesotho's contribution to lifelong learning in its communities. It provides background information on the…

SOAP in Practice: Learning Outcomes of a Cross-Institutional Innovation Project Conducted by Teachers, Student Teachers, and Teacher Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seezink, Audrey; Poell, Rob; Kirschner, Paul

2010-01-01

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross-institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates "S"chooling of teachers, "O"rganisational development of schools, "A"ction- and development-oriented research, and…

Filling the assessment gap: using a learning portfolio in international development courses.

PubMed

Omar, Mayeh Abu

2006-01-01

The purpose of this research is to describe an action research project that proposed, monitored and evaluated the introduction of a learning portfolio used to replace examinations that were formerly used to assess the core courses. An action research project was undertaken to find out whether the introduction of a portfolio was successful and what could be improved in the process of its implementation. The findings indicate that portfolios are effective to support and assess the academic development of international students. The introduction of a portfolio to replace written examinations in the NCIHD was welcomed by all concerned.

Moving Science Off the ``Back Burner'': Meaning Making Within an Action Research Community of Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodnough, Karen

2008-02-01

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.

A standard lexicon for biodiversity conservation: unified classifications of threats and actions.

PubMed

Salafsky, Nick; Salzer, Daniel; Stattersfield, Alison J; Hilton-Taylor, Craig; Neugarten, Rachel; Butchart, Stuart H M; Collen, Ben; Cox, Neil; Master, Lawrence L; O'Connor, Sheila; Wilkie, David

2008-08-01

An essential foundation of any science is a standard lexicon. Any given conservation project can be described in terms of the biodiversity targets, direct threats, contributing factors at the project site, and the conservation actions that the project team is employing to change the situation. These common elements can be linked in a causal chain, which represents a theory of change about how the conservation actions are intended to bring about desired project outcomes. If project teams want to describe and share their work and learn from one another, they need a standard and precise lexicon to specifically describe each node along this chain. To date, there have been several independent efforts to develop standard classifications for the direct threats that affect biodiversity and the conservation actions required to counteract these threats. Recognizing that it is far more effective to have only one accepted global scheme, we merged these separate efforts into unified classifications of threats and actions, which we present here. Each classification is a hierarchical listing of terms and associated definitions. The classifications are comprehensive and exclusive at the upper levels of the hierarchy, expandable at the lower levels, and simple, consistent, and scalable at all levels. We tested these classifications by applying them post hoc to 1191 threatened bird species and 737 conservation projects. Almost all threats and actions could be assigned to the new classification systems, save for some cases lacking detailed information. Furthermore, the new classification systems provided an improved way of analyzing and comparing information across projects when compared with earlier systems. We believe that widespread adoption of these classifications will help practitioners more systematically identify threats and appropriate actions, managers to more efficiently set priorities and allocate resources, and most important, facilitate cross-project learning and the development of a systematic science of conservation.

The Role of Gender Consciousness in Challenging Patriarchy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bierema, Laura L.

2003-01-01

In an action research project, eight women explored their development of gender consciousness, finding that a hidden curriculum taught subordination to the patriarchal system. Connected learning fostered gender consciousness and led to connected action. Action included teaching others about gender issues, making the invisible visible, and adopting…

The Reflective Teacher Leader: An Action Research Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Furtado, Leena; Anderson, Dawnette

2012-01-01

This study presents four teacher reflections from action research projects ranging from kindergarten to adult school improvements. A teacher leadership matrix guided participants to connect teaching and learning theory to best practices by exploring uncharted territory within an iterative cycle of research and action. Teachers developed the…

Children and their 4-H animal projects: How children use science in agricultural activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emo, Kenneth Roy

Many children are introduced to science through informal educational programs. 4-H, an educational youth program, has a history of introducing scientific practices into agriculture. The purpose of this ethnographically-driven case study is to examine how science informs the actions of children raising market animals in a 4-H project. For two years the researcher collected data on 4-H children with market animal projects. Observations, interviews, and artifacts gathered are interpreted using the framework of activity theory. This study provides evidence for how the context of an activity system influences individual actions. Rules developed by the organization guide the actions of children to incorporate physical and psychological tools of science into their project to achieve the object: producing animals of proper weight and quality to be competitive in the county fair. Children learn the necessary actions from a community of practitioners through which expertise is distributed. Children's learning is demonstrated by the way their participation in their project changes with time, from receiving assistance from others to developing expertise in which they provide assistance to others. The strength of this educational experience is how children apply specific tools of science in ways that provide meaning and relevancy to their 4-H activity.

Empowering Language Learners through the Use of a Curriculum-Integrated Information Literacy Programme: An Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alzahrani, Sahar

2017-01-01

This paper implements and evaluates a curriculum-integrated information literacy programme in an Arabic primary school in the United Kingdom to empower learners and develop life-long learning skills. It reports on an action research project with a reflective practice approach used at the beginning of the semester to identify potential problems…

Turning Pupils on to Learning: Creative Classrooms in Action. Creative Teaching/Creative Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elkington, Rob, Ed.

2011-01-01

"Turning Pupils on to Learning" documents and makes visible how creative learning approaches can engage and motivate children in their learning. The book features six case studies of creative learning projects that cover the early years through to Key Stage 3 which are written by the teachers and creative practitioners involved. From the creation…

Improving Student Engagement in Learning Activities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Nancy; And Others

Engaging students seriously in their own academic learning is a persistent difficulty for teachers. The goal of this action research project was to actively involve elementary school students in their learning. The program was implemented at three elementary schools in northern Illinois serving multicultural populations; special education…

The Social-Interaction Learning Styles of Irish Adult Learners: Some Empirical Findings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O Fathaigh, Mairtin

An action research project was conducted to understand the learning style profile of Irish adult learners better and to integrate the findings into development seminars for adult education teachers and tutors. The Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scale (GRSLSS) was chosen as the research instrument to explore Irish adults' learning styles…

After Action Review Tools For Team Training with Chat Communications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-11-01

collaborative learning environments. The most relevant work is being done by the CALO ( Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes) project, a joint...emoticons, and other common stylistic practices. To a lesser degree, some research has yielded methods and tools to analyze or visualize chat...information sources, and overall cognitive effort. AAR Challenges The most significant challenge to conducting an effective after action review of

Constructing a Family Health History to Facilitate Learning in a Health Psychology Seminar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sumner, Kenneth E.; Lampmann, Jodi L.

2003-01-01

This article describes a project to reinforce learning in an undergraduate health psychology seminar. The project required students to (a) profile the physical and mental health status of at least 15 family members, (b) identify trends or patterns related to health and illness in their families, and (c) develop an action plan for maintaining good…

What about Us? Promoting Emotional Well-Being and Inclusion by Working with Young People with Learning Difficulties in Schools and Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byers, Richard; Davies, Jill; Fergusson, Ann; Marvin, Claire

2008-01-01

"What about us?" was a participative action research project promoting the emotional well-being of young people with learning difficulties in inclusive secondary schools and colleges. The project began by reviewing the impact of inclusion on the emotional well-being and personal and social development of young people with learning…

Combining Formal, Non-Formal and Informal Learning for Workforce Skill Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misko, Josie

2008-01-01

This literature review, undertaken for Australian Industry Group, shows how multiple variations and combinations of formal, informal and non-formal learning, accompanied by various government incentives and organisational initiatives (including job redesign, cross-skilling, multi-skilling, diversified career pathways, action learning projects,…

The Soft-Skills Learning Triangle: A Learning Model for Supporting Online Management & Leadership Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Jean

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present the Soft-skills Learning Triangle (SLT)--a model created to help coaches, mentors, and educators understand how web-technologies can be used to support management learning and soft-skills development. SLT emerged as part of a larger action-learning research project--the NewMindsets Management Education…

Implementing service improvement projects within pre-registration nursing education: a multi-method case study evaluation.

PubMed

Baillie, Lesley; Bromley, Barbara; Walker, Moira; Jones, Rebecca; Mhlanga, Fortune

2014-01-01

Preparing healthcare students for quality and service improvement is important internationally. A United Kingdom (UK) initiative aims to embed service improvement in pre-registration education. A UK university implemented service improvement teaching for all nursing students. In addition, the degree pathway students conducted service improvement projects as the basis for their dissertations. The study aimed to evaluate the implementation of service improvement projects within a pre-registration nursing curriculum. A multi-method case study was conducted, using student questionnaires, focus groups with students and academic staff, and observation of action learning sets. Questionnaire data were analysed using SPSS v19. Qualitative data were analysed using Ritchie and Spencer's (1994) Framework Approach. Students were very positive about service improvement. The degree students, who conducted service improvement projects in practice, felt more knowledgeable than advanced diploma students. Selecting the project focus was a key issue and students encountered some challenges in practice. Support for student service improvement projects came from action learning sets, placement staff, and academic staff. Service improvement projects had a positive effect on students' learning. An effective partnership between the university and partner healthcare organisations, and support for students in practice, is essential. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Open-Book Assessment: A Contribution to Improved Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eilertsen, Tor Vidar; Valdermo, Odd

2000-01-01

Studied the effects of open-book testing on instruction and student learning in an action research project involving 13 teachers and approximately 350 secondary school students in Norway. Results show open-book testing to be instrumental in strengthening understanding in both cooperative learning and more traditional classrooms. (SLD)

Service-Learning and Interior Design: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sterling, Mary

2007-01-01

The case study approach was used to analyze experiential learning through its three components: knowledge, action, and reflection. Two interior design courses were integrated through a university service-learning project. The restoration/adaptive reuse of a 95-year-old library building was to serve as a prototype for future off-campus…

Designing Strategies That Meet the Variety of Learning Styles of Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopez, Doreen M.; Schroeder, Linda

2008-01-01

This action research project was designed to maximize learning for all students by addressing different learning styles and implementing various strategies. The students in the targeted school exhibited difficulty in experiencing academic success while exposed to conventional teaching strategies. The two target schools consisted of an intermediate…

Student Perceptions of Active Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lumpkin, Angela; Achen, Rebecca M.; Dodd, Regan K.

2015-01-01

A paradigm shift from lecture-based courses to interactive classes punctuated with engaging, student-centered learning activities has begun to characterize the work of some teachers in higher education. Convinced through the literature of the values of using active learning strategies, we assessed through an action research project in five college…

From Competence to Excellence: Developing Excellence in Vocational Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smeaton, Barry; Hughes, Maria; Hall, Graeme

The United Kingdom's Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), UK SKILLS, and the Further Education Skills Competition Council conducted a collaborative action research project to improve students' vocational learning and skills through enhanced learning experiences. From February 2001 to April 2002, three further education colleges worked to…

A Three Cohort Study of Role-Play Instruction for Agile Project Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmitz, Kurt

2018-01-01

Agile Project Management methods and processes that emphasize action and feedback over planning continue to gain prominence for Information Systems projects. This topic is an ideal candidate to lead the evolution of project management instruction from teaching "about" to learning "how to." This paper describes a role-play…

Social and Individual Aspects of Classroom Learning in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Action Research Pilot Study on Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Asberg, Jakob; Zander, Ulla; Zander, Eric; Sandberg, Annika Dahlgren

2012-01-01

The current paper reports on the outcome of an ongoing action research project at a school for higher-functioning students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Sweden. The overall aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a questionnaire that captures social and individual aspects of classroom learning suitable for use with students with ASD.…

Doing It Differently: The Ups and Downs of Peer Group Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belward, Shaun; Balatti, Jo

2012-01-01

Peer group learning is the name we have given to a particular type of collaborative learning that has been implemented as part of an action research project designed to improve teaching and learning of first year university mathematics at James Cook University. Using an innovation-decision process model we analysed the response of academics to the…

iSee: Teaching Visual Learning in an Organic Virtual Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Han, Hsiao-Cheng

2017-01-01

This paper presents a three-year participatory action research project focusing on the graduate level course entitled Visual Learning in 3D Animated Virtual Worlds. The purpose of this research was to understand "How the virtual world processes of observing and creating can best help students learn visual theories". The first cycle of…

Learning from Lessons: Teachers' Insights and Intended Actions Arising from Their Learning about Student Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roche, Anne; Clarke, Doug; Clarke, David; Chan, Man Ching Esther

2016-01-01

A central premise of this project is that teachers learn from the act of teaching a lesson and that this learning is evident in the planning and teaching of a subsequent lesson. We are studying the knowledge construction of mathematics teachers utilising multi-camera research techniques during lesson planning, classroom interactions and…

Transforming Language Ideologies through Action Research: A Case Study of Bilingual Science Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Eunah

2012-01-01

This qualitative case study explored a third grade bilingual teacher's transformative language ideologies through participating in a collaborative action research project. By merging language ideologies theory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and action research, I was able to identify the analytic focus of this study. I analyzed…

Professional Learning with Action Research in Innovative Middle Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Netcoh, Steven; Olofson, Mark W.; Downes, John M.; Bishop, Penny A.

2017-01-01

This article illustrates how action research can be used as a model for professional development with middle grades educators in rapidly changing and technology-intensive schools. Drawing upon ten years of using this model, the authors present three examples of educator action research to highlight five characteristics of effective projects: (1)…

42 CFR 482.21 - Condition of participation: Quality assessment and performance improvement program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... learning throughout the hospital. (3) The hospital must take actions aimed at performance improvement and... QIO cooperative project, but its own projects are required to be of comparable effort. (e) Standard...

LESSONS LEARNED Biosurveillance Mobile App Development Intern Competition (Summer 2013)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Noonan, Christine F.; Henry, Michael J.; Corley, Courtney D.

2014-01-14

The purpose of the lessons learned document for the BEOWulf Biosurveillance Mobile App Development Intern Competition is to capture the project’s lessons learned in a formal document for use by other project managers on similar future projects. This document may be used as part of new project planning for similar projects in order to determine what problems occurred and how those problems were handled and may be avoided in the future. Additionally, this document details what went well with the project and why, so that other project managers may capitalize on these actions. Project managers may also use this documentmore » to determine who the project team members were in order to solicit feedback for planning their projects in the future. This document will be formally communicated with the organization and will become a part of the organizational assets and archives.« less

Hebbian learning and predictive mirror neurons for actions, sensations and emotions

PubMed Central

Keysers, Christian; Gazzola, Valeria

2014-01-01

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity is considered the neurophysiological basis of Hebbian learning and has been shown to be sensitive to both contingency and contiguity between pre- and postsynaptic activity. Here, we will examine how applying this Hebbian learning rule to a system of interconnected neurons in the presence of direct or indirect re-afference (e.g. seeing/hearing one's own actions) predicts the emergence of mirror neurons with predictive properties. In this framework, we analyse how mirror neurons become a dynamic system that performs active inferences about the actions of others and allows joint actions despite sensorimotor delays. We explore how this system performs a projection of the self onto others, with egocentric biases to contribute to mind-reading. Finally, we argue that Hebbian learning predicts mirror-like neurons for sensations and emotions and review evidence for the presence of such vicarious activations outside the motor system. PMID:24778372

Hebbian learning and predictive mirror neurons for actions, sensations and emotions.

PubMed

Keysers, Christian; Gazzola, Valeria

2014-01-01

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity is considered the neurophysiological basis of Hebbian learning and has been shown to be sensitive to both contingency and contiguity between pre- and postsynaptic activity. Here, we will examine how applying this Hebbian learning rule to a system of interconnected neurons in the presence of direct or indirect re-afference (e.g. seeing/hearing one's own actions) predicts the emergence of mirror neurons with predictive properties. In this framework, we analyse how mirror neurons become a dynamic system that performs active inferences about the actions of others and allows joint actions despite sensorimotor delays. We explore how this system performs a projection of the self onto others, with egocentric biases to contribute to mind-reading. Finally, we argue that Hebbian learning predicts mirror-like neurons for sensations and emotions and review evidence for the presence of such vicarious activations outside the motor system.

Turning Civic Education into Engagement: Evaluating the Efficacy of the Democracy USA Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanus, Alixandra B.; Kifer, Martin J.; Namaste, Paul; Elder, Sadie Leder; Blosser, Joe

2015-01-01

The Democracy USA (DUSA) Project was an interdisciplinary experiential-learning project designed to engage students and faculty in the 2012 elections. It was launched in response to the U.S. Department of Education's national call to action ("A Crucible Moment") on civic engagement and democratic education. The project had five key…

Learning Awareness: Constructing Formative Assessment in the Classroom, in the School and across Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blanchard, John

2008-01-01

This article gives details of the Portsmouth Learning Community Assessment for Learning (AfL) project from 2002 to 2007. A context of research is given and a reframing of formative assessment suggested. Qualitative, positive effects are indicated resulting from teachers' collaborative action research and learners' involvement in classroom…

Educator's Barriers to Using Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, April S.

2012-01-01

The study is an action research project focused on learning more about the barriers to using technology at one site in Southern California. Learning about the barriers for one school may assist this researcher in learning how to improve the changes of teachers and staff using technology in the field of education. The methodology of this study was…

Open Educational Practices and Resources. OLCOS Roadmap, 2012

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geser, Guntram, Ed.

2007-01-01

As a Transversal Action under the European eLearning Programme, the Open e-Learning Content Observatory Services (OLCOS) project carries out a set of activities that aim at fostering the creation, sharing and re-use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Europe and beyond. OER are understood to comprise content for teaching and learning,…

The Role of Action Research in the Development of Learning Networks for Entrepreneurs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brett, Valerie; Mullally, Martina; O'Gorman, Bill; Fuller-Love, Nerys

2012-01-01

Developing sustainable learning networks for entrepreneurs is the core objective of the Sustainable Learning Networks in Ireland and Wales (SLNIW) project. One research team drawn from the Centre for Enterprise Development and Regional Economy at Waterford Institute of Technology and the School of Management and Business from Aberystwyth…

Expeditionary Learning Schools: Theory of Action and Literature Review of Motivation, Character, and Engagement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beesley, Andrea; Clark, Tedra; Barker, Jane; Germeroth, Carrie; Apthorp, Helen

2010-01-01

Background: Expeditionary Learning Schools opens and transforms K-12 schools. Through engaging, long-term interdisciplinary projects designed to achieve academic standards and an emphasis on a healthy school culture, Expeditionary Learning aims to develop students who are not only high-achieving but also highly motivated to do challenging…

"From Worse to Better": How Kenyan Student-Teachers Can Use Participatory Action Research in Health Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dahl, Kari Kragh Blume

2014-01-01

This study focuses on Kenyan student-teachers' professional learning and development in health education in a participatory action research project conducted in one Kenyan teacher training college. The aim was to explore the potential of participatory action research to instigate change in student-teachers' health education practices in a…

Exploring Action Research as an Enduring Experience of Professional Development for Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hummel, Robin Ellen

2017-01-01

This study was an inquiry into the influence of action research on teachers' practice and an exploration of the idea that teaching is synonymous with learning. After 14 participants engaged in individual action research projects that were facilitated by the researcher, the qualitative method of narrative inquiry was used to gather data from the…

Participatory action research: involving students in parent education.

PubMed

Fowler, Cathrine; Wu, Cynthia; Lam, Winsome

2014-01-01

Competition for scarce clinical placements has increased requiring new and innovative models to be developed to meet the growing need. A participatory action research project was used to provide a community nursing clinical experience of involvement in parent education. Nine Hong Kong nursing students self-selected to participate in the project to implement a parenting program called Parenting Young Children in a Digital World. Three project cycles were used: needs identification, skills development and program implementation. Students were fully involved in each cycle's planning, action and reflection phase. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected to inform the project. The overall outcome of the project was the provision of a rich and viable clinical placement experience that created significant learning opportunities for the students and researchers. This paper will explore the student's participation in this PAR project as an innovative clinical practice opportunity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment Is for Learning: Supporting Feedback

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaren, Susan V.

2012-01-01

This paper describes an action research, school situated project conducted with partnership funding from Learning and Teaching Scotland, Scottish Qualifications Authority and Becta, the UK government's agency for communications technology in education. Based on "e-scape" (e-solutions for creative assessment in portfolio environments),…

People's Participation and Action Research in Community Development: Experiences from Nicaragua.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lammerink, Marc P.

1994-01-01

Describes projects of the School of Social Work at Central America University, Nicaragua: (1) development of a postgraduate course for professionals; (2) discovery learning and participatory action research in a fishing village; and (3) application of participatory approaches to rural development. (SK)

Technology, Learning Communities and Young People: The Future Something Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herne, Steve; Adams, Jeff; Atkinson, Dennis; Dash, Paul; Jessel, John

2013-01-01

The "Future Something Project" ("FSP"), a two-year action research project, was devised to nurture the creative and technological talent of small groups of young people at risk by creating a structured network, mentored and driven by creative professionals exploring innovative ways for the two distinct target groups to work…

Expanding Learning and Teaching Processes in an ESL/Civics ABE Classroom Using an Interactive Video Lesson Plan in the U.S. Southwest: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cajar-Bravo, Aristides

2010-01-01

This study is an action research project that analyzed the ways in which ESL students improve their language learning processes by using as a teaching tool a media literacy video and Civics Education for social skills; it was presented to two groups of 12 students who were attending an ESL/Civics Education Intermediate-Advanced class in an ABE…

Advancing working and learning through critical action research: creativity and constraints.

PubMed

Bellman, Loretta; Bywood, Catherine; Dale, Susan

2003-12-01

Continuous professional development is an essential component within many health care 'Learning Organisations'. The paper describes the first phase of an initiative to develop a professional practice development framework for nurses in an NHS general hospital. The project was undertaken within a critical action research methodology. A tripartite arrangement between the hospital, a university and professional nursing organisation enabled clinical, educational and research support for the nurses (co-researchers) engaged in the project. Initial challenges were from some managers, educationalists and the ethics committee who did not appear to understand the action research process. A multi-method approach to data collection was undertaken to capture the change process from different stakeholders' perceptions. Triangulation of the data was undertaken. Despite organisational constraints, transformational leadership and peer support enabled the co-researchers to identify and initiate three patient-focused initiatives. The change process for the co-researchers included: enlightening personal journey, exploring the research-practice gap, enhancing personal and professional knowledge, evolving cultural change and collaborative working, empowering and disempowering messages. A hospital merger and corporate staff changes directly impacted on the project. A more flexible time-scale and longer term funding are required to enable continuity for trust-wide projects undertaken in dynamic clinical settings.

Designing for Online Collaborations and Local Environmental Action In Citizen Science: A Multiple Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kermish-Allen, Ruth

Traditional citizen science projects have been based on the scientific communities need to gather vast quantities of high quality data, neglecting to ask what the project participants get in return. How can participants be seen more as collaborative partners in citizen science projects? Online communities for citizen science are expanding rapidly, giving participants the opportunity to take part in a wide range of activities, from monitoring invasive species to identifying far-off galaxies. These communities can bring together the virtual and physical worlds in new ways that are egalitarian, collaborative, applied, localized and globalized to solve real environmental problems. There are a small number of citizen science projects that leverage the affordances of an online community to connect, engage, and empower participants to make local change happen. This multiple case study applies a conceptual framework rooted in sociocultural learning theory, Non-Hierarchical Online Learning Communities (NHOLCs), to three online citizen communities that have successfully fostered online collaboration and on-the-ground environmental actions. The purpose of the study is to identify the range and variation of the online and programmatic functions available in each project. The findings lead to recommendations for designing these innovative communities, specifically the technological and programmatic components of online citizen science communities that support environmental actions in our backyards.

Managerial Action and Sensemaking in E-Learning Implementation in Brazilian Business Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Freitas, Angilberto Sabino; Bandeira-de-Mello, Rodrigo

2012-01-01

The existing literature on e-learning implementation is either descriptive or normative and falls short on explaining how managers act in introducing and disseminating e-learning projects in school settings. In this paper, we follow a symbolic approach in order to offer a grounded model for explaining how managerial framing of the introduction of…

Infusing Student Activism into the College Curriculum: A Report of a Service-Learning Project to Bring Awareness to Sexual Violence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stepteau-Watson, Desiree

2012-01-01

Service learning involves infusing activities into the curriculum that enhance student learning, promote community engagement and effect change on the community level. Significant advantage can be applied to vulnerable communities by leveraging student action, interest, and energy, which can bring time, effort and attention to important community…

Applying Self-Organised Learning to Develop Critical Thinkers for Learning Organisations: A Conversational Action Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chng, Vivien Lee Looi; Coombs, Steven J.

2004-01-01

The information explosion characteristic of a knowledge-based economy is fuelled by rapid technological changes. As technology continues to permeate our lives, there will be fresh demands upon the conduct of learning and teaching to ensure that learners are equipped with new economy skills and dispositions for creating significant and relevant…

Educational Statistics Authentic Learning CAPSULES: Community Action Projects for Students Utilizing Leadership and E-Based Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thompson, Carla J.

2009-01-01

Since educational statistics is a core or general requirement of all students enrolled in graduate education programs, the need for high quality student engagement and appropriate authentic learning experiences is critical for promoting student interest and student success in the course. Based in authentic learning theory and engagement theory…

Student Technology Use in a Self-Access Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castellano, Joachim; Mynard, Jo; Rubesch, Troy

2011-01-01

Technology has played an increasingly vital role in self-access learning over the past twenty years or so, yet little research has been conducted into learners' actual use of the technology both for self-directed learning and as part of everyday life. This paper describes an ongoing action research project at a self-access learning center (SALC)…

Preparing Scholars of Teaching and Learning Using a Model of Collaborative Peer Consulting and Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waterman, Margaret; Weber, Janet; Pracht, Carl; Conway, Kathleen; Kunz, David; Evans, Beverly; Hoffman, Steven; Smentkowski, Brian; Starrett, David

2010-01-01

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Fellows Program at Southeast Missouri State University supports an annual cohort of 10 faculty Fellows to evaluate, through individual research projects, the effect of teaching on student learning of two or more of the university's General Education objectives. Designed around practical action…

An Action Research Project to Assist Incarcerated Females to Become More Effective Adult Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Askins, Billy E.; Young, Teresa

1994-01-01

Learning style preferences and brain hemispheric dominance were determined for 82 low achieving female inmates. They were counseled to use their modality strengths and take responsibility for learning. Higher test scores, reduced absenteeism, and greater achievement motivation resulted. (SK)

Student participation in World Wide Web-based curriculum development of general chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunter, William John Forbes

1998-12-01

This thesis describes an action research investigation of improvements to instruction in General Chemistry at Purdue University. Specifically, the study was conducted to guide continuous reform of curriculum materials delivered via the World Wide Web by involving students, instructors, and curriculum designers. The theoretical framework for this study was based upon constructivist learning theory and knowledge claims were developed using an inductive analysis procedure. This results of this study are assertions made in three domains: learning chemistry content via the World Wide Web, learning about learning via the World Wide Web, and learning about participation in an action research project. In the chemistry content domain, students were able to learn chemical concepts that utilized 3-dimensional visualizations, but not textual and graphical information delivered via the Web. In the learning via the Web domain, the use of feedback, the placement of supplementary aids, navigation, and the perception of conceptual novelty were all important to students' use of the Web. In the participation in action research domain, students learned about the complexity of curriculum. development, and valued their empowerment as part of the process.

THE EVOLUTION OF SCHOOL MATHEMATICS.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DAVIS, ROBERT B.

ACTION AND PLANS OF THE MADISON PROJECT TO GIVE RATIONAL GUIDANCE TO EVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN SCHOOL MATHEMATICS ARE DESCRIBED. THE PROJECT ATTEMPTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO RATIONAL GUIDANCE OF EDUCATIONAL EVOLUTION BY MAKING "THRUSTS AND PROBES" INTO THE UNKNOWN POTENTIAL OF MATHEMATICS LEARNING. EXAMPLES ARE--INTRODUCING THE ARITHMETIC OF…

Climate Change Schools Project...

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinzey, Krista

2010-01-01

This article features the award-winning Climate Change Schools Project which aims to: (1) help schools to embed climate change throughout the national curriculum; and (2) showcase schools as "beacons" for climate change teaching, learning, and positive action in their local communities. Operating since 2007, the Climate Change Schools…

Multiage Grouping and Student Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cowan, Matthew

2014-01-01

The aim of this action research project was to investigate students' social preferences and pro-social interactions in a multiage, high school classroom in order to better understand how to group students to maximize learning and collaboration. According to many educational experts and previous inquiries, mixed-age learning groups introduce…

Green Action through Education: A Model for Fostering Positive Attitudes about STEM

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wheland, Ethel R.; Donovan, William J.; Dukes, J. Thomas; Qammar, Helen K.; Smith, Gregory A.; Williams, Bonnie L.

2013-01-01

This paper describes an innovative collaboration between instructors of non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses and scientists who teach STEM courses in the GATE (Green Action Through Education) learning community. The scientists in this project presented engaging science--in such diverse locations as a sewage…

Threshold Concept Theory as an Enabling Constraint: A Facilitated Practitioner Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harlow, Ann; Cowie, Bronwen; McKie, David; Peter, Mira

2017-01-01

International interest is growing in how threshold concept theory can transform tertiary teaching and learning. A facilitated practitioner action research project investigating the potential of threshold concepts across several disciplines offers a practical contribution and helps to consolidate this international field of research. In this…

Building Capacity through Sustainable Engagement: Lessons for the Learning Community from the "GraniteNet" Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arden, Catherine; McLachlan, Kathryn; Cooper, Trevor

2009-01-01

This paper reports an exploration into critical success factors for the sustainability of the partnership between the University of Southern Queensland and the Stanthorpe community during the GraniteNet Phoenix Project--the first phase of a three-phase participatory action research project conducted during 2007-2008. The concepts of learning…

Motueka High School Storied Experience: Teaching and Learning Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellery, Tracey; Trafford, Jan

2006-01-01

In 2005 Motueka High School became involved in the Ministry of Education's Enhancing Effective Practice in Special Education (EEPiSE) project. The following is the story of how we integrated this action research project into our existing Enhanced Programme Funding (EPF). The project was supported by researcher Don Brown and led by our head of…

Practicum in adapted physical activity: a Dewey-inspired action research project.

PubMed

Standal, Øyvind; Rugseth, Gro

2014-07-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate what adapted physical activity (APA) students learn from their practicum experiences. One cohort of APA students participated, and data were generated from an action research project that included observations, reflective journals, and a focus group interview. The theoretical framework for the study was Dewey's and Wackerhausen's theories of reflections. The findings show the objects of students' reflections, the kind of conceptual resources they draw on while reflecting, and their knowledge interests. In addition, two paradoxes are identified: the tension between reflecting from and on own values, and how practicum as a valued experience of reality can become too difficult to handle. In conclusion, we reflect on how practicum learning can be facilitated.

Bioinformatics projects supporting life-sciences learning in high schools.

PubMed

Marques, Isabel; Almeida, Paulo; Alves, Renato; Dias, Maria João; Godinho, Ana; Pereira-Leal, José B

2014-01-01

The interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics makes it an ideal framework to develop activities enabling enquiry-based learning. We describe here the development and implementation of a pilot project to use bioinformatics-based research activities in high schools, called "Bioinformatics@school." It includes web-based research projects that students can pursue alone or under teacher supervision and a teacher training program. The project is organized so as to enable discussion of key results between students and teachers. After successful trials in two high schools, as measured by questionnaires, interviews, and assessment of knowledge acquisition, the project is expanding by the action of the teachers involved, who are helping us develop more content and are recruiting more teachers and schools.

Role of research in occupational therapy clinical practice: applying action learning and action research in pursuit of evidence-based practice.

PubMed

du Toit, Sanet H J; Wilkinson, Annette C; Adam, Kerry

2010-10-01

 In South Africa, as in many other countries, the development of research capacity in students and their early professional career is regarded as of major importance. Within the context of clinical education for occupational therapy students at the University of the Free State, a lecturer and her students embarked on a collaborative journey while fulfilling the requirements of their undergraduate curriculum. The outcome is a model promoting evidence-based practice (EBP) during service development on a dementia care ward. The practical use of action learning, action research (ALAR) approach in the clinical context, was used to encourage student engagement in successive small-scale research projects while simulating EBP. The projects ranged from the development of therapeutic multi-sensory environments to compiling activity profiles for identified residents. At the same time, students had the opportunity to experience the value of a scientific approach to practice development, which stimulated their awareness of the importance of research. Reflection by the researcher contributed towards more effective ways for compiling project assignments and a formalised approach for assessing projects. Students described personal and professional gains because of participation in projects against the life-changing experience of rendering a service to elderly persons suffering from dementia. The formalised approach guiding thoughts and actions finally assisted in developing a practical process model that could support EBP. The ALAR model contributed towards a scholarship of practice where the students, clinical educator and residents of a dementia unit all experienced the value of research. © 2010 The Authors. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal © 2010 Australian Association of Occupational Therapists.

Neural network based speech synthesizer: A preliminary report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Villarreal, James A.; Mcintire, Gary

1987-01-01

A neural net based speech synthesis project is discussed. The novelty is that the reproduced speech was extracted from actual voice recordings. In essence, the neural network learns the timing, pitch fluctuations, connectivity between individual sounds, and speaking habits unique to that individual person. The parallel distributed processing network used for this project is the generalized backward propagation network which has been modified to also learn sequences of actions or states given in a particular plan.

Integrating a MOOC into the Postgraduate ELT Curriculum: Reflecting on Students' Beliefs with a MOOC Blend

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orsini-Jones, Marina; Gafaro, Barbara Conde; Altamimi, Shooq

2017-01-01

This chapter builds on the outcomes of a blended learning action-research project in its third iteration (academic year 2015-16). The FutureLearn Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Understanding Language: Learning and Teaching" was integrated into the curriculum of the Master of Arts (MA) in English Language Teaching (ELT) at Coventry…

Academic-Hospital Partnership: Conducting a Community Health Needs Assessment as a Service Learning Project.

PubMed

Krumwiede, Kelly A; Van Gelderen, Stacey A; Krumwiede, Norma K

2015-01-01

The purposes of this service learning project were to trial nursing student application of the Community-Based Collaborative Action Research (CBCAR) framework while conducting a community health needs assessment and to assess the effectiveness of the CBCAR framework in providing real-world learning opportunities for enhancing baccalaureate nursing students' public health knowledge. In this case study analysis, the CBCAR framework linked service learning and community health needs assessment with public health nursing core competencies. Fifteen nursing students partnered with collaborative members. Student observational field notes and narrative reflections were analyzed qualitatively for fidelity to the CBCAR framework and to evaluate student public health knowledge. Students successfully employed the CBCAR framework in collaboration with the critical access hospital and community stakeholders to design and conduct the community health needs assessment. Service learning themes were real-world solutions, professional development, community collaboration, and making a difference. Students developed skills in six of the eight domains of the Quad Council's core competencies for public health nurses. Community-Based Collaborative Action Research facilitates collaborative partnerships and relationships throughout the research process. Students benefited by applying what they have learned from their education to a real community who lacks resources. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Tonic or Phasic Stimulation of Dopaminergic Projections to Prefrontal Cortex Causes Mice to Maintain or Deviate from Previously Learned Behavioral Strategies

PubMed Central

Ellwood, Ian T.; Patel, Tosha; Wadia, Varun; Lee, Anthony T.; Liptak, Alayna T.

2017-01-01

Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) encode reward prediction errors and can drive reinforcement learning through their projections to striatum, but much less is known about their projections to prefrontal cortex (PFC). Here, we studied these projections and observed phasic VTA–PFC fiber photometry signals after the delivery of rewards. Next, we studied how optogenetic stimulation of these projections affects behavior using conditioned place preference and a task in which mice learn associations between cues and food rewards and then use those associations to make choices. Neither phasic nor tonic stimulation of dopaminergic VTA–PFC projections elicited place preference. Furthermore, substituting phasic VTA–PFC stimulation for food rewards was not sufficient to reinforce new cue–reward associations nor maintain previously learned ones. However, the same patterns of stimulation that failed to reinforce place preference or cue–reward associations were able to modify behavior in other ways. First, continuous tonic stimulation maintained previously learned cue–reward associations even after they ceased being valid. Second, delivering phasic stimulation either continuously or after choices not previously associated with reward induced mice to make choices that deviated from previously learned associations. In summary, despite the fact that dopaminergic VTA–PFC projections exhibit phasic increases in activity that are time locked to the delivery of rewards, phasic activation of these projections does not necessarily reinforce specific actions. Rather, dopaminergic VTA–PFC activity can control whether mice maintain or deviate from previously learned cue–reward associations. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Dopaminergic inputs from ventral tegmental area (VTA) to striatum encode reward prediction errors and reinforce specific actions; however, it is currently unknown whether dopaminergic inputs to prefrontal cortex (PFC) play similar or distinct roles. Here, we used bulk Ca2+ imaging to show that unexpected rewards or reward-predicting cues elicit phasic increases in the activity of dopaminergic VTA–PFC fibers. However, in multiple behavioral paradigms, we failed to observe reinforcing effects after stimulation of these fibers. In these same experiments, we did find that tonic or phasic patterns of stimulation caused mice to maintain or deviate from previously learned cue–reward associations, respectively. Therefore, although they may exhibit similar patterns of activity, dopaminergic inputs to striatum and PFC can elicit divergent behavioral effects. PMID:28739583

Learning in Equity-Oriented Scale-Making Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jurow, A. Susan; Shea, Molly

2015-01-01

This article examines how new forms of learning and expertise are made to become consequential in changing communities of practice. We build on notions of scale making to understand how particular relations between practices, technologies, and people become meaningful across spatial and temporal trajectories of social action. A key assumption of…

"Untapped Potential?" Key Competency Learning and Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gillespie, Lorna; Penney, Dawn; Pope, Clive

2013-01-01

This paper reports on a collaborative action research project that directed attention to the opportunities Physical Education presents to develop learning associated with three of the key competencies detailed in the New Zealand Curriculum; thinking; managing self; and relating to others. Three teachers in one secondary school explored the…

Professional Learning Communities: A Middle School Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gentile, David N.

2010-01-01

This research project explored the transition from a traditional model to a Professional Learning Community model in a NJ Middle School. The administration overcame obstacles during the transition such as scheduling conflicts, teacher apathy, and resistance. This action research study gathered data to determine how to best structure the…

Creating Positive Attitudes towards English as a Foreign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elyildirim, Selma; Ashton, Sally

2006-01-01

The author reviews research on the connections between attitudes and language learning, and between attitudes and motivation. The article suggests that language learners' motivation and attitudes can influence learning outcomes, and that effective teaching can change negative attitudes. It describes a classroom action research project that was…

Fostering Foreign Language Learning through Technology-Enhanced Intercultural Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Jen Jun; Yang, Shu Ching

2014-01-01

The main aim of learning English as an international language is to effectively communicate with people from other cultures. In Taiwan, learners have few opportunities to experience cross-cultural communication in English. To create an authentic EFL classroom, this one-year action research study carried out three collaborative intercultural…

TESOL in Context: Authentic Workplace Learning for Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomsett, Janeen; Leggett, Bridget; Ainsworth, Sharon

2011-01-01

The action research project entitled "Engaging pre-service TESOL teachers in authentic workplace learning" aimed to enhance the TESOL practicum experience of pre-service teachers in the Graduate Diploma of Education at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. Integrated into the relevant TESOL curriculum unit was the…

Archimedes in Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vo, Phong T.

2013-01-01

Hands-on learning is very effective in teaching physical concepts to students. Applying the principles they learn to a real-life situation, students are more likely to retain this knowledge, especially when it is presented in a stimulating format. With this in mind, we present here a high school physics project in which students apply basic…

Investigating Antecedents of Task Commitment and Task Attraction in Service Learning Team Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaffer, Bryan S.; Manegold, Jennifer G.

2018-01-01

The authors investigated the antecedents of team task cohesiveness in service learning classroom environments. Focusing on task commitment and task attraction as key dependent variables representing cohesiveness, and task interdependence as the primary independent variable, the authors position three important task action phase processes as…

Researching across Boundaries and Borders: The Challenges for Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowl, Marion; Cooke, Sandra; Hockings, Christine

2008-01-01

This article explores some of the challenges of conducting action research in higher education. It arises from an ongoing research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme (ESRC/TLRP), "Learning and Teaching for Social Diversity and Difference", which examines the dynamics of…

Mathematics authentic assessment on statistics learning: the case for student mini projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fauziah, D.; Mardiyana; Saputro, D. R. S.

2018-03-01

Mathematics authentic assessment is a form of meaningful measurement of student learning outcomes for the sphere of attitude, skill and knowledge in mathematics. The construction of attitude, skill and knowledge achieved through the fulfilment of tasks which involve active and creative role of the students. One type of authentic assessment is student mini projects, started from planning, data collecting, organizing, processing, analysing and presenting the data. The purpose of this research is to learn the process of using authentic assessments on statistics learning which is conducted by teachers and to discuss specifically the use of mini projects to improving students’ learning in the school of Surakarta. This research is an action research, where the data collected through the results of the assessments rubric of student mini projects. The result of data analysis shows that the average score of rubric of student mini projects result is 82 with 96% classical completeness. This study shows that the application of authentic assessment can improve students’ mathematics learning outcomes. Findings showed that teachers and students participate actively during teaching and learning process, both inside and outside of the school. Student mini projects also provide opportunities to interact with other people in the real context while collecting information and giving presentation to the community. Additionally, students are able to exceed more on the process of statistics learning using authentic assessment.

Thinking beyond Recognition: Multiculturalism, Cultural Intelligence, and the Professional Capacities of Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, Megan; Noble, Greg

2016-01-01

This article draws on recent research in schools as part of the "Rethinking Multiculturalism/ Reassessing Multicultural Education" (RMRME) Project, which involved teachers undertaking professional learning framed by these ideas and then designing and implementing action research projects to address issues of concern in their schools. The…

Healthy Relationships and Building Developmental Assets in Middle School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlisle, Mariko

2011-01-01

This action research project was designed to have the majority of middle school students engage in healthy relationships with their peers and teachers as the data suggested the need for improved interactions with others. Students contributed to team building lessons; implemented school community service learning projects; participated in an…

Health Activities Project (HAP): Action/Reaction Module.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buller, Dave; And Others

Contained within this Health Activities Project (HAP) learning packet are activities for children in grades 5-8. Design of the activities centers around the idea that students can control their own health and safety. Within this module are teacher and student folios describing activities in timing, improving, and practicing to improve reaction…

Anglican Schools Partnership: Effective Feedback. Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gorard, Stephen; See, Beng Huat; Siddiqui, Nadia

2014-01-01

This pilot project focused on improving teachers' understanding and use of effective feedback. Participating teachers tried to incorporate feedback into their lessons to help pupils understand their learning goals and become able to develop strategies to reach them. The project employed a cyclical action research design, through which teachers…

Exploring Social and Moral Learning Frameworks through Collaborative Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dyer, Becky

2014-01-01

This article reflects on the best teaching practices explored and developed by members of a teachers' community and action research project in Arizona. The project is an ongoing collaborative inquiry and curriculum development endeavor that involves seven dance educators who are currently teaching or have previously taught in secondary dance…

Using Action Research to Enhance Learning on End-Use Energy Demand: Lessons from Reflective Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petrova, Saska; Torres Garcia, Miguel; Bouzarovski, Stefan

2017-01-01

This paper responds to the need for a greater integration of energy and environment themes in the higher education curriculum. We explore the practical implications of empowering students towards the implementation of individual action research projects focused on investigating and addressing insufficient or wasteful energy consumption among…

Teaching the Vocabulary of Citation: Action Research in a Southeast Asian Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Jena

2016-01-01

This action research project sought to investigate the role of explicit citation vocabulary instruction in the learning of citation style guidelines for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing course at an English-medium university in Northern Thailand. The participants consisted of 120 undergraduate students enrolled in the EAP writing…

Adult Education and Learning in Europe: Evaluation of the Adult Education Action within the SOCRATES Programme. Final Report of the Project "MOPED--Monitoring of Projects: Evaluation as Dialogue."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nuissl, Ekkehard, Ed.

The SOCRATES Program was conducted in 1995-1999 to increase transnational cooperation between institutions in the field of adult education (AE) and thereby enhance the quality of AE in Europe. In 1997, a project called Monitoring of Projects: Evaluation as Dialogue (MOPED) was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of 101 transnational…

Situated learning in translation research training: academic research as a reflection of practice

PubMed Central

Risku, Hanna

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Situated learning has become a dominant goal in the translation classroom: translation didactics is being developed in a learner-, situation- and experience-based direction, following constructivist and participatory teaching philosophies. However, the explicit use of situated approaches has, so far, not been the centre of attention in translation theory teaching and research training. As a consequence, translation theory often remains unconnected to the skills learned and topics tackled in language-specific translation teaching and the challenges experienced in real-life translation practice. This article reports on the results of an exploratory action research project into the teaching of academic research skills in translation studies at Master’s level. The goal of the project is to develop and test possibilities for employing situated learning in translation research training. The situatedness perspective has a double relevance for the teaching project: the students are involved in an authentic, ongoing research project, and the object of the research project itself deals with authentic translation processes at the workplace. Thus, the project has the potential to improve the expertise of the students as both researchers and reflective practitioners. PMID:27499805

Teaching English through Open Non-Formal Education (ONFE) in Bangladesh with an Effective Integration of ICT to Support Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahman, Md. Mizanoor; Panda, Santosh

2012-01-01

The program entitled "English in Action (EIA)", 9 year period DFID funded project in Bangladesh, was launched in 2008, for the desire to bring a change in the learning of English language. EIA works to reach a total of 25 million primary and secondary students and adult learners through communicative language learning techniques and the…

Empowering clinical supervisors to flourish though critical companionship.

PubMed

Mackay, Maria; Stephens, Moira; Wragg, Siobhan; Ebejer, Saskia; Bourgeois, Sharon

2018-01-01

Education for professional nursing practice has undergone a significant shift over the last few decades impacting nursing practice and the relationship between nurses. Enhancing professional practice and acting as a conduit for empowering nurses to be active participants in their learning and development is Practice Development. This action research project with philosophical premises of critical companionship and human flourishing aimed to develop the knowledge and skills of registered nurses in their ability to provide clinical supervision of nursing students in practice. The overall project consisted of two action research cycles in two different health facilities. Participants in both projects identified similar issues and common learning needs including; how to better understand and develop skills in reflective practice; how to provide a positive learning and enabling environment; and how to provide effective solution focused feedback. Workshop facilitators witnessed the flourishing of participants as they were enabled to negotiate their learning requirements; grow and develop in their roles over the workshop series. Participants themselves identified personal growth in skills, knowledge and confidence in being a preceptor as a result of the workshops in the study. Overall, this study has resulted in the development and capacity building of the nursing workforce clinical placement capacity through the development of clinical supervisors. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bioinformatics Projects Supporting Life-Sciences Learning in High Schools

PubMed Central

Marques, Isabel; Almeida, Paulo; Alves, Renato; Dias, Maria João; Godinho, Ana; Pereira-Leal, José B.

2014-01-01

The interdisciplinary nature of bioinformatics makes it an ideal framework to develop activities enabling enquiry-based learning. We describe here the development and implementation of a pilot project to use bioinformatics-based research activities in high schools, called “Bioinformatics@school.” It includes web-based research projects that students can pursue alone or under teacher supervision and a teacher training program. The project is organized so as to enable discussion of key results between students and teachers. After successful trials in two high schools, as measured by questionnaires, interviews, and assessment of knowledge acquisition, the project is expanding by the action of the teachers involved, who are helping us develop more content and are recruiting more teachers and schools. PMID:24465192

Action Steps for Advancing Transfer Student Success: Lessons Learned from Cross-Institutional Collaborations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolinsky, Rebecca; Rhodes, Terrel L.; McCambly, Heather

2016-01-01

The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) launched Quality Collaboratives (QC): Assessing and Reporting Degree Qualifications Profile Competencies in the Context of Transfer in 2011 as a three-year project that engaged educational, assessment, and policy leaders in student learning outcomes assessment and transfer pathways.…

Learning about Our Community: From the Underground Railroad to School Lunch.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hicks, Bonnie; Montequin, Leah; Hicks, Jason

2000-01-01

Forms part of a themed issue describing "Parent-Kid-Teacher Investigators," a program in which parents, children, and teachers gather regularly to use language and literacy for action research projects. Offers a portrait of the weekly meetings. Summarizes what three particular groups learned about their topics: the underground railroad;…

An Inquiry into Flipped Learning in Fourth Grade Math Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'addato, Teresa; Miller, Libbi R.

2016-01-01

The objective of this action research project was to better understand the impact of flipped learning on fourth grade math students in a socioeconomically disadvantaged setting. A flipped instructional model was implemented with the group of students enrolled in the researcher's class. Data was collected in the form of classroom observations,…

Authentic Learning for Pre-Service Teachers in a Technology-Rich Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Latham, Gloria; Carr, Nicky

2012-01-01

This paper shares the findings from a three year Participatory Action Research Study around the selection, implementation and effectiveness of educational technologies for enhancing learning in a Teacher Education subject for second year pre-service primary teachers. The innovative Project-Based subject is described using a critical lens. The…

Is This a Meaningful Learning Experience? Interactive Critical Self-Inquiry as Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allard, Andrea C.; Gallant, Andrea

2012-01-01

What conditions enable educators to engage in meaningful learning experiences with peers and beginning practitioners? This article documents a self-study on our actions-in-practice in a peer mentoring project. The investigation involved an iterative process to improve our knowledge as teacher educators, reflective practitioners, and researchers.…

Looking Back to Move Ahead: How Students Learn Geologic Time by Predicting Future Environmental Impacts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Chen; Rehrey, George; Treadwell, Brooke; Johnson, Claudia C.

2012-01-01

This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning project discusses the effectiveness of using distance metaphor-building activities along with a case study exam to help undergraduate nonscience majors understand and apply geologic time. Using action research, we describe how a scholarly teacher integrated previously published and often-used teaching…

Placement Learning in the Creative Industries: Engaging Students with Micro-Businesses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConnell, Catherine

2010-01-01

This paper outlines an action research project developed to investigate the gap in teaching and learning placement materials available to students, academics and practitioners in the art, design and media sector, particularly with respect to micro-businesses. Previous research, funded by the UK's Higher Education Subject Centre for Art Design…

Enhancing Understanding Of Coupled Human-Natural Systems Through Collaborative Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santelmann, M. V.; Chan, S.; Morzillo, A.; Stebbins, A.; Wright, M.

2012-12-01

In the past decade, it has become clear that the dynamic nature of coupled human-natural systems must be better understood and incorporated into decision making. If the interactions between society and the rest of the ecosystem are poorly represented in system models, our ability to explore the potential consequences of feedbacks between the biophysical system and policy or management actions will be limited. Teams of researchers from three Oregon universities are collaborating with regional experts, water managers, and decision-makers to examine how climate change, population growth, and economic growth may alter the availability and use of water in the Willamette River Basin over the next one hundred years. A central project component is development of a version of the ENVISION modeling framework that will provide decision makers with a way to visualize the Willamette water system and evaluate the interaction of management choices with changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Key objectives of the project broader impacts team include: 1) assist with incorporating the human component of the system into the model, (2) fostering growth of the research team as an interdependent, interdisciplinary research community, and (3) communicating effectively with regional stakeholders. Through Learning-Action Networks we have been able to gather insightful, project-relevant knowledge on water use, management, policies and issues that impact water management in the region. We have identified the types of project outputs that managers and decision makers would find useful for anticipating water scarcity and informing integrative water systems responses. Events and processes used to accomplish our objectives began with field trips involving researchers, educators, and other stakeholders. Follow-up meetings and an all day symposium featured focus group interviews, plenary sessions on project progress, and interactive poster sessions in which participants could help identify water related policies and actions they would like to see modeled. Participants assisted in compiling an interactive table of potential policies and actions organized by water use sector and policy type (e.g., regulatory vs. incentive based). Involvement of K-12 educators and development of innovative interdisciplinary courses has enhanced the broader impacts of the project and helped us achieve multiple project objectives. We present plans to build on initial collaborative learning experiences to promote project outcomes that will advance coupled human-natural systems research and enhance the utility of model outcomes in water management.

Low-Rank Tensor Subspace Learning for RGB-D Action Recognition.

PubMed

Jia, Chengcheng; Fu, Yun

2016-07-09

Since RGB-D action data inherently equip with extra depth information compared with RGB data, recently many works employ RGB-D data in a third-order tensor representation containing spatio-temporal structure to find a subspace for action recognition. However, there are two main challenges of these methods. First, the dimension of subspace is usually fixed manually. Second, preserving local information by finding intraclass and inter-class neighbors from a manifold is highly timeconsuming. In this paper, we learn a tensor subspace, whose dimension is learned automatically by low-rank learning, for RGB-D action recognition. Particularly, the tensor samples are factorized to obtain three Projection Matrices (PMs) by Tucker Decomposition, where all the PMs are performed by nuclear norm in a close-form to obtain the tensor ranks which are used as tensor subspace dimension. Additionally, we extract the discriminant and local information from a manifold using a graph constraint. This graph preserves the local knowledge inherently, which is faster than the previous way by calculating both the intra-class and inter-class neighbors of each sample. We evaluate the proposed method on four widely used RGB-D action datasets including MSRDailyActivity3D, MSRActionPairs, MSRActionPairs skeleton and UTKinect-Action3D datasets, and the experimental results show higher accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.

The Dynamics of Connecting Universities, Non-Governmental Organizations and Community Members by Means of Academic Projects Directed at People in Need

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arantes do Amaral, João Alberto; Matsusaki, Cristina Toshie Motohashi

2017-01-01

In this article we discuss an action research experience that took place from 2002 to 2015. We analyze the inception and progress of several project-based learning-centered academic courses that were aimed at developing the project management skills of graduate and undergraduate students. The experience involved approximately 1,800 students from…

The Facebook-in-Action: Challenging, Harnessing and Enhancing Students Class Assignments and Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saifudin, Adam Mohd; Yacob, Aizan; Saad, Rohaizah

2016-01-01

Issues of universities students harnessing and capitalizing the usage of Facebook for their own learning capabilities and effective thinking is always the focus of education scholars, in assessing the quality class assignments and projects produced by them. Therefore, Facebook is now becoming unbearable influence since the internet activation in…

Promoting Pre-Service Teachers' Reflections through a Cross-Cultural Keypal Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wach, Aleksandra

2015-01-01

This paper reports the results of an action research-based study that investigated participants' reflections on EFL learning and teaching in a computer-mediated communication (CMC)-based project. Forty pre-service teachers from two universities, in Poland and in Romania, exchanged emails on class-related topics; the email exchange was followed by…

Higher Education. Lifelong Learning and Community Service: A Profile of Action and Responsibility.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Champagne, Joseph E.

Two projects, designed to serve as technical input to the developing Texas State Plan for Higher Continuing Education, focused on: (1) enrollment trends and needs, institutional activities, and statewide planning across the nation; and (2) higher education and community services. Both projects involved extensive survey work of institutional visits…

Fostering Creativity through Educational Video Game Development Projects: A Study of Contextual and Task Characteristics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fabricatore, Carlo; López, Ximena

2013-01-01

The increasing demand for creative individuals in the labor market requires well-prepared professionals, capable of enhancing competitiveness through new ideas and innovative actions. Educational programs should, therefore, rely on approaches and learning environments that foster creativity. In this study, video game development projects were used…

Action-learning collaboratives as a platform for community-based participatory research to advance obesity prevention.

PubMed

Bazos, Dorothy A; Schifferdecker, Karen E; Fedrizzi, Rudolph; Hoebeke, Jaime; Ruggles, Laural; Goldsberry, Yvonne

2013-01-01

Although process elements that define community-based participatory research (CBPR) are well articulated and provide guidance for bringing together researchers and communities, additional models to implement CBPR are needed. One potential model for implementing and monitoring CBPR is Action Learning Collaboratives (ALCs); short term, team-based learning processes that are grounded in quality improvement. Since 2010, the Prevention Research Center at Dartmouth (PRCD) has used ALCs with three communities as a platform to design, implement and evaluate CBPR. The first ALC provided an opportunity for academia and community leadership to strengthen their relationships and knowledge of respective assets through design and evaluation of community-based QI projects. Building on this work, we jointly designed and are implementing a second ALC, a cross-community research project focused on obesity prevention in vulnerable populations. An enhanced community capacity now exists to support CBPR activities with a high degree of sophistication and decreased reliance on external facilitation.

The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action. Revised & Updated Second Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaye, Cathryn Berger

2010-01-01

"The Complete Guide to Service Learning" is the go-to resource in the fast-growing field of service learning. It is an award-winning treasury of service activities, community service project ideas, quotes, reflections, and resources that can help teachers and youth workers engage young hearts and minds in reaching out and giving back. Author, and…

Facilitating the learning process in design-based learning practices: an investigation of teachers' actions in supervising students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez Puente, S. M.; van Eijck, M.; Jochems, W.

2013-11-01

Background: In research on design-based learning (DBL), inadequate attention is paid to the role the teacher plays in supervising students in gathering and applying knowledge to design artifacts, systems, and innovative solutions in higher education. Purpose: In this study, we examine whether teacher actions we previously identified in the DBL literature as important in facilitating learning processes and student supervision are present in current DBL engineering practices. Sample: The sample (N=16) consisted of teachers and supervisors in two engineering study programs at a university of technology: mechanical and electrical engineering. We selected randomly teachers from freshman and second-year bachelor DBL projects responsible for student supervision and assessment. Design and method: Interviews with teachers, and interviews and observations of supervisors were used to examine how supervision and facilitation actions are applied according to the DBL framework. Results: Major findings indicate that formulating questions is the most common practice seen in facilitating learning in open-ended engineering design environments. Furthermore, other DBL actions we expected to see based upon the literature were seldom observed in the coaching practices within these two programs. Conclusions: Professionalization of teachers in supervising students need to include methods to scaffold learning by supporting students in reflecting and in providing formative feedback.

Case study: the Argentina Road Safety Project: lessons learned for the decade of action for road safety, 2011-2020.

PubMed

Raffo, Veronica; Bliss, Tony; Shotten, Marc; Sleet, David; Blanchard, Claire

2013-12-01

This case study of the Argentina Road Safety Project demonstrates how the application of World Bank road safety project guidelines focused on institution building can accelerate knowledge transfer, scale up investment and improve the focus on results. The case study highlights road safety as a development priority and outlines World Bank initiatives addressing the implementation of the World Report on Road Traffic Injury's recommendations and the subsequent launch of the Decade of Action for Road Safety, from 2011-2020. The case study emphasizes the vital role played by the lead agency in ensuring sustainable road safety improvements and promoting the shift to a 'Safe System' approach, which necessitated the strengthening of all elements of the road safety management system. It summarizes road safety performance and institutional initiatives in Argentina leading up to the preparation and implementation of the project. We describe the project's development objectives, financing arrangements, specific components and investment staging. Finally, we discuss its innovative features and lessons learned, and present a set of supplementary guidelines, both to assist multilateral development banks and their clients with future road safety initiatives, and to encourage better linkages between the health and transportation sectors supporting them.

Changes in science classrooms resulting from collaborative action research initiatives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oh, Phil Seok

Collaborative action research was undertaken over two years between a Korean science teacher and science education researchers at the University of Iowa. For the purpose of realizing science learning as envisioned by constructivist principles, Group-Investigations were implemented three or five times per project year. In addition, the second year project enacted Peer Assessments among students. Student perceptions of their science classrooms, as measured by the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES), provided evidence that the collaborative action research was successful in creating constructivist learning environments. Student attitudes toward science lessons, as examined by the Enjoyment of Science Lessons Scale (ESLS), indicated that the action research also contributed to developing more positive attitudes of students about science learning. Discourse analysis was conducted on video-recordings of in-class presentations and discussions. The results indicated that students in science classrooms which were moving toward constructivist learning environments engaged in such discursive practices as: (1) Communicating their inquiries to others, (2) Seeking and providing information through dialogues, and (3) Negotiating conflicts in their knowledge and beliefs. Based on these practices, science learning was viewed as the process of constructing knowledge and understanding of science as well as the process of engaging in scientific inquiry and discourse. The teacher's discursive practices included: (1) Wrapping up student presentations, (2) Addressing misconceptions, (3) Answering student queries, (4) Coaching, (5) Assessing and advising, (6) Guiding students discursively into new knowledge, and (7) Scaffolding. Science teaching was defined as situated acts of the teacher to facilitate the learning process. In particular, when the classrooms became more constructivist, the teacher intervened more frequently and carefully in student activities to fulfill a variety of pedagogical functions. Students perceived Group-Investigations and Peer Assessments as positive in that they contributed to realizing constructivist features in their classrooms. The students also reported that they gained several learning outcomes through Group-Investigations, including more positive attitudes, new knowledge, greater learning capabilities, and improved self-esteem. However, the Group-Investigation and Peer Assessment methods were perceived as negative and problematic by those who had rarely been exposed to such inquiry-based, student-centered approaches.

Living the lesson: can the Lifestyle Project be used to achieve deep learning in environmental earth science?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Padden, M.; Whalen, K.

2013-12-01

Students in a large, second-year environmental earth science class made significant changes to their daily lives over a three-week period to learn how small-scale actions interact with global-scaled issues such as water and energy supplies, waste management and agriculture. The Lifestyle Project (Kirk and Thomas, 2003) was slightly adapted to fit a large-class setting (350 students). Students made changes to their lifestyle in self-selected categories (water, home heating, transportation, waste, food) and created journals over a three-week period as the changes increased in difficulty. The goal of this study is to gain an understanding of which aspects of the project played a pivotal role in impacting long-term learning. Content analysis of the journal entries and follow-up interviews are used to investigate if the Lifestyle Project is having a lasting impact on the students 18 months after the initial assignment.

Learning robot actions based on self-organising language memory.

PubMed

Wermter, Stefan; Elshaw, Mark

2003-01-01

In the MirrorBot project we examine perceptual processes using models of cortical assemblies and mirror neurons to explore the emergence of semantic representations of actions, percepts and concepts in a neural robot. The hypothesis under investigation is whether a neural model will produce a life-like perception system for actions. In this context we focus in this paper on how instructions for actions can be modeled in a self-organising memory. Current approaches for robot control often do not use language and ignore neural learning. However, our approach uses language instruction and draws from the concepts of regional distributed modularity, self-organisation and neural assemblies. We describe a self-organising model that clusters actions into different locations depending on the body part they are associated with. In particular, we use actual sensor readings from the MIRA robot to represent semantic features of the action verbs. Furthermore, we outline a hierarchical computational model for a self-organising robot action control system using language for instruction.

Physical Activity Breaks and Student Learning: A Teacher-Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Camahalan, Faye Marsha G.; Ipock, Amanda R.

2015-01-01

This study is a teacher initiated action research. The purpose is to improve student learning in math using physical activity breaks during classroom lessons. The study was conducted by tracking the results of ten 5th grade students for a period of one week. Using anecdotal notes, students showed improvement on attentiveness during class…

Keeping the Doors of Learning Open for Adult Student-Workers within Higher Education?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walters, Shirley; Abrahams, Mark; Witbooi, Sally

2015-01-01

The Freedom Charter of the African National Congress (ANC), the triumphant South African liberation movement, proclaims that "the doors of learning shall be open" for all. Twenty years since coming to power, the doors of the universities are struggling to stay open for adult student-workers. An action research project into implementation…

Developing a Contextual Consciousness: Learning to Address Gender, Societal Power, and Culture in Clinical Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Esmiol, Elisabeth E.; Knudson-Martin, Carmen; Delgado, Sarah

2012-01-01

Despite the growing number of culturally sensitive training models and considerable literature on the importance of training clinicians in larger contextual issues, research examining how students learn to apply these issues is limited. In this participatory action research project, we systematically studied our own process as marriage and family…

Cross-Curricular Literacy: Writing for Learning in a Science Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Shelley Stagg; Rochwerger, Leonora

2006-01-01

Teacher educator and researcher Peterson works with eighth-grade science teacher, Rochwerger, who believes that writing is a learning tool that will enable her students to become scientifically literate. Here, we see this belief played out through an action research project that found students using a genre of their choice to write about what they…

The ALPHA Interactive Microcomputer System for Teaching Reading, Writing, and Communication Skills to Hearing-Impaired Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prinz, Philip M; And Others

1985-01-01

A total of 79 hearing-impaired children (3-14 years old) participated in the project involving microcomputer assisted instruction and exploratory learning. Ss learned to write text sentences that were highly accurate interpretations of either animated pictured action sequences or sign language sentence animations. Moreover, Ss made significant…

The Big Money Question: Action Research Projects Give District a Clear Picture of Professional Learning's Impact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dill-Varga, Barbara

2015-01-01

How do districts know if the resources they have allocated to support professional learning in their school district are actually improving the quality of teaching and impacting student performance? In an increasingly challenging financial environment, this is important to know. In this article, a Chicago-area district facing a budget deficit…

Learning about the Effects of Development Education Programmes: Strengthening Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (PME) through Reflective Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Ongevalle, Jan; Huyse, Huib; Van Petegem, Peter

2013-01-01

This article reports on the results of an action research project (2010-13) in which ten Belgian organizations who implement development education programmes explored different planning, monitoring, and evaluation (PME) approaches with the aim of learning more effectively about their results. PME approaches piloted included outcome mapping, most…

Increasing the Social Studies Reading Comprehension of Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryski, Crystal

2009-01-01

This action research project sets out to identify which component of multi-text instruction is most effective in increasing the reading comprehension level of middle school students with learning disabilities. The research is going to be conducted over a two-week time period during the Spring 2009 with three male middle school students with…

The Effectiveness of Tutorials in Behavioural Sciences for Nurses: An Action Learning Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

French, Peter; Callaghan, Patrick; Dudley-Brown, Sharon; Holroyd, Eleanor; Sellick, Ken

1998-01-01

Nursing students in behavioral science were divided as follows: 40 in 4 groups with tutorials and 20 in control groups (13 of whom did not have tutorials). Two of the four experimental groups showed significant changes in learning approach. Recommendations included reducing the number of assignments, integrating theory and practice, and having an…

Working Life Changes and Training of Older Workers. Research Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tikkanen, Tarja; Lahn, Leif Christian; Withnall, Alexandra; Ward, Peter; Lyng, Kolbein

WORKTOW was a multidisciplinary action research project carried out in 27 small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom, Finland, and Norway. The main focus was on the learning of workers aged 45 and older. In-depth case studies were conducted in all three countries involving a range of learning interventions. Results showed age was not…

Increasing Reading Comprehension in First and Second Graders Through Cooperative Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollingsworth, Amanda; Sherman, Jennifer; Zaugra, Cynthia

2007-01-01

The purpose of this action research project report was to increase reading comprehension by using cooperative learning. Reading comprehension was a concern for the three teacher researchers at both research sites. There were 51 first and second grade students, 28 elementary teachers, and 51 families of the first and second grade students involved…

Increasing Motivation and Engagement in Elementary and Middle School Students through Technology-Supported Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godzicki, Linda; Godzicki, Nicole; Krofel, Mary; Michaels, Rachel

2013-01-01

This action research project report was conducted in order to increase motivation and engagement in elementary and middle school students through technology-supported learning environments. The study was conducted from August 27, 2012, through December 14, 2012 with 116 participating students in first-, fourth-, fifth- and eighth-grade classes. To…

Changing practice in residential aged care using participatory methods.

PubMed

Lindeman, M A; Black, K; Smith, R; Gough, J; Bryce, A; Gilsenan, B; Hill, K; Stewart, A

2003-03-01

Residential aged care staff play a significant role in the day-to-day lives of residents yet are faced with many barriers to providing care that promotes resident wellbeing. Action research is a useful approach for clarifying issues, identifying education and training needs, and identifying, and in some cases overcoming, organizational barriers to change. The Well for Life project aimed to enhance the social and physical health and well being of residents of aged care settings by empowering the staff of facilities to make change. The project had a particular focus on nutrition and physical activity. This paper reports on the action research group process undertaken during Phase I of the Well for Life project. Five residential aged care settings participated in the action research process facilitated by project staff independent of the facilities. The action plan and outcomes from one of these settings is used to illustrate the process and outcomes. The main findings of the project indicate that using a process that encourages staff involvement in identification of issues and actions can facilitate change in the practice of resident care. The action research groups identified specific gaps in knowledge and skill leading to targeted education that addressed areas of need. The importance of presenting information and learning opportunities for staff in a variety of formats was also recognized, as was the importance of organizational context, management support and empowerment of staff to make change.

Selective neural pathway targeting reveals key roles of thalamostriatal projection in the control of visual discrimination.

PubMed

Kato, Shigeki; Kuramochi, Masahito; Kobayashi, Kenta; Fukabori, Ryoji; Okada, Kana; Uchigashima, Motokazu; Watanabe, Masahiko; Tsutsui, Yuji; Kobayashi, Kazuto

2011-11-23

The dorsal striatum receives converging excitatory inputs from diverse brain regions, including the cerebral cortex and the intralaminar/midline thalamic nuclei, and mediates learning processes contributing to instrumental motor actions. However, the roles of each striatal input pathway in these learning processes remain uncertain. We developed a novel strategy to target specific neural pathways and applied this strategy for studying behavioral roles of the pathway originating from the parafascicular nucleus (PF) and projecting to the dorsolateral striatum. A highly efficient retrograde gene transfer vector encoding the recombinant immunotoxin (IT) receptor was injected into the dorsolateral striatum in mice to express the receptor in neurons innervating the striatum. IT treatment into the PF of the vector-injected animals caused a selective elimination of neurons of the PF-derived thalamostriatal pathway. The elimination of this pathway impaired the response selection accuracy and delayed the motor response in the acquisition of a visual cue-dependent discrimination task. When the pathway elimination was induced after learning acquisition, it disturbed the response accuracy in the task performance with no apparent change in the response time. The elimination did not influence spontaneous locomotion, methamphetamine-induced hyperactivity, and motor skill learning that demand the function of the dorsal striatum. These results demonstrate that thalamostriatal projection derived from the PF plays essential roles in the acquisition and execution of discrimination learning in response to sensory stimulus. The temporal difference in the pathway requirement for visual discrimination suggests a stage-specific role of thalamostriatal pathway in the modulation of response time of learned motor actions.

Theory-based practice in a major medical centre.

PubMed

Alligood, Martha Raile

2011-11-01

This project was designed to improve care quality and nursing staff satisfaction. Nursing theory structures thought and action as demonstrated by evidence of improvement in complex health-care settings. Nursing administrators selected Modelling and Role-Modelling (MRM) for the theory-based practice goal in their strategic plan. An action research approach structured implementation of MRM in a 1-year consultation project in 2001-2002. Quality of health care improved according to national quality assessment ratings, as well as patient satisfaction and nurse satisfaction. Modelling and Role-Modelling demonstrated capacity to structure nursing thought and action in patient care in a major medical centre. Uniformity of patient care language was valued by nurses as well as by allied health providers who wished to learn the holistic MRM style of practice. The processes of MRM and action research contributed to project success. A positive health-care change project was carried out in a large medical centre with action research. Introducing MRM theory-based practice was a beneficial decision by nursing administration that improved care and nurse satisfaction. Attention to nursing practice stimulated career development among the nurses to pursue bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Distinct prediction errors in mesostriatal circuits of the human brain mediate learning about the values of both states and actions: evidence from high-resolution fMRI.

PubMed

Colas, Jaron T; Pauli, Wolfgang M; Larsen, Tobias; Tyszka, J Michael; O'Doherty, John P

2017-10-01

Prediction-error signals consistent with formal models of "reinforcement learning" (RL) have repeatedly been found within dopaminergic nuclei of the midbrain and dopaminoceptive areas of the striatum. However, the precise form of the RL algorithms implemented in the human brain is not yet well determined. Here, we created a novel paradigm optimized to dissociate the subtypes of reward-prediction errors that function as the key computational signatures of two distinct classes of RL models-namely, "actor/critic" models and action-value-learning models (e.g., the Q-learning model). The state-value-prediction error (SVPE), which is independent of actions, is a hallmark of the actor/critic architecture, whereas the action-value-prediction error (AVPE) is the distinguishing feature of action-value-learning algorithms. To test for the presence of these prediction-error signals in the brain, we scanned human participants with a high-resolution functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol optimized to enable measurement of neural activity in the dopaminergic midbrain as well as the striatal areas to which it projects. In keeping with the actor/critic model, the SVPE signal was detected in the substantia nigra. The SVPE was also clearly present in both the ventral striatum and the dorsal striatum. However, alongside these purely state-value-based computations we also found evidence for AVPE signals throughout the striatum. These high-resolution fMRI findings suggest that model-free aspects of reward learning in humans can be explained algorithmically with RL in terms of an actor/critic mechanism operating in parallel with a system for more direct action-value learning.

Assessing Complex Learning Objectives through Analytics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horodyskyj, L.; Mead, C.; Buxner, S.; Semken, S. C.; Anbar, A. D.

2016-12-01

A significant obstacle to improving the quality of education is the lack of easy-to-use assessments of higher-order thinking. Most existing assessments focus on recall and understanding questions, which demonstrate lower-order thinking. Traditionally, higher-order thinking is assessed with practical tests and written responses, which are time-consuming to analyze and are not easily scalable. Computer-based learning environments offer the possibility of assessing such learning outcomes based on analysis of students' actions within an adaptive learning environment. Our fully online introductory science course, Habitable Worlds, uses an intelligent tutoring system that collects and responds to a range of behavioral data, including actions within the keystone project. This central project is a summative, game-like experience in which students synthesize and apply what they have learned throughout the course to identify and characterize a habitable planet from among hundreds of stars. Student performance is graded based on completion and accuracy, but two additional properties can be utilized to gauge higher-order thinking: (1) how efficient a student is with the virtual currency within the project and (2) how many of the optional milestones a student reached. In the project, students can use the currency to check their work and "unlock" convenience features. High-achieving students spend close to the minimum amount required to reach these goals, indicating a high-level of concept mastery and efficient methodology. Average students spend more, indicating effort, but lower mastery. Low-achieving students were more likely to spend very little, which indicates low effort. Differences on these metrics were statistically significant between all three of these populations. We interpret this as evidence that high-achieving students develop and apply efficient problem-solving skills as compared to lower-achieving student who use more brute-force approaches.

Using Action Research to Assess and Advocate for Innovative School Library Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harper, Meghan; Deskins,Liz

2015-01-01

This article describes a collaborative project designed to use action research to assess and advocate for innovative design changes in a school library. The high school library was in its fifth year of service, and yet the layout of the library was not meeting the learning and technological needs of 21st-century high school students. The purpose…

"Cascading Participation" and the Role of Teachers in a Collaborative HIV and Aids Curriculum Development Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Duncan; Cooper, Adam; Swartz, Sharlene

2014-01-01

This paper presents findings of four Grade 6 teachers' involvement as facilitators of a participatory action research (PAR) project conducted in three South African primary schools. Based on the results of Phase One research which indicated that Grade 6s learn about sexuality, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency…

Exploring the Integration of Disability Awareness into Tertiary Teaching and Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hale, Leigh; van der Meer, Jacques; Rutherford, Gill; Clay, Lynne; Janssen, Jessie; Powell, Denise

2013-01-01

A desire to have every student attending our University be aware of, and reflect on, disability in their studies and future careers, initiated our project to explore how to enhance disability awareness within all our University's papers. In this project we systematically reviewed pertinent literature and ran an action research workshop for staff.…

Evaluation of an Action Learning Programme for Leadership Development of SME Leaders in the UK

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Jean-Anne

2009-01-01

This paper presents the findings from an evaluation research project undertaken by Henley Management College in 2006. This project followed an earlier research study that focused on identifying the leadership development needs for leaders of small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) in the UK, developed a leadership development model and made…

Taking Action in Rural Mississippi: Uniting Academic Studies and Community Service through Project D.R.E.A.M.S.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Helen T.

This paper describes an innovative service learning program developed at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi, a historically black college in a poor rural area. Project DREAMS (Developing Responsibility through Education, Affirmation, Mentoring, and Service) involves college student volunteers serving as tutors and mentors to elementary…

12 Years of Action Learning at EM Normandie: Monitored Field Projects as Regular Pedagogical Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anger, Sophie Gay; Hachard, Virginie

2011-01-01

The Master Grande Ecole curriculum at EM Normandie School is organized around junior consulting projects and real problem solving activities aiming at bridging the gap between classroom knowledge and professional competencies. Since the 90's, students are involved in regular consulting activities for local and national companies following the…

The Action Research Program: Experiential Learning in Systems-Based Practice for First-Year Medical Students.

PubMed

Ackerman, Sara L; Boscardin, Christy; Karliner, Leah; Handley, Margaret A; Cheng, Sarah; Gaither, Thomas W; Hagey, Jill; Hennein, Lauren; Malik, Faizan; Shaw, Brian; Trinidad, Norver; Zahner, Greg; Gonzales, Ralph

2016-01-01

Systems-based practice focuses on the organization, financing, and delivery of medical services. The American Association of Medical Colleges has recommended that systems-based practice be incorporated into medical schools' curricula. However, experiential learning in systems-based practice, including practical strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical care, is often absent from or inconsistently included in medical education. A multidisciplinary clinician and nonclinician faculty team partnered with a cardiology outpatient clinic to design a 9-month clerkship for 1st-year medical students focused on systems-based practice, delivery of clinical care, and strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical operations. The clerkship was called the Action Research Program. In 2013-2014, 8 trainees participated in educational seminars, research activities, and 9-week clinic rotations. A qualitative process and outcome evaluation drew on interviews with students, clinic staff, and supervising physicians, as well as students' detailed field notes. The Action Research Program was developed and implemented at the University of California, San Francisco, an academic medical center in the United States. All educational activities took place at the university's medical school and at the medical center's cardiology outpatient clinic. Students reported and demonstrated increased understanding of how care delivery systems work, improved clinical skills, growing confidence in interactions with patients, and appreciation for patients' experiences. Clinicians reported increased efficiency at the clinic level and improved performance and job satisfaction among medical assistants as a result of their unprecedented mentoring role with students. Some clinicians felt burdened when students shadowed them and asked questions during interactions with patients. Most student-led improvement projects were not fully implemented. The Action Research Program is a small pilot project that demonstrates an innovative pairing of experiential and didactic training in systems-based practice. Lessons learned include the need for dedicated time and faculty support for students' improvement projects, which were the least successful aspect of the program. We recommend that future projects aiming to combine clinical training and quality improvement projects designate distinct blocks of time for trainees to pursue each of these activities independently. In 2014-2015, the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine incorporated key features of the Action Research Program into the standard curriculum, with plans to build upon this foundation in future curricular innovations.

Learning organisations: the challenge of finding a safe space in a climate of accountability.

PubMed

McKee, Anne

2017-03-01

The effects of health policy reforms over a twenty-five year period have changed the NHS as a place in which to work and learn. Some of these changes have had unintentional consequences for learning in the workplace. A recent King's Fund contribution to quality improvement debates included an extensive review of NHS policies encouraging change 'from within' the NHS and renewed calls to develop learning organisations there. I draw upon an action research project designed to develop learning organisations in primary care to locate quality improvement debates amid the realities of practice. The project identified key challenges primary care practices encountered to protect time and space for this form of work based learning, even when they recognised the need for it and wanted to engage in it. Implications for policy makers, primary care practices and health professional educationalists are identified.

Concretizing Concepts: Continuing Education Strategies for Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mishra, Renuka; And Others

1994-01-01

Several action research projects for women's literacy in India demonstrated the importance of developing learners' planning skills, recognizing that learning is spiral and not linear, understanding the complexities of empowerment, and educating for change. (SK)

Youth Climate Summits: Empowering & Engaging Youth to Lead on Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kretser, J.

2017-12-01

The Wild Center's Youth Climate Summits is a program that engages youth in climate literacy from knowledge and understanding to developing action in their schools and communities. Each Youth Climate Summit is a one to three day event that brings students and teachers together to learn about climate change science, impacts and solutions at a global and local level. Through speakers, workshops and activities, the Summit culminates in a student-driven Climate Action Plan that can be brought back to schools and communities. The summits have been found to be powerful vehicles for inspiration, learning, community engagement and youth leadership development. Climate literacy with a focus on local climate impacts and solutions is a key component of the Youth Climate Summit. The project-based learning surrounding the creation of a unique, student driven, sustainability and Climate Action Plan promotes leadership skills applicable and the tools necessary for a 21st Century workforce. Student driven projects range from school gardens and school energy audits to working with NYS officials to commit to going 100% renewable electricty at the three state-owned downhill ski facilities. The summit model has been scaled and replicated in other communities in New York State, Vermont, Ohio, Michigan and Washington states as well as internationally in Finland, Germany and Sri Lanka.

A Framework for Evaluating Qualitative Changes in Learners' Experience and Engagement: Developing Communicative English Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirkwood, Adrian Terence; Rae, Jan

2011-01-01

This article presents the context and framework for evaluation studies of educational transformations associated with the English in Action Project, Bangladesh (EIA) as it progresses over a nine-year period. EIA was launched in May 2008 with the intention of developing communicative English language learning and teaching in Bangladesh. Through a…

Augmented Reality M-Learning to Enhance Nursing Skills Acquisition in the Clinical Skills Laboratory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrett, Bernard M.; Jackson, Cathryn; Wilson, Brian

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to report on a pilot research project designed to explore if new mobile augmented reality (AR) technologies have the potential to enhance the learning of clinical skills in the lab. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory action-research-based pilot study was undertaken to explore an initial proof-of-concept design in…

Promoting the Development of a Supportive Learning Environment through Action Research from the "Middle Out"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodgson, David; May, Steve; Marks-Maran, Diane

2008-01-01

This paper reports on a case study of a supportive learning environment initiative (SLEI) for students on health and social care undergraduate programmes in one English university. It involved the development of small scale support projects that are firmly grounded in the outcomes of prior research as well as the ongoing experience of students and…

Transforming a High School Media Center into a Library Learning Commons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiara, Nancy A.

2014-01-01

This study outlines a planned action based research project focused on studying the transformation of an urban high school media center to a learning commons model. This study includes a descriptive account as well as the impact of steps taken to match the media center to the needs of the 21st century learner. The research focuses on shifting…

Developing Teachers' Work for Improving Teaching and Learning of Children with Visual Impairment Accommodated in Ordinary Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mnyanyi, Cosmas B. F.

2009-01-01

The study investigated how to facilitate teachers in developing their work in improving the teaching and learning of children with visual impairment (CVI) accommodated in ordinary classrooms. The study takes the form of collaborative action research where the researcher works in collaboration with the teachers. The project is being conducted in…

Development of Team Action Projects in Surgery (TAPS): a multilevel team-based approach to teaching quality improvement.

PubMed

Waits, Seth A; Reames, Bradley N; Krell, Robert W; Bryner, Benjamin; Shih, Terry; Obi, Andrea T; Henke, Peter K; Minter, Rebecca M; Englesbe, Michael J; Wong, Sandra L

2014-01-01

To meet the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education core competency in Practice-Based Learning and Improvement, educational curricula need to address training in quality improvement (QI). We sought to establish a program to train residents in the principles of QI and to provide practical experiences in developing and implementing improvement projects. We present a novel approach for engaging students, residents, and faculty in QI efforts-Team Action Projects in Surgery (TAPS). Large academic medical center and health system. Multiple teams consisting of undergraduate students, medical students, surgery residents, and surgery faculty were assembled and QI projects developed. Using "managing to learn" Lean principles, these multilevel groups approached each project with robust data collection, development of an A3, and implementation of QI activities. A total of 5 resident led QI projects were developed during the TAPS pilot phase. These included a living kidney donor enhanced recovery protocol, consult improvement process, venous thromboembolism prophylaxis optimization, Clostridium difficile treatment standardization, and understanding variation in operative duration of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Qualitative and quantitative assessment showed significant value for both the learner and stakeholders of QI related projects. Through the development of TAPS, we demonstrate a novel approach to addressing the increasing focus on QI within graduate medical education. Efforts to expand this multilevel team based approach would have value for teachers and learners alike. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brown, Carrie; LaRue, Anna; Pigman, Margaret

As more and more zero net energy (ZNE) buildings are built and monitored, we can learn from both careful case studies of individual projects as well as a broader perspective of trends over time. In a forum sponsored by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), eight expert speakers discussed: results and lessons from monitoring occupied ZNE buildings; best practices for setting performance targets and getting actionable performance information, and; things that have surprised them about monitored ZNE buildings. This paper distills the content of the forum by laying out the most common hurdles that are encountered in setting up monitoringmore » projects, frequent performance issues that the monitoring uncovers, and lessons learned that can be applied to future projects.« less

When Theory Meets Practice: Applying Cambourne's Conditions for Learning to Professional Development for Elementary School EFL Teachers (Cuando la teoría y la práctica se encuentran: implementación de las condiciones de aprendizaje de Cambourne en el desarrollo profesional de docentes de inglés de la básica primaria)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cadavid Múnera, Isabel Cristina; Díaz Mosquera, Claudia Patricia; Quinchía Ortiz, Diana Isabel

2011-01-01

This article presents a reflection on an action research project carried out by a group of teachers and students at Universidad de Antioquia. The action research project aimed at determining the impact of a professional development proposal for elementary school English teachers in Medellin, Colombia. In the first section, the article describes…

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Program Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lindenmoyer, Alan; Horkachuck, Mike; Shotwell, Gwynne; Manners, Bruce; Culbertson, Frank

2015-01-01

This report has been developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) Risk Management team in close coordination with the COTS Program. This document provides a point-in-time, cumulative, summary of actionable key lessons learned derived from the design project. Lessons learned invariably address challenges and risks and the way in which these areas have been addressed. Accordingly the risk management thread is woven throughout the document.

Methodologic support in habilitation and rehabilitation: communicative action between practice and science.

PubMed

Iwarsson, S; Jernryd, E; Rutström, C; Boqvist, A

2000-01-01

This study evaluated the early phase of development of a model for quality improvement of habilitation and rehabilitation project processes. The focus of the methodologic support in habilitation and rehabilitation model was on cooperation between practice contexts and science. Habermas' theory about communicative action was a theoretical frame of reference. Three project coordinators and ten project leaders were interviewed. The results revealed different attitudes towards methodologic support activities, demonstrating the importance of acknowledging cognitive and social functions, the process of legitimization, different approaches of practice versus science, and problems regarding information and communication. The model was shown to be important in bridging the gap between practice and science. To support reflective and emancipatory cognitive learning, more efforts to foster communicative action are called for, and more attention must be paid to the importance different missions and organizational structures have for the development of the dialog between practitioners and researchers.

Learning and Teaching English in the Portuguese Primary School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naysmith, John; Palma, Albertina

1997-01-01

Describes preliminary findings of an action research project undertaken by teachers in Setubal, Portugal, who are exploring ways to introduce English as a first foreign language into the Portuguese primary school curriculum. (three references) (CK)

Collaborative Action Research between Schools, a Continuing Professional Development Centre for Teachers and the University: A Case Study in Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González Alfaya, Maria Elena; Olivares García, Maria Ángeles; Mérida Serrano, Rosario

2017-01-01

This article describes a collaborative action research project developed over the course of the 2011/12 academic year in the Faculty of Education at Cordoba University (Spain). The RIECU school-continuing professional development centre for teachers-university learning network is part of this research process. The aim is to create and consolidate…

Women Reaching Women: Change in Action--Using Action Learning to Help Address Seemingly Intractable and Large Scale Social Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langley, Dawn; Watts, Richard

2010-01-01

In 2008, 28 women from the Women's Institute volunteered to join us in a project exploring the issue of world poverty and gender inequality, specifically highlighting the disproportionate effects of climate change on women. Collectively we were asking a big question about how we as individuals, based in England, make a difference on a global…

Interim Reflections on the Corporate University and SME Academy Business Development Innovation and Its Diffusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dealtry, Richard

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to reflect on and inform about learning points from ECUANET, a two-year duration best practice action research and transnational networking project as it approaches its final stage. Design/methodology/approach: The paper explicates the key positive and obfuscating dynamics that the project team have had to,…

Forging Connections in Adult Higher Education. National Conference on Alternative and External Degree Programs for Adults (14th, San Francisco, California, October 6-8, 1994).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Council on Education, Washington, DC.

This document contains the following 25 papers from a conference on adult higher educational practices: "Learning and Workplace Linkages via Applied Research Projects" (Elaine Cahalan Hollensbe, Linda Hauber); "Practical Action Research in Non-Traditional Students' Senior Projects" (Elliott Lauderdale); "Obtaining the Elusive: An Innovative Degree…

An Audit Learning Experience: A Pilot Project through Cooperation with a Third Sector Organization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tonge, Richard; Willett, Caroline

2012-01-01

This paper is a critical evaluation of a pilot cooperative education project conducted with a charitable organization in the UK. An action research approach was adopted. Final level students who are studying auditing have had the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills they are developing through their studies to a real-life situation in the…

Opening the Doors of Your Community. Pennsylvania Youth in Action. Project 2--Member Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park. Dept. of Agricultural and Extension Education.

This student workbook is for 12- to 14-year-olds participating in the Pennsylvania 4-H "Opening the Doors of Your Community" project which is designed to involve youth in improving the quality of community life, learning about the role and functions of local government, understanding public issues, becoming involved in the process of…

An Interprofessional Collaborative Practice model for preparation of clinical educators.

PubMed

Scarvell, Jennie M; Stone, Judy

2010-07-01

Work-integrated learning is essential to health professional education, but faces increasing academic and industry resource pressures. The aim of this pilot "Professional Practice Project" was to develop and implement an innovative education intervention for clinical educators across several health disciplines. The project used interprofessional collaboration as its underlying philosophy, and a participatory action research methodology in four cycles: Cycle 1: Formation of an interprofessional project executive and working party from academic staff. Data collection of student insights into work integrated learning. Cycle 2: Formation of an interprofessional reference group to inform curriculum development for a series of clinical education workshops. Cycle 3: Delivery of workshops; 174 clinical educators, supervisors and preceptors attended two workshops: "Introduction to experiential learning" and " utilizing available resources for learning". Cycle 4: Seminar discussion of the Professional Practice Project at a national health-education conference. This pilot project demonstrated the advantages of using collaborative synergies to allow innovation around clinical education, free from the constraints of traditional discipline-specific education models. The planning, delivery and evaluation of clinical education workshops describe the benefits of interprofessional collaboration through enhanced creative thinking, sharing of clinical education models and a broadening of experience for both learners and facilitators.

Distinct prediction errors in mesostriatal circuits of the human brain mediate learning about the values of both states and actions: evidence from high-resolution fMRI

PubMed Central

Pauli, Wolfgang M.; Larsen, Tobias; Tyszka, J. Michael; O’Doherty, John P.

2017-01-01

Prediction-error signals consistent with formal models of “reinforcement learning” (RL) have repeatedly been found within dopaminergic nuclei of the midbrain and dopaminoceptive areas of the striatum. However, the precise form of the RL algorithms implemented in the human brain is not yet well determined. Here, we created a novel paradigm optimized to dissociate the subtypes of reward-prediction errors that function as the key computational signatures of two distinct classes of RL models—namely, “actor/critic” models and action-value-learning models (e.g., the Q-learning model). The state-value-prediction error (SVPE), which is independent of actions, is a hallmark of the actor/critic architecture, whereas the action-value-prediction error (AVPE) is the distinguishing feature of action-value-learning algorithms. To test for the presence of these prediction-error signals in the brain, we scanned human participants with a high-resolution functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fMRI) protocol optimized to enable measurement of neural activity in the dopaminergic midbrain as well as the striatal areas to which it projects. In keeping with the actor/critic model, the SVPE signal was detected in the substantia nigra. The SVPE was also clearly present in both the ventral striatum and the dorsal striatum. However, alongside these purely state-value-based computations we also found evidence for AVPE signals throughout the striatum. These high-resolution fMRI findings suggest that model-free aspects of reward learning in humans can be explained algorithmically with RL in terms of an actor/critic mechanism operating in parallel with a system for more direct action-value learning. PMID:29049406

Exploring multiple intelligences theory in the context of science education: An action research approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodnough, Karen Catherine

2000-10-01

Since the publication of Frames of Mind: The Theory in Practice, multiple intelligences, theory (Gardner, 1983) has been used by practitioners in a variety of ways to make teaching and learning more meaningful. However, little attention has been focused on exploring the potential of the theory for science teaching and learning. Consequently, this research study was designed to: (1) explore Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (1983) and its merit for making science teaching and learning more meaningful; (2) provide a forum for teachers to engage in critical self-reflection about their theory and practice in science education; (3) study the process of action research in the context of science education; and (4) describe the effectiveness of collaborative action research as a framework for teacher development and curriculum development. The study reports on the experiences of four teachers (two elementary teachers, one junior high teacher, and one high school teacher) and myself, a university researcher-facilitator, as we participated in a collaborative action research project. The action research group held weekly meetings over a five-month period (January--May, 1999). The inquiry was a qualitative case study (Stake, 1994) that aimed to understand the perspectives of those directly involved. This was achieved by using multiple methods to collect data: audiotaped action research meetings, fieldnotes, semi-structured interviews, journal writing, and concept mapping. All data were analysed on an ongoing basis. Many positive outcomes resulted from the study in areas such as curriculum development, teacher development, and student learning in science. Through the process of action research, research participants became more reflective about their practice and thus, enhanced their pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman, 1987) in science. Students became more engaged in learning science, gained a greater understanding of how they learn, and experienced a science curriculum that was more relevant and personalized. In addition, the action research process provided a feasible and effective forum for both curriculum development and professional development.

Pathways to policy: Lessons learned in multisectoral collaboration for physical activity and built environment policy development from the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative.

PubMed

Politis, Christopher E; Mowat, David L; Keen, Deb

2017-06-16

The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer funded 12 large-scale knowledge to action cancer and chronic disease prevention projects between 2009 and 2016 through the Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) initiative. Two projects, Healthy Canada by Design (HCBD) and Children's Mobility, Health and Happiness (CMHH), developed policies to address physical activity and the built environment through a multisectoral approach. A qualitative analysis involving a review of 183 knowledge products and 8 key informant interviews was conducted to understand what policy changes occurred, and the underlying critical success factors, through these projects. Both projects worked at the local level to change physical activity and built environment policy in 203 sites, including municipalities and schools. Both projects brought multisectoral expertise (e.g., public health, land use planning, transportation engineering, education, etc.) together to inform the development of local healthy public policy in the areas of land use, transportation and school travel planning. Through the qualitative analysis of the knowledge products and key informant interviews, 163 policies were attributed to HCBD and CMHH work. Fourteen "pathways to policy" were identified as critical success factors facilitating and accelerating the development and implementation of physical activity and built environment policy. Of the 14 pathways to policy, 8 had a focus on multisectoral collaboration. The lessons learned from the CLASP experience could support enhanced multisectoral collaborations to accelerate the development and implementation of physical activity and built environment policy in new jurisdictions across Canada and internationally.

Use of Action Research in Nursing Education

PubMed Central

Pehler, Shelley-Rae; Stombaugh, Angela

2016-01-01

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to describe action research in nursing education and to propose a definition of action research for providing guidelines for research proposals and criteria for assessing potential publications for nursing higher education. Methods. The first part of this project involved a search of the literature on action research in nursing higher education from 1994 to 2013. Searches were conducted in the CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. Applying the criteria identified, 80 publications were reviewed. The second part of the project involved a literature review of action research methodology from several disciplines to assist in assessing articles in this review. Results. This article summarizes the nursing higher education literature reviewed and provides processes and content related to four topic areas in nursing higher education. The descriptions assist researchers in learning more about the complexity of both the action research process and the varied outcomes. The literature review of action research in many disciplines along with the review of action research in higher education provided a framework for developing a nursing-education-centric definition of action research. Conclusions. Although guidelines for developing action research and criteria for publication are suggested, continued development of methods for synthesizing action research is recommended. PMID:28078138

Using Reciprocal Peer Teaching to Develop Learner Autonomy: An Action Research Project with a Beginners' Chinese Class

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Weiming; Devitt, Ann

2014-01-01

Peer teaching has been used as a mechanism for promoting learner autonomy in a range of language learning contexts. This article explores how absolute beginners in a Chinese class can engage in reciprocal peer teaching (RPT) from the start of their language learning experience and how this contributes to the development of their autonomy as…

Keep Taking the Tablets? Assessing the Use of Tablet Devices in Learning and Teaching Activities in the Further Education Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fabian, Khristin; MacLean, Donald

2014-01-01

This article summarises the methodology and outcomes of an interventionist/action research project to assess the benefits, and potential pitfalls, of the use of mobile devices in learning and teaching activities in a Further Education environment. A bank of 15 tablet devices were purchased and prepared for classroom use. Staff members were…

An Investigation of the Teacher Competencies Needed to Utilize Diagnostic Test Data in Prescribing Occupational Learning Experiences in Teaching EMRS. Final Report. Part II. Appendices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Orville; And Others

These appendixes are to the final report of an action research Project conducted to determine the teacher competencies needed in order to develop valid and effective occupational learning experiences for educable mentally retarded (EMR) students based on available diagnostic test data and information. Included are (1) participant vitas and…

Students implement the Affordable Care Act: a model for undergraduate teaching and research in community health and sociology.

PubMed

Green, Brandn; Jones, Kristal; Boyd, Neil; Milofsky, Carl; Martin, Eric

2015-06-01

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to observe and experience first-hand changing social policies and their impacts for individuals and communities. This article overviews an action research and teaching project developed at an undergraduate liberal arts university and focused on providing ACA enrollment assistance as a way to support student engagement with community health. The project was oriented around education, enrollment and evaluation activities in the community, and students and faculty together reflected on and analyzed the experiences that came from the research and outreach project. Student learning centered around applying concepts of diversity and political agency to health policy and community health systems. Students reported and faculty observed an unexpected empowerment for students who were able to use their university-learned critical thinking skills to explain complex systems to a wide range of audiences. In addition, because the project was centered at a university with no health professions programs, the project provided students interested in community and public health with the opportunity to reflect on how health and access to health care is conditioned by social context. The structure and pedagogical approaches and implications of the action research and teaching project is presented here as a case study for how to engage undergraduates in questions of community and public health through the lens of health policy and community engagement.

Learning from doing: the case for combining normalisation process theory and participatory learning and action research methodology for primary healthcare implementation research.

PubMed

de Brún, Tomas; O'Reilly-de Brún, Mary; O'Donnell, Catherine A; MacFarlane, Anne

2016-08-03

The implementation of research findings is not a straightforward matter. There are substantive and recognised gaps in the process of translating research findings into practice and policy. In order to overcome some of these translational difficulties, a number of strategies have been proposed for researchers. These include greater use of theoretical approaches in research focused on implementation, and use of a wider range of research methods appropriate to policy questions and the wider social context in which they are placed. However, questions remain about how to combine theory and method in implementation research. In this paper, we respond to these proposals. Focussing on a contemporary social theory, Normalisation Process Theory, and a participatory research methodology, Participatory Learning and Action, we discuss the potential of their combined use for implementation research. We note ways in which Normalisation Process Theory and Participatory Learning and Action are congruent and may therefore be used as heuristic devices to explore, better understand and support implementation. We also provide examples of their use in our own research programme about community involvement in primary healthcare. Normalisation Process Theory alone has, to date, offered useful explanations for the success or otherwise of implementation projects post-implementation. We argue that Normalisation Process Theory can also be used to prospectively support implementation journeys. Furthermore, Normalisation Process Theory and Participatory Learning and Action can be used together so that interventions to support implementation work are devised and enacted with the expertise of key stakeholders. We propose that the specific combination of this theory and methodology possesses the potential, because of their combined heuristic force, to offer a more effective means of supporting implementation projects than either one might do on its own, and of providing deeper understandings of implementation contexts, rather than merely describing change.

Systems Engineering Lessons Learned from Solar Array Structures and Mechanisms Deployment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vipavetz, Kevin; Kraft, Thomas

2013-01-01

This report has been developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) Risk Management team in close coordination with the Engineering Directorate at LaRC. This document provides a point-in-time, cumulative, summary of actionable key lessons learned derived from the design project. Lessons learned invariably address challenges and risks and the way in which these areas have been addressed. Accordingly the risk management thread is woven throughout the document.

Selective Use of the Mother Tongue to Enhance Students' English Learning Processes…Beyond the Same Assumptions (Uso selectivo de la lengua materna para mejorar el proceso de aprendizaje del inglés de los estudiantes…Más allá de las mismas suposiciones)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cuartas Alvarez, Luis Fernando

2014-01-01

This article reports the results of an action-research project that examines enhancing students' English learning processes through the selective use of their mother tongues with the aim of overcoming their reluctant attitudes toward learning English in the classroom. This study involves forty ninth-graders from an all-girls public school in…

Interrelationships Among Curriculum and Instruction Variables and Learning Outcomes in Project P.E.A.C.E.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Roger V.

The paper focuses on development and implementation of the curriculum phase of an urban environmental studies program entitled Project Environmental Action Community Education (P.E.A.C.E.) The curriculum model developed for P.E.A.C.E. was based on the premises that it should be created by relevant consumer groups as well as educators,…

Doing by Learning. A Handbook for Organisers and Tutors of Village-Based Community Development Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scott, Ian; And Others

The ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) Rural Adult Education Project was conceived in the spirit of empowering local people to help themselves. This book, a distillation of the experience of the project, was written with the primary object of being of practical use to those who are already involved, or would like to become involved,…

Energy Sector Security through a System for Intelligent, Learning Network Configuration Monitoring and Management (“Essence”)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miller, Craig; Larmouth, Robert

The project was conceived and executed with the overarching objective to provide cost effective tools to cooperative utilities that enabled them to quickly detect, characterize and take remediative action against cyber attacks.

A vulnerability and risk assessment of SEPTA's regional rail : a transit climate change adaptation assessment pilot.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-08-01

This final report for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Transit Climate Change Adaptation Assessment Pilot describes the actions : taken, information gathered, analyses performed, and lessons learned throughout the pilot project. This report d...

Embracing Complexity: Using Technology to Develop a Life-Long Learning Model for Non-Working Time in the Interdependent Homes for Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiang, I-Tsun; Chen, Mei-Li

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to employ complexity theory as a theoretical framework and technology to facilitate the development of a life-long learning model for non-working time in the interdependent homes for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). A "Shining Star Sustainable Action Project" of the ROC Foundation for Autistic…

Increase Reading Fluency of 4th and 5th Grade Students with Learning Disabilities Using Readers' Theatre

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mountford, Kathy A.

2007-01-01

The following Action Research Project Report is to improve the oral reading fluency of the 4th and 5th grade students with learning disabilities. The targeted population participating in this study consisted of a total of ten participants of which five were 4th grade students and five were 5th grade students located in a middle class community…

Archimedes in Action

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vo, Phong T.

2013-11-01

Hands-on learning is very effective in teaching physical concepts to students. Applying the principles they learn to a real-life situation, students are more likely to retain this knowledge, especially when it is presented in a stimulating format. With this in mind, we present here a high school physics project in which students apply basic hydrostatics to construct corrugated cardboard boats capable of supporting two individuals across the length of a high school pool.

Supporting and activating clinical governance development in Ireland: sharing our learning.

PubMed

Flynn, Maureen A; Burgess, Thora; Crowley, Philip

2015-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to present a description of the Irish national clinical governance development initiative and an evaluation of the initiative with the purpose of sharing the learning and proposing actions to activate structures and processes for quality and safety. The Quality and Patient Safety Division of the Health Service Executive established the initiative to counterbalance a possible focus on finances during the economic crisis in Ireland and bring attention to the quality of clinical care. A clinical governance framework for quality in healthcare in Ireland was developed to clearly articulate the fundamentals of clinical governance. The project plan involved three overlapping phases. The first was designing resources for practice; the second testing the implementation of the national resources in practice; and the third phase focused on gathering feedback and learning. Staff responded positively to the clinical governance framework. At a time when there are a lot of demands (measurement and scrutiny) the health services leads and responds well to focused support as they improve the quality and safety of services. Promoting the use of the term "governance for quality and safety" assisted in gaining an understanding of the more traditional term "clinical governance". The experience and outcome of the initiative informed the identification of 12 key learning points and a series of recommendations The initial evaluation was conducted at 24 months so at this stage it is not possible to assess the broader impact of the clinical governance framework beyond the action project hospitals. The single most important obligation for any health system is patient safety and improving the quality of care. The easily accessible, practical resources assisted project teams to lead changes in structures and processes within their services. This paper describes the fundamentals of the clinical governance framework which might serve as a guide for more integrative research endeavours on governance for quality and safety. Experience was gained in both the development of national guidance and their practical use in targeted action projects activating structures and processes that are a prerequisite to delivering safe quality services.

EDUCATIONAL CASE REPORTS

PubMed Central

Ackerman, Sara L.; Boscardin, Christy; Karliner, Leah; Handley, Margaret A.; Cheng, Sarah; Gaither, Tom; Hagey, Jill; Hennein, Lauren; Malik, Faizan; Shaw, Brian; Trinidad, Norver; Zahner, Greg; Gonzales, Ralph

2016-01-01

Problem Systems-based practice focuses on the organization, financing, and delivery of medical services. The American Association of Medical Colleges has recommended that systems-based practice be incorporated into medical schools’ curricula. However, experiential learning in systems-based practice, including practical strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical care, is often absent from or inconsistently included in medical education. Intervention A multidisciplinary clinician and non-clinician faculty team partnered with a cardiology outpatient clinic to design a nine-month clerkship for first-year medical students focused on systems-based practice, delivery of clinical care, and strategies to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical operations. The clerkship was called the Action Research Program. In 2013–2014, eight trainees participated in educational seminars, research activities, and nine-week clinic rotations. A qualitative process and outcome evaluation drew on interviews with students, clinic staff, and supervising physicians, as well as students’ detailed field notes. Context The Action Research Program was developed and implemented at the University of California, San Francisco, an academic medical center in the U.S. All educational activities took place at the university’s medical school and at the medical center’s cardiology outpatient clinic. Outcome Students reported and demonstrated increased understanding of how care delivery systems work, improved clinical skills, growing confidence in interactions with patients, and appreciation for patients’ experiences. Clinicians reported increased efficiency at the clinic level and improved performance and job satisfaction among medical assistants as a result of their unprecedented mentoring role with students. Some clinicians felt burdened when students shadowed them and asked questions during interactions with patients. Most student-led improvement projects were not fully implemented. Lessons Learned The Action Research Program is a small pilot project that demonstrates an innovative pairing of experiential and didactic training in systems-based practice. Lessons learned include the need for dedicated time and faculty support for students’ improvement projects, which were the least successful aspect of the program. We recommend that future projects aiming to combine clinical training and quality improvement projects designate distinct blocks of time for trainees to pursue each of these activities independently. In 2014–2015, the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine incorporated key features of the Action Research Program into the standard curriculum, with plans to build upon this foundation in future curricular innovations. PMID:27064720

Reflections.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitmore, Kathryn F.; Norton-Meier, Lori A.

2000-01-01

Forms part of a themed issue describing "Parent-Kid-Teacher Investigators," a program in which parents, children, and teachers gather regularly to use language and literacy for action research projects. Discusses ways in which schools and families are alike in building a supportive environment for learning. Illustrates conditions contributing to…

Temple of Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Needle, Nathaniel

1999-01-01

Proposes the establishment of a Buddhist temple that would unite Zen practice and alternative education through the teaching of the six paramitas: giving, ethical discipline, patience, effort, meditation, and wisdom. Children and adults would work together on social action projects, responsible use of material resources, noncoercive teaching and…

Action Learning: a new method to increase tractor rollover protective structure (ROPS) adoption.

PubMed

Biddle, Elyce Anne; Keane, Paul R

2012-01-01

Action Learning is a problem-solving process that is used in various industries to address difficult problems. This project applied Action Learning to a leading problem in agricultural safety. Tractor overturns are the leading cause of fatal injury to farmworkers. This cause of injury is preventable using rollover protective structures (ROPS), protective equipment that functions as a roll bar structure to protect the operator in the event of an overturn. For agricultural tractors manufactured after 1976 and employee operated, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation requires employers to equip them with ROPS and seat belts. By the mid-1980s, US tractor manufacturers began adding ROPS on all farm tractors over 20 horsepower sold in the United States (http://www.nasdonline.org/document/113/d001656/rollover-protection-for-farm-tractor-operators.html). However, many older tractors remain in use without ROPS, putting tractor operators at continued risk for traumatic injury and fatality. For many older tractor models ROPS are available for retrofit, but for a variety of reasons, tractor owners have not chosen to retrofit those ROPS. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) attempted various means to ameliorate this occupational safety risk, including the manufacture of a low-cost ROPS for self-assembly. Other approaches address barriers to adoption. An Action Learning approach to increasing adoption of ROPS was followed in Virginia and New York, with mixed results. Virginia took action to increase the manufacturing and adoption of ROPS, but New York saw problems that would be insurmountable. Increased focus on team composition might be needed to establish effective Action Learning teams to address this problem.

Action Learning: A New Method to Increase Tractor Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) Adoption

PubMed Central

Biddle, Elyce Anne; Keane, Paul R.

2016-01-01

Action Learning is a problem-solving process that is used in various industries to address difficult problems. This project applied Action Learning to a leading problem in agricultural safety. Tractor overturns are the leading cause of fatal injury to farmworkers. This cause of injury is preventable using rollover protective structures (ROPS), protective equipment that functions as a roll bar structure to protect the operator in the event of an overturn. For agricultural tractors manufactured after 1976 and employee operated, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation requires employers to equip them with ROPS and seat belts. By the mid-1980s, US tractor manufacturers began adding ROPS on all farm tractors over 20 horsepower sold in the United States (http://www.nasdonline.org/document/113/d001656/rollover-protection-for-farm-tractor-operators.html). However, many older tractors remain in use without ROPS, putting tractor operators at continued risk for traumatic injury and fatality. For many older tractor models ROPS are available for retrofit, but for a variety of reasons, tractor owners have not chosen to retrofit those ROPS. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) attempted various means to ameliorate this occupational safety risk, including the manufacture of a low-cost ROPS for self-assembly. Other approaches address barriers to adoption. An Action Learning approach to increasing adoption of ROPS was followed in Virginia and New York, with mixed results. Virginia took action to increase the manufacturing and adoption of ROPS, but New York saw problems that would be insurmountable. Increased focus on team composition might be needed to establish effective Action Learning teams to address this problem. PMID:22994641

Action learning for health system governance: the reward and challenge of co-production.

PubMed

Lehmann, Uta; Gilson, Lucy

2015-10-01

Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is centrally concerned with people, their relationships and the actions and practices they can implement towards better health systems. These concerns suggest that HPS researchers must work in direct engagement with the practitioners and practice central to the inquiry, acknowledging their tacit knowledge and drawing it into generating new insights into health system functioning. Social science perspectives are of particular importance in this field because health policies and health systems are themselves social and political constructs. However, how can social science methodologies such as action research and narrative and appreciative enquiry enable such research, and how can methodologies from different disciplines be woven together to construct and make meaning of evidence for 'this' field? This article seeks to present 'methodological musings' on these points, to prompt wider discussion on the practice of HPSR. It draws on one long-term collaborative action learning research project being undertaken in Cape Town, South Africa. The District Innovation and Action Learning for Health System Development project is an action research partnership between two South African academic institutions and two health authorities focused, ultimately, on strengthening governance in primary health care.Drawing on this experience, the article considers three interrelated issues: The diversity and complexities of practitioner and research actors involved in co-producing HPSR; The nature of co-production and the importance of providing space to grapple across different systems of meaning;The character of evidence and data in co-production. There is much to be learnt from research traditions outside the health sector, but HPSR must work out its own practices--through collaboration and innovation among researchers and practitioners. In this article, we provide one set of experiences to prompt wider reflection and stimulate engagement on the practice of HPSR for people-centred health systems. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.

Enhancing frontline clinical leadership in an acute hospital trust.

PubMed

Phillips, Natasha; Byrne, Geraldine

2013-09-01

To report on a leadership programme for ward managers in one National Health Service Trust that aimed to enhance their contribution to the delivery of the organisation's key objectives to support excellent patient experience. Effective ward leadership has been recognised as vital to the quality of care, resource management and interprofessional working. However, there is evidence that, at present, front-line nurse leaders are ill equipped to lead effectively and lack confidence in their ability to do so. The project aimed to provide a tailored programme for ward managers to develop their portfolio of skills to perform this pivotal role. The course contained two key elements: an integrated teaching programme to enhance leadership knowledge and skills and action learning to facilitate application to individual's own leadership practice. Both were underpinned by a change project where each individual identified, undertook and evaluated an innovation in practice. Twenty-two ward managers completed the leadership programme. Participants completed semi-structured questionnaires after each taught module. Action learning was evaluated through a combined structured and semi-structured questionnaire. All participants evaluated the programme as increasing their repertoire of leadership skills. Following completion of the programme, ward managers continue to work together as an evolving community of practice. Ward managers' development is enhanced by a programme integrating theory, action learning and completion of a ward-based project. Ward managers cannot be effectively developed in isolation. Leadership development is best supported where the organisation is also committed to developing. A leadership development programme that incorporates knowledge from within the organisation with external expertise can be an effective method to enhance front-line clinical leadership. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Learning from the implementation of inter-organisational web-based care planning and coordination.

PubMed

Walker, Rae; Blacker, Vivian; Pandita, Linda; Close, Jacky; Mason, Wendy; Watson, Julie

2013-01-01

In Victoria, despite strong policy support, e-care planning and coordination is poorly developed. The action research project discussed here was developed to overcome organisational and worker-level barriers to change. The project outcomes highlighted the need for work on the building blocks of e-care coordination that enhance workers' knowledge and skills, and provide permission and support for appropriate collaborative system and services coordination practices.

Permaculture in higher education: Teaching sustainability through action learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battisti, Bryce Thomas

This is a case study of the use of Action Learning (AL) theory to teach and confer degrees in Permaculture and other forms of sustainability at the newly formed Gaia University International (GUI). In Chapter Two I argue that GUI, as an institution of higher learning, is organized to provide support for learning. The goal of the university structure is to provide students, called Associates, with a vehicle for accumulation of credit towards a bachelor's degree. This organizational structure is necessary, but insufficient for AL because Associates need more than an organization to provide and coordinate their degree programs. In other words, just because the network of university structures are organized in ways that make AL possible and convenient, it does not necessarily follow that Action Learning will occur for any individual Associate. The support structures within GUI's degrees are discussed in Chapter Three. To a greater or lesser degree GUI provides support for personal learning among Associates as advisors and advisees with the goal of helping Associates complete and document the outcomes of world-change projects. The support structures are necessary, but not sufficient for AL because the personal learning process occurring for each Associate requires transformative reflection. Additionally, because Associates' attrition rate is very high, many Associates do not remain enrolled in GUI long enough to benefit from the support structures. At the simplest organizational level I discuss the reflection process conducted in the patterned interactions of assigned learning groups called Guilds (Chapter Four). These groups of Associates work to provide each other with the best possible environment for personal learning through reflection. As its Associates experience transformative reflection, GUI is able to help elevate the quality of world-change efforts in the Permaculture community. Provided the organizational and support structures are in place, this reflection process is both necessary and sufficient for AL. By this I mean that if transformative reflection is occurring in Guild meetings, and is supported by a system of advisors, reviewers and support people within a university organized to give credit for Action Learning, then Action Learning will occur for individual Associates.

Reconstructing constructivism: causal models, Bayesian learning mechanisms, and the theory theory.

PubMed

Gopnik, Alison; Wellman, Henry M

2012-11-01

We propose a new version of the "theory theory" grounded in the computational framework of probabilistic causal models and Bayesian learning. Probabilistic models allow a constructivist but rigorous and detailed approach to cognitive development. They also explain the learning of both more specific causal hypotheses and more abstract framework theories. We outline the new theoretical ideas, explain the computational framework in an intuitive and nontechnical way, and review an extensive but relatively recent body of empirical results that supports these ideas. These include new studies of the mechanisms of learning. Children infer causal structure from statistical information, through their own actions on the world and through observations of the actions of others. Studies demonstrate these learning mechanisms in children from 16 months to 4 years old and include research on causal statistical learning, informal experimentation through play, and imitation and informal pedagogy. They also include studies of the variability and progressive character of intuitive theory change, particularly theory of mind. These studies investigate both the physical and the psychological and social domains. We conclude with suggestions for further collaborative projects between developmental and computational cognitive scientists.

Teaching Literature in the Multicultural Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, Terry; Cawkwell, Gail; Sila'ila'i, Emilie

2009-01-01

This Teaching and Learning Initiative (TLRI) research project explored ways of teaching literature effectively in multicultural and multilingual classrooms. It involved primary and secondary school teacher-researchers working in partnership with university-based researchers over two years on a series of case studies, within an action research…

Words in Action: Rethinking Workplace Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Mike

2003-01-01

Discusses a research project exploring the thought it takes to do physical work, the cognitive processes involved in various blue collar and service occupations like waitressing, hairstyling, plumbing, welding, industrial assembly, and the like. Considers the way occupations are categorized, defines intelligence, and thinks about learning and…

Music Enhances Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campabello, Nicolette; De Carlo, Mary Jane; O'Neil, Jean; Vacek, Mary Jill

An action research project implemented musical strategies to affect and enhance student recall and memory. The target population was three suburban elementary schools near a major midwestern city: (1) a kindergarten classroom contained 32-38 students; (2) a second grade classroom contained 23 students and five Individualized Education Program…

Service user integration into social work education: lessons learned from nordic participatory action projects.

PubMed

Angelin, Anna

2015-01-01

Service users have lacked substantial influence, access, and participation in social work education in Norway and Sweden. In this article the author presents comparative analyses of two participatory projects that have developed and implemented practices that integrate service users into academic social work education and empower service users. The Norwegian HUSK project and the Social Work as Mobilization and Entrepreneurship course, also known as the "Mobilization course," at Lund University in Sweden demonstrate collaboration between research, social work education, and service users. The conclusions focus on the importance of the empowering processes by including recognition and dialogue, co-learning in practice, and the use of neutral venues to ensure effective user participation. The inclusion of service users in social work education can improve both practice and education.

Using Cooperative Learning to Foster the Development of Adolescents' English Writing Skills (Incidencia del aprendizaje cooperativo en el avance de adolescentes en la escritura en inglés)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caicedo Triviño, Paula Andrea

2016-01-01

Seventh grade teachers at a Colombian public school chose cooperative learning as a strategy to improve student's social performance and as a tool to get learners to enrich their academic level. This article reports on an action research and innovation project focused on the results eight students obtained in their written performance in English…

Community action research track: Community-based participatory research and service-learning experiences for medical students.

PubMed

Gimpel, Nora; Kindratt, Tiffany; Dawson, Alvin; Pagels, Patti

2018-04-01

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) and service-learning are unique experiential approaches designed to train medical students how to provide individualized patient care from a population perspective. Medical schools in the US are required to provide support for service-learning and community projects. Despite this requirement, few medical schools offer structured service-learning. We developed the Community Action Research Track (CART) to integrate population medicine, health promotion/disease prevention and the social determinants of health into the medical school curriculum through CBPR and service-learning experiences. This article provides an overview of CART and reports the program impact based on students' participation, preliminary evaluations and accomplishments. CART is an optional 4‑year service-learning experience for medical students interested in community health. The curriculum includes a coordinated longitudinal program of electives, community service-learning and lecture-based instruction. From 2009-2015, 146 CART students participated. Interests in public health (93%), community service (73%), primary care (73%), CBPR (60%) and community medicine (60%) were the top reasons for enrolment. Significant improvements in mean knowledge were found when measuring the principles of CBPR, levels of prevention, determining health literacy and patient communication strategies (all p's < 0.05). Most students (73%) were satisfied with CART. Projects were disseminated by at least 65 posters and four oral presentations at local, national and international professional meetings. Six manuscripts were published in peer-reviewed journals. CART is an innovative curriculum for training future physicians to be community-responsive physicians. CART can be replicated by other medical schools interested in offering a longitudinal CBPR and service-learning track in an urban metropolitan setting.

Lessons Learned from Participatory Design in Dementia Care: Placing Care Partners at the Centre.

PubMed

Hendriks, Niels; Slegers, Karin; Wilkinson, Andrea

2017-01-01

In this paper we analyze the participatory design (PD) process of a health information technology (HIT) project. This project, AToM was situated in dementia care and involved partners from academia, industry and care. The analysis specifically focuses on the role of the care partners in the PD process. We will show that the conditions to enable 'good participatory design' were not fully met and we present a set of actions to prevent this in future HIT projects. Central to our recommended approach is placing the care partners at the centre of the PD project.

Improving Student Achievement through Organization of Student Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brookbank, Donna; Grover, Susan; Kullberg, Karin; Strawser, Cathleen

This action research project investigated various reading strategies to increase reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. The targeted population consisted of students from three elementary schools and one junior high school, located in lower to middle socioeconomic neighborhoods. Two elementary schools and the junior high school are located…

Tyler Junior College, Exploring America's Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyler Junior Coll., TX.

In 1996, Texas's Tyler Junior College (TJC) participated in the American Association of Community Colleges' Exploring America's Communities project, which works to strengthen the teaching and learning of American history, literature, and culture at U.S. community colleges. TJC's action plan goals were to solicit administrative endorsement and…

The Compact Project. School-Business Partnerships for Improving Education. Corporate Action Package.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Alliance of Business, Inc., Washington, DC.

This document profiles the business-education partnerships in 12 cities and reports the lessons learned from their experiences. The cities are Albuquerque (New Mexico), Cincinnati (Ohio), Detroit (Michigan), Indianapolis (Indiana), Louisville (Kentucky), Memphis (Tennessee), Miami/Dade County (Florida), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania), Providence (Rhode…

The Undergraduate Classroom as a Community of Inquiry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Cara Taylor

2012-01-01

This project contributes to the literature on action research and undergraduate pedagogy for leadership development through application and expansion of existing theory on collaborative ways of teaching and learning. I applied a participatory, inquiry-based approach to teaching an undergraduate course in leadership studies over four semesters…

Implementing vocabulary strategies to help English language learners in science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ton, Nancy

This action research project was designed to incorporate two vocabulary strategies in the 'classroom to increase student learning for English language learners in science. Introduction of key words prior to starting a new chapter and incorporating pictures into glossaries are the two strategies used during the project. Teacher generated chapter pre-assessments, post-assessments, and summative assessments results were used to determine the impact of the strategies on English language learners.

K-4 Keepers Collection: A Service Learning Teacher Professional Development Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwerin, T. G.; Blaney, L.; Myers, R. J.

2011-12-01

This poster focuses on the K-4 Keepers Collection, a service-learning program developed for the Earth System Science Education Alliance (ESSEA). ESSEA is a NOAA-, NASA- and NSF-supported program of teacher professional development that increases teachers' pedagogical content knowledge of climate-related Earth system science. The ESSEA program -- whether used in formal higher education courses or frequented by individual teachers who look for classroom activities in the environmental sciences -- provides a full suite of activities, lessons and units for teachers' use. The ESSEA network consists of 45 universities and education centers addressing climate and environment issues. K-4 Keepers Collection - ESSEA K-4 module collections focus on five specific themes of content development: spheres, Polar Regions, oceans, climate and service learning. The K-4 Keepers collection provides the opportunity for teachers to explore topics and learning projects promoting stewardship of the Earth's land, water, air and living things. Examination of the impacts of usage and pollution on water, air, land and living things through service-learning projects allows students to become informed stewards. All of the modules include short-term sample projects that either educate or initiate action involving caring for the environment. The K-4 Keepers course requires teachers to develop similar short or long-term projects for implementation in their classrooms. Objectives include: 1. Increase elementary teachers' environmental literacy addressing ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, stewardship, weather and climate science standards and using NOAA and NASA resources. 2. Develop elementary teachers' efficacy in employing service learning projects focused on conserving and preserving Earth's land, air, water and living things. 3. Prepare college faculty to incorporate service learning and environmental literacy into their courses through professional development and modules on the ESSEA website.

Pre-Service Teacher as Researcher: The Value of Inquiry in Learning Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hohloch, Janice M.; Grove, Nathaniel; Lowery Bretz, Stacey

2007-09-01

A pre-service science and mathematics teacher participated in an action research project to reform a chemistry course required of elementary and middle childhood pre-service teachers. Activities to emphasize a hands-on approach to learning chemistry and to model teaching science through inquiry for these pre-service teachers are described. The value of a research experience for pre-service teachers, both upon their student teaching and as a classroom teacher, is discussed.

Ares Knowledge Capture: Summary and Key Themes Presentation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coates, Ralph H.

2011-01-01

This report has been developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) Risk Management team in close coordination with the MSFC Chief Engineers Office. This document provides a point-in-time, cumulative, summary of actionable key lessons learned derived from the design project. Lessons learned invariably address challenges and risks and the way in which these areas have been addressed. Accordingly the risk management thread is woven throughout the document.

Students' learning as the focus for shared involvement between universities and clinical practice: a didactic model for postgraduate degree projects.

PubMed

Öhlén, J; Berg, L; Björk Brämberg, E; Engström, Å; German Millberg, L; Höglund, I; Jacobsson, C; Lepp, M; Lidén, E; Lindström, I; Petzäll, K; Söderberg, S; Wijk, H

2012-10-01

In an academic programme, completion of a postgraduate degree project could be a significant means of promoting student learning in evidence- and experience-based practice. In specialist nursing education, which through the European Bologna process would be raised to the master's level, there is no tradition of including a postgraduate degree project. The aim was to develop a didactic model for specialist nursing students' postgraduate degree projects within the second cycle of higher education (master's level) and with a specific focus on nurturing shared involvement between universities and healthcare settings. This study embodies a participatory action research and theory-generating design founded on empirically practical try-outs. The 3-year project included five Swedish universities and related healthcare settings. A series of activities was performed and a number of data sources secured. Constant comparative analysis was applied. A didactic model is proposed for postgraduate degree projects in specialist nursing education aimed at nurturing shared involvement between universities and healthcare settings. The focus of the model is student learning in order to prepare the students for participation as specialist nurses in clinical knowledge development. The model is developed for the specialist nursing education, but it is general and could be applicable to various education programmes.

Popular Education for the Environment: Building Interest in the Educational Dimension of Social Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whelan, James

2005-01-01

Community-based environmental education is an important part of the sustainability project. Along with regulation and market-based instruments, adult learning and education in non-formal settings consistently features in the sustainability strategies advocated and implemented by government, community and industry entities. Community-situated…

Needs Assessments: An Integrated Assignment in Civic Service

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norris, Debra S.; Schwartz, Charles L.

2009-01-01

An undergraduate social work program developed a service-learning experience in partnership with a local United Way organization to complete a community needs assessment project. The experience integrated the curricula of a social work research methods course and a generalist-macro practice course with the principles and actions of experiential…

Working Memory and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossland, John

2010-01-01

Feedback from teachers during in-service courses shows that they are fascinated by neuroscience, as they feel that it has the potential to improve their teaching practice. A previous article of mine in "School Science Review" reported the first eight messages of the outcomes from a small-scale action research project with primary and secondary…

42 CFR 482.21 - Condition of participation: Quality assessment and performance improvement program.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... projects, develop and implement an information technology system explicitly designed to improve patient... program that shows measurable improvement in indicators for which there is evidence that it will improve... learning throughout the hospital. (3) The hospital must take actions aimed at performance improvement and...

Development and Trialling of a Graduated Descriptors Tool for Australian Pharmacy Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stupans, Ieva; Owen, Susanne; McKauge, Leigh; Pont, Lisa; Ryan, Greg; Woulfe, Jim

2012-01-01

Profession-derived competency standards are key determinants for curriculum and assessment in many professional university programmes. An Australian Learning and Teaching Council funded project used a participatory action research approach to enable the collaborative development of a graduated (or incremental) descriptors tool related to…

OER Use in Intermediate Language Instruction: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godwin-Jones, Robert

2017-01-01

This paper reports on a case study in the experimental use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in intermediate level language instruction. The resources come from three sources: the instructor, the students, and open content repositories. The objective of this action research project was to provide student-centered learning materials, enhance…

Dialogic Group Coaching--Inspiration from Transformative Mediation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alrø, Helle; Dahl, Poul Nørgård

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to group coaching in the workplace that can enhance shared learning in groups and teams through dialogue as opposed to group members' individual positioning through discussion and debate. Design/methodology/approach: An action research project conducted throughout one year in…

Brain Biology and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossland, John

2010-01-01

Feedback from teachers during in-service courses shows that they are fascinated by neuroscience, as they feel that it has the potential to improve their teaching practice. There were two main outcomes from a small-scale action research project with primary and secondary science advanced skills teachers (AST) in North Yorkshire. The first is that…

Assessing Complexity. Group Composing for a Secondary School Qualifcation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thorpe, Vicki

2017-01-01

This article examines a unique music curriculum and assessment environment through the fndings of a practical action research project carried out in secondary schools. I address two current international educational issues: the relationship between formal and informal learning in music, and how individuals' contributions in collaborative groups…

Learning ESL Literacy among Indo-Canadian Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cumming, Alister; Gill, Jaswinder

1991-01-01

Reports findings from an action research project that set up an instructional program for Punjabi-speaking women immigrants and traced their English and literacy development in classroom and home settings. Data indicate that efforts to teach and acquire literacy focused on language code; self-control strategies and schematic representations for…

Dynamic User Modeling within a Game-Based ITS

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snow, Erica L.

2015-01-01

Intelligent tutoring systems are adaptive learning environments designed to support individualized instruction. The adaptation embedded within these systems is often guided by user models that represent one or more aspects of students' domain knowledge, actions, or performance. The proposed project focuses on the development and testing of user…

Pilot Project to Optimize Ground Water Remediation Systems at RCRA Corrective Action Facilities: Summary Report and Lessons Learned

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Based on previous success with conducting independent optimization evaluations at Fund-lead pump and treat sites (i.e., those sites with pump and treat systems funded and managed by Superfund and the States), the EPA Office of Superfund .....

Hagerstown Junior College, Exploring America's Communities. Progress Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hagerstown Junior Coll., MD.

In 1996, Hagerstown Junior College (Maryland) participated in the American Association of Community Colleges' Exploring America's Communities project, which works to strengthen the teaching and learning of American history, literature, and culture at U.S. community colleges. The primary goals of the action plan were to create a series of faculty…

Promoting Self-Esteem in a Caring Positive Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hodges, Linda; Wolf, Carolyn J.

Noting that low self-esteem negatively affects student achievement, this action research project implemented and evaluated a program for increasing student self-esteem through a caring and positive classroom environment incorporating cooperative learning and the use of praise and rewards. The targeted population consisted of fifth grade physical…

Photovoice as Methodology, Pedagogy, and Partnership-Building Tool: A Graduate and Community College Student Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Latz, Amanda O.; Phelps-Ward, Robin; Royer, Dan; Peters, Tiffany

2016-01-01

Participatory action research, photovoice, diversity, and immersive learning comprised the most important aspects of the Community Colleges and Diversity graduate course taught during the 2014 spring semester. This project involved eight graduate students, five community college students, three community college administrators, and one university…

Learning among nursing faculty: insights from a participatory action research project about teaching international students.

PubMed

Del Fabbro, Letitia; Mitchell, Creina; Shaw, Julie

2015-03-01

It is imperative that nursing education addresses the issues arising from globalization. The adjustment challenges faced by international nursing students globally highlight the need to understand how nursing faculty experience and teach nursing classes with a mix of domestic and foreign students. This article reports on a participatory action research (PAR) study to examine and enhance the scholarly teaching of international nursing students. The overarching research question for this PAR was: How did participation in a PAR study contribute to shared learning and professional development of nursing faculty teaching international students? Five major themes were identified across the PAR: creating sharing spaces, recognizing and respecting diversity, developing and acknowledging teaching capabilities, utilizing precious time, and valuing the research. In summary, PAR was a useful approach to engage faculty in research by providing a process and a space to address concerns about the teaching and learning of international students. Copyright 2015, SLACK Incorporated.

The potential of transnational language policy to promote social inclusion of immigrants: An analysis and evaluation of the European Union's INCLUDE project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bian, Cui

2017-08-01

Language issues and social inclusion consistently remain two major concerns for member countries of the European Union (EU). Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of language learning in migrants' social inclusion, and the promotion of language policies at European and national levels, there is still a lack of common actions at the European level. Challenged by questions as to whether language learning should be prioritised as a human right or as human capital building, how host/mainstream language learning can be reinforced while respecting language diversity, and other problems, member countries still need to find solutions. Confronting these dilemmas, this study analyses the relationship and interactions between language learning and immigrants' social inclusion in different contexts. It explores the potential of enhancing the effectiveness of language policies via a dialogue between policies and practices in different national contexts and research studies in the field of language and social inclusion. The research data are derived from two databases created by a European policy for active social inclusion project called INCLUDE. This project ran from 2013 to 2016 under the EU's lifelong learning programme, with funding support from the European Commission. Through an analysis of these two project databases, the paper reviews recent national language policies and their effect on the social inclusion of migrants. In the second part of her article, the author interprets the process of language learning and social inclusion using poststructuralist theories of language and identity.

Confronting Power: Success Isn't Everything--but It's Not Nothing Either. A Response to "Beyond the Catch-22 of School-Based Social Action Programs: Toward a More Pragmatic Approach for Dealing with Power"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westheimer, Joel

2011-01-01

Fehrman and Schutz contend that the fine balance between having students experience real-world obstacles to social change and having them learn how to navigate around those obstacles can be achieved by having adults both pre-select community action projects that are both possible and meaningful to ensure a modicum of success, and jump in and…

Action Information Management System (AIMS): a User's View

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wiskerchen, M.

1984-01-01

The initial approach used in establishing a user-defined information system to fulfill the needs of users at NASA Headquarters was unsuccessful in bringing this pilot endeaveor to full project status. The persistence of several users and the full involvement of the Ames Research Center were the ingredients needed to make the AIMS project a success. The lesson learned from this effort is that NASA should always work from its organizational strengths as a Headquarters-Center partnership.

Developing accreditation for community based surgery: the Irish experience.

PubMed

Ní Riain, Ailís; Collins, Claire; O'Sullivan, Tony

2018-02-05

Purpose Carrying out minor surgery procedures in the primary care setting is popular with patients, cost effective and delivers at least as good outcomes as those performed in the hospital setting. This paper aims to describe the central role of clinical leadership in developing an accreditation system for general practitioners (GPs) undertaking community-based surgery in the Irish national setting where no mandatory accreditation process currently exists. Design/methodology/approach In all, 24 GPs were recruited to the GP network. Ten pilot standards were developed addressing GPs' experience and training, clinical activity and practice supporting infrastructure and tested, using information and document review, prospective collection of clinical data and a practice inspection visit. Two additional components were incorporated into the project (patient satisfaction survey and self-audit). A multi-modal evaluation was undertaken. A majority of GPs was included at all stages of the project, in line with the principles of action learning. The steering group had a majority of GPs with relevant expertise and representation of all other actors in the minor surgery arena. The GP research network contributed to each stage of the project. The project lead was a GP with minor surgery experience. Quantitative data collected were analysed using Predictive Analytic SoftWare. Krueger's framework analysis approach was used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings A total of 9 GPs achieved all standards at initial review, 14 successfully completed corrective actions and 1 GP did not achieve the required standard. Standards were then amended to reflect findings and a supporting framework was developed. Originality/value The flexibility of the action-learning approach and the clinical leadership design allowed for the development of robust quality standards in a short timeframe.

In it together: Organizational learning through participation in environmental assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitzpatrick, Patricia

2005-07-01

Can organizations learn through participation in environmental assessment (EA)? This was the central research question of a study that explored the linkages among sustainable development, EA, public participation, and learning. To address this question, the research design involved a comparative case study of two concurrent but geographically separate projects, the Wuskwatim generation station and transmission lines projects (Wuskwatim projects), and the Snap Lake Diamonds Project (Snap Lake project). The Wuskwatim projects involve the construction of a low head dam and three 230 kV transmission line segments in Northern Manitoba, Canada. The Snap Lake Project involves the construction and operation of a diamond mine 220 km northwest of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, at the headwaters of the Lockhart River drainage system. The EAs of these proposed developments provided multiple opportunities for public (and organizational) involvement in the review, including comments on the scope of the assessment, information requests, and public hearings. Data collection included participant observation, semi-structured interviews with EA participants, and documentation generated through the course of the reviews. Data were organized using QSR Nvivo, a database software system. In this dissertation, three key contributions are made. The theoretical framework that draws together a number of separate but related fields of study---communicative action, discursive democracy, transformative learning, organizational learning---is the first contribution. The second is verification that organizations learn through participation in EA. Third, empirical support is presented far the assertion that transformative learning can address change beyond that experienced by the individual, to account for both policy-oriented and organizational learning. Related to the second contribution, results indicate that participants of EA engage in Teaming on multiple scales. Furthermore, learning outcomes include both instrumental and communicative learning. Instrumental learning included an increased understanding of technical issues and assessment tools, such as information requests. Communicative teaming outcomes included the importance of dialogue as a means of resolving issues and a refinement of strategies For promoting organizational positions. At an organizational scale, teaming by state actors, including government and tribunals, emphasized mechanisms designed to improve performance within existing structures, or "single-loop learning". Public actors, however, identified more outcomes associated with changes to their theory-in-use, designed to change the structure of the EA process, or "double-loop learning". The discussion of learning supports the application of transformative learning as a framework for considering different scales of learning, the third contribution to research. Findings revealed that individuals and organizations use project specific EA as an opportunity to compel the development and implementation of sustainable initiatives. These findings suggest that higher order learning for sustainability may be occurring through project based EA. Results also revealed the importance of creating opportunities for discussion and debate as a means of engaging organizations in and encouraging learning through EA. These findings support Habermas' emphasis on dialogue as a means of negotiating political systems.

Lessons learned about coordinating academic partnerships from an international network for health education.

PubMed

Luo, Airong; Omollo, Kathleen Ludewig

2013-11-01

There is a growing trend of academic partnerships between U.S., Canadian, and European health science institutions and academic health centers in low- and middle-income countries. These partnerships often encounter challenges such as resource disparities and power differentials, which affect the motivations, expectations, balance of benefits, and results of the joint projects. Little has been discussed in previous literature regarding the communication and project management processes that affect the success of such partnerships. To fill the gap in the literature, the authors present lessons learned from the African Health Open Educational Resources Network, a multicountry, multiorganizational partnership established in May 2008. The authors introduce the history of the network, then discuss actively engaging stakeholders throughout the project's life cycle (design, planning, execution, and closure) through professional development, relationship building, and assessment activities. They focus on communication and management practices used to identify mutually beneficial project goals, ensure timely completion of deliverables, and develop sustainable sociotechnical infrastructure for future collaborative projects. These activities yielded an interactive process of action, assessment, and reflection to ensure that project goals and values were aligned with implementation. The authors conclude with a discussion of lessons learned and how the partnership project may serve as a model for other universities and academic health centers in high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries that are interested in or currently pursuing international academic partnerships.

Strengthening the evidence and action on multi-sectoral partnerships in public health: an action research initiative

PubMed Central

Willis, C. D.; Greene, J. K.; Abramowicz, A.; Riley, B. L.

2016-01-01

Abstract Introduction: The Public Health Agency of Canada’s Multi-sectoral Partnerships Initiative, administered by the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention (CCDP), brings together diverse partners to design, implement and advance innovative approaches for improving population health. This article describes the development and initial priorities of an action research project (a learning and improvement strategy) that aims to facilitate continuous improvement of the CCDP’s partnership initiative and contribute to the evidence on multi-sectoral partnerships. Methods: The learning and improvement strategy for the CCDP’s multi-sectoral partnership initiative was informed by (1) consultations with CCDP staff and senior management, and (2) a review of conceptual frameworks to do with multi-sectoral partnerships. Consultations explored the development of the multi-sectoral initiative, barriers and facilitators to success, and markers of effectiveness. Published and grey literature was reviewed using a systematic search strategy with findings synthesized using a narrative approach. Results: Consultations and the review highlighted the importance of understanding partnership impacts, developing a shared vision, implementing a shared measurement system and creating opportunities for knowledge exchange. With that in mind, we propose a six-component learning and improvement strategy that involves (1) prioritizing learning needs, (2) mapping needs to evidence, (3) using relevant data-collection methods, (4) analyzing and synthesizing data, (5) feeding data back to CCDP staff and teams and (6) taking action. Initial learning needs include investigating partnership reach and the unanticipated effects of multi-sectoral partnerships for individuals, groups, organizations or communities. Conclusion: While the CCDP is the primary audience for the learning and improvement strategy, it may prove useful for a range of audiences, including other government departments and external organizations interested in capturing and sharing new knowledge generated from multi-sectoral partnerships. PMID:27284702

Reconstructing constructivism: Causal models, Bayesian learning mechanisms and the theory theory

PubMed Central

Gopnik, Alison; Wellman, Henry M.

2012-01-01

We propose a new version of the “theory theory” grounded in the computational framework of probabilistic causal models and Bayesian learning. Probabilistic models allow a constructivist but rigorous and detailed approach to cognitive development. They also explain the learning of both more specific causal hypotheses and more abstract framework theories. We outline the new theoretical ideas, explain the computational framework in an intuitive and non-technical way, and review an extensive but relatively recent body of empirical results that supports these ideas. These include new studies of the mechanisms of learning. Children infer causal structure from statistical information, through their own actions on the world and through observations of the actions of others. Studies demonstrate these learning mechanisms in children from 16 months to 4 years old and include research on causal statistical learning, informal experimentation through play, and imitation and informal pedagogy. They also include studies of the variability and progressive character of intuitive theory change, particularly theory of mind. These studies investigate both the physical and psychological and social domains. We conclude with suggestions for further collaborative projects between developmental and computational cognitive scientists. PMID:22582739

Social learning as a key factor in sustainability transitions: The case of Okayama City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Didham, Robert J.; Ofei-Manu, Paul; Nagareo, Masaaki

2017-12-01

The Okayama Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Project is an ongoing initiative in Okayama City, Japan, established in 2005 by the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Okayama and the Okayama Municipal Government with the aim "to create a community where people learn, think and act together towards realising a sustainable society". With a diverse participant base of over 240 organisations - including community learning centres ( kominkans), schools, universities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) - this initiative has administered numerous programmes. It has engaged a large and diverse group of citizens from Okayama City in exploring sustainability issues through collective discussion, envisioning and practice with the aim of living more sustainable lives. The decade-long experience of the Okayama ESD Project has gained international attention, and the "Okayama Model" is considered an inspiring example of community-based ESD due to the positive changes it has supported. In this article, the Okayama ESD Project is presented as a case study on effective social learning for sustainability. In particular, the practical efforts made are examined to provide insights into how various elements of a social learning process were strengthened and linked to create active learning cycles among community members. In addition, the conditions for creating an effective learning community are investigated, while the practical actions taken are examined in relation to creating an effective social learning process. Finally, this article presents the important role which social learning has played in Okayama City's transition to sustainability and identifies the key efforts made to address and link each of these elements of social learning into a dynamic cycle.

Synaptic potentiation onto habenula neurons in the learned helplessness model of depression

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Li, B.; Schulz, D.; Li, B

The cellular basis of depressive disorders is poorly understood. Recent studies in monkeys indicate that neurons in the lateral habenula (LHb), a nucleus that mediates communication between forebrain and midbrain structures, can increase their activity when an animal fails to receive an expected positive reward or receives a stimulus that predicts aversive conditions (that is, disappointment or anticipation of a negative outcome). LHb neurons project to, and modulate, dopamine-rich regions, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), that control reward-seeking behaviour and participate in depressive disorders. Here we show that in two learned helplessness models of depression, excitatory synapses ontomore » LHb neurons projecting to the VTA are potentiated. Synaptic potentiation correlates with an animal's helplessness behaviour and is due to an enhanced presynaptic release probability. Depleting transmitter release by repeated electrical stimulation of LHb afferents, using a protocol that can be effective for patients who are depressed, markedly suppresses synaptic drive onto VTA-projecting LHb neurons in brain slices and can significantly reduce learned helplessness behaviour in rats. Our results indicate that increased presynaptic action onto LHb neurons contributes to the rodent learned helplessness model of depression.« less

Synaptic potentiation onto habenula neurons in learned helplessness model of depression

PubMed Central

Li, Bo; Piriz, Joaquin; Mirrione, Martine; Chung, ChiHye; Proulx, Christophe D.; Schulz, Daniela; Henn, Fritz; Malinow, Roberto

2010-01-01

The cellular basis of depressive disorders is poorly understood1. Recent studies in monkeys indicate that neurons in the lateral habenula (LHb), a nucleus that mediates communication between forebrain and midbrain structures, can increase their activity when an animal fails to receive an expected positive reward or receives a stimulus that predicts aversive conditions (i.e. disappointment or anticipation of a negative outcome)2, 3, 4. LHb neurons project to and modulate dopamine-rich regions such as the ventral-tegmental area (VTA)2, 5 that control reward-seeking behavior6 and participate in depressive disorders7. Here we show in two learned helplessness models of depression that excitatory synapses onto LHb neurons projecting to the VTA are potentiated. Synaptic potentiation correlates with an animal’s helplessness behavior and is due to an enhanced presynaptic release probability. Depleting transmitter release by repeated electrical stimulation of LHb afferents, using a protocol that can be effective on depressed patients8, 9, dramatically suppresses synaptic drive onto VTA-projecting LHb neurons in brain slices and can significantly reduce learned helplessness behavior in rats. Our results indicate that increased presynaptic action onto LHb neurons contributes to the rodent learned helplessness model of depression. PMID:21350486

Synaptic potentiation onto habenula neurons in the learned helplessness model of depression.

PubMed

Li, Bo; Piriz, Joaquin; Mirrione, Martine; Chung, ChiHye; Proulx, Christophe D; Schulz, Daniela; Henn, Fritz; Malinow, Roberto

2011-02-24

The cellular basis of depressive disorders is poorly understood. Recent studies in monkeys indicate that neurons in the lateral habenula (LHb), a nucleus that mediates communication between forebrain and midbrain structures, can increase their activity when an animal fails to receive an expected positive reward or receives a stimulus that predicts aversive conditions (that is, disappointment or anticipation of a negative outcome). LHb neurons project to, and modulate, dopamine-rich regions, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), that control reward-seeking behaviour and participate in depressive disorders. Here we show that in two learned helplessness models of depression, excitatory synapses onto LHb neurons projecting to the VTA are potentiated. Synaptic potentiation correlates with an animal's helplessness behaviour and is due to an enhanced presynaptic release probability. Depleting transmitter release by repeated electrical stimulation of LHb afferents, using a protocol that can be effective for patients who are depressed, markedly suppresses synaptic drive onto VTA-projecting LHb neurons in brain slices and can significantly reduce learned helplessness behaviour in rats. Our results indicate that increased presynaptic action onto LHb neurons contributes to the rodent learned helplessness model of depression.

Integrating Scientific Content with Context to Connect Educators with the Complexities and Consequences of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Low, R.; Gosselin, D. C.; Oglesby, R. J.; Larson-Miller, C.; Thomas, J.; Mawalagedara, R.

2011-12-01

Over the past three years the Nebraska Earth Systems Education Network has designed professional development opportunities for K-12 and extension educators that integrates scientific content into the context of helping educators connect society with the complexities and consequences of climate change. Our professional development approach uses learner-, knowledge-, assessment-, and community-centered strategies to achieve our long-term goal: collaboration of scientists, educators and learners to foster civic literacy about climate change. Two NASA-funded projects, Global Climate Change Literacy for Educators (GCCE, 2009-2012), and the Educators Climatologists Learning Community (ECLC, 2011-2013), have provided the mechanism to provide teachers with scientifically sound and pedagogically relevant educational materials to improve climate and Earth systems literacy among educators. The primary product of the GCCE program is a 16-week, online, distance-delivered, asynchronous course entitled, Laboratory Earth: Human Dimensions of Climate Change. This course consists of four, four-week modules that integrate climate literacy, Earth Systems concepts, and pedagogy focused on active learning processes, building community, action research, and students' sense of place to promote action at the local level to address the challenges of climate change. Overall, the Community of Inquiry Survey (COI) indicated the course was effective in teaching content, developing a community of learners, and engaging students in experiences designed to develop content knowledge. A pre- and post- course Wilcoxan Signed Ranks Test indicated there was a statistically significant increase in participant's beliefs about their personal science teaching efficacy. Qualitative data from concept maps and content mastery assignments support a positive impact on teachers' content knowledge and classroom practice. Service Learning units seemed tohelp teachers connect course learning to their classroom teaching. In addition, qualitative data indicate that teachers' students found service learning to be highly motivational components to learning. The ECLC project, to be initiated in the fall 2011, will build on our GCCE experiences to create a sustainable virtual learning community of educators and scientists. Climate-change issues will serve as a context in which collaborative scientist-educator-teams will develop discrete, locally oriented research projects to facilitate development of confident, knowledgeable citizen-scientists within their classrooms.

AgShare Open Knowledge: Improving Rural Communities through University Student Action Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geith, Christine; Vignare, Karen

2013-01-01

The aim of AgShare is to create a scalable and sustainable collaboration of existing organizations for African publishing, localizing, and sharing of science-based teaching and learning materials that fill critical resource gaps in African MSc agriculture curriculum. Shared innovative practices are emerging through the AgShare projects, not only…

Evaluating Action-Learning and Professional Networking as a Framework for Educational Leadership Capacity Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gunn, Cathy; Lefoe, Geraldine

2013-01-01

This article describes the responsive evaluation component of an educational leadership capacity-building initiative developed at one Australian university and implemented by three others. The project aimed to develop, implement and disseminate an innovative framework to address the national strategic goal to increase the pool of qualified…

Students in Possession of the Issues of Tomorrow: An Innovative Student-Led Course Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Almlov, Maria; Moberg, Emilie

2008-01-01

This article describes an educational experiment, a student-led course called "Learning in Sustainable Development" offered at the teacher training programme at Stockholm University, Sweden. Its purpose was to foster empowerment and action competence among teacher-students in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD). The…

Environmental Education Activity Guide: Pre K-8.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iozzi, Lou; Halsey, Brent, Jr.

Project Learning Tree uses the forest as a window on the world to increase students' understanding of the complex environment in the United States; to stimulate critical and creative thinking; to develop the ability to make informed decisions on environmental issues; and to instill the confidence and commitment to take responsible action on behalf…

Planning Communities: Citizens in Two Border Towns Learn To Plan Their Own Initiatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henkel, David

1998-01-01

The University of New Mexico's Community and Regional Planning Program worked with two border towns that share water resources--Columbus (New Mexico) and Puerto Palomas (Chihuahua, Mexico)--to help them prepare a community comprehensive plan needed for water-project funding. The program conducted action research involving local schools and people…

Recruiting in an Opportunity Culture: Lessons Learned. An Opportunity Culture Vignette

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barrett, Sharon Kebschull

2015-01-01

When districts get ready to recruit excellent teachers for the career possibilities that Opportunity Culture roles offer, success may come down to two actions: Start early, and communicate constantly, say recruiters in Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment For Transformation) schools. What brings excellent teachers in…

Chapter Innovators Guide, 2000: Models of Innovation Award Winners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National FFA Organization, Indianapolis, IN.

This guide presents the Future Farmers of America (FFA) 2000 Model of Innovation award winners' projects. Chapters demonstrated abilities to identify goals and objectives, create a workable plan of action, attain and evaluate results, and identify items learned and ways to improve. Chapter 1 discusses the FFA National Chapter Award program that…

Partial and Incomplete Voices: The Political and Three Early Childhood Teachers' Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henderson, Linda

2014-01-01

The early childhood-school relationship is reported as having points of separation and difference. In particular, early childhood teachers located in a school setting report experiencing a push-down effect. This paper reports on a participatory action research project involving three early childhood teachers working within an independent school.…

Implementing Constructivist Approach into Online Course Designs in Distance Education Institute at Eastern Mediterranean University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gazi, Zehra A.

2009-01-01

Change and development in work settings for better working practice through projects has become essential. And, in this context, learning through working practice is constructed by participatory action research. This work-based research has a significant role to contribute innovative practice of Distance Education Institute at Eastern…

Educating for a Critical Democracy: Civic Participation Reimagined in the Council of Youth Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mirra, Nicole; Morrell, Ernest D.; Cain, Ebony; Scorza, D'Artagnan; Ford, Arlene

2013-01-01

This article explores civic learning, civic participation, and the development of civic agency within the Council of Youth Research (the Council), a program that engages high school students in youth participatory action research projects that challenge school inequalities and mobilize others in pursuit of educational justice. We critique the…

Enhancing the Educational Value of Experiential Learning: The Business Court Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nees, Anne Tucker; Willey, Susan; Mansfield, Nancy R.

2010-01-01

A critical element of an introductory course in business law includes an understanding of the court process and dispute resolution. At Georgia State University (GSU), the authors have required undergraduate business students to make a "court visit" to witness this process in action and to broaden students' basic understanding of the role…

Increasing Student Learning in Mathematics with the Use of Collaborative Teaching Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Di Fatta, Jenna; Garcia, Sarah; Gorman, Stephanie

2009-01-01

Three teacher researchers conducted this action research project to increase their 54 high school students' achievements in mathematics. The teacher researchers had noticed a trend of low scores on teacher-made chapter tests and non-completion of daily homework. Standardized tests showed that most students scored below average on the mathematics…

A survey of planning and scheduling research at the NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zweben, Monte

1989-01-01

NASA Ames Research Center has a diverse program in planning and scheduling. Some research projects as well as some applications are highlighted. Topics addressed include machine learning techniques, action representations and constraint-based scheduling systems. The applications discussed are planetary rovers, Hubble Space Telescope scheduling, and Pioneer Venus orbit scheduling.

Student Attitudes within Education: Making Self-Regulation a Practical Habit in Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Mark

2014-01-01

This action research project on "Self-Regulation" uses the understanding of self-regulation to help students set goals through metacognition so that they may monitor their goals effectively. Being biological and cognitive beings, students are given opportunities to reflect on the process required to set effective goals so that they may…

Leveling the Playing Field: Increasing Student Achievement through Data-Driven Ability Grouping and Instructional Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sexton, Jami

2010-01-01

This action research project focuses on increasing student comprehension and achievement. The study examined the effectiveness of completing detailed item analysis of assessments for the purpose of placing students into different Language Arts classes and learning groups within those classes. Research advocates placing students of similar ability…

Project-Based Community Language Learning: Three Narratives of Multilingual Story-Telling in Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lotherington, Heather; Holland, Michelle; Sotoudeh, Shiva; Zentena, Mike

2008-01-01

At Joyce Public School (JPS) in the Greater Toronto Area, we are engaged in ongoing collaborative action research to develop pedagogical approaches to emergent literacies that engage multilingual, multicultural, and multimodal perspectives in complex interplay. Our research is grounded in the challenges children experience in acquiring literacy…

Experiences with Autonomy: Learners' Voices on Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kristmanson, Paula; Lafargue, Chantal; Culligan, Karla

2013-01-01

This article focuses on the experiences of Grade 12 students using a language portfolio based on the principles and guidelines of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) in their second language classes in a large urban high school. As part of a larger action-research project, focus group interviews were conducted to gather data related to…

Competition, Games, Technology--Boys Are Loving English

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gresham, Peta

2012-01-01

This paper reflects one cycle of an action research project that investigated how integrating activity, competition, and visual learning strategies through IWB/ Smart Response technology could engage a lower level Year 12 Advanced English class in NSW--a group of boys who felt disconnected from the course of study. After my initial reconnaissance…

Exploring the Effects of Including Students' Ideas and Concerns on Their Participation in Online Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuyini, Ahmed Bawa

2011-01-01

As higher education institutions progressively deliver many more courses through online mode, student retention in courses and ensuring participation in tasks and activities are becoming more a concern to teachers and educational institutions. This pilot study--an action learning project--explored the effect of including students' identified…

Building capacity for knowledge translation in occupational therapy: learning through participatory action research.

PubMed

Bennett, Sally; Whitehead, Mary; Eames, Sally; Fleming, Jennifer; Low, Shanling; Caldwell, Elizabeth

2016-10-01

There has been widespread acknowledgement of the need to build capacity in knowledge translation however much of the existing work focuses on building capacity amongst researchers rather than with clinicians directly. This paper's aim is to describe a research project for developing a knowledge translation capacity building program for occupational therapy clinicians. Participatory action research methods were used to both develop and evaluate the knowledge translation capacity-building program. Participants were occupational therapists from a large metropolitan hospital in Australia. Researchers and clinicians worked together to use the action cycle of the Knowledge to Action Framework to increase use of knowledge translation itself within the department in general, within their clinical teams, and to facilitate knowledge translation becoming part of the department's culture. Barriers and enablers to using knowledge translation were identified through a survey based on the Theoretical Domains Framework and through focus groups. Multiple interventions were used to develop a knowledge translation capacity-building program. Fifty-two occupational therapists participated initially, but only 20 across the first 18 months of the project. Barriers and enablers were identified across all domains of the Theoretical Domains Framework. Interventions selected to address these barriers or facilitate enablers were categorised into ten different categories: educational outreach; teams working on clinical knowledge translation case studies; identifying time blocks for knowledge translation; mentoring; leadership strategies; communication strategies; documentation and resources to support knowledge translation; funding a knowledge translation champion one day per week; setting goals for knowledge translation; and knowledge translation reporting strategies. Use of these strategies was, and continues to be monitored. Participants continue to be actively involved in learning and shaping the knowledge translation program across the department and within their specific clinical areas. To build capacity for knowledge translation, it is important to involve clinicians. The action cycle of the Knowledge to Action framework is a useful guide to introduce the knowledge translation process to clinicians. It may be used to engage the department as a whole, and facilitate the learning and application of knowledge translation within specific clinical areas. Research evaluating this knowledge translation program is being conducted.

Experiencing community psychology through community-based learning class projects: reflections from an American University in the Middle East.

PubMed

Amer, Mona M; Mohamed, Salma N; Ganzon, Vincent

2013-01-01

Many introductory community psychology courses do not incorporate community-based learning (CBL), and when they do, it is most often in the form of individualized volunteer hours. We present an alternative model for CBL in which the entire class collaborates on an experiential project that promotes community action. We believe that such an approach better embodies the values and methods of the discipline and has a more powerful impact on the students and stakeholders. It may be especially effective in developing countries that do not have an established network of service infrastructures; in such nations the onus is on the teachers and learners of community psychology to contribute to transformative change. In this article practical guidelines are provided by the instructor regarding how to structure and implement this CBL model. Additionally, two students describe how the CBL experience solidified their learning of course concepts and significantly impacted them personally.

Space, relations, and the learning of science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roth, Wolff-Michael; Hsu, Pei-Ling

2014-03-01

In the literature on the situated and distributed nature of cognition, the coordination of spatial organization and the structure of human practices and relations is accepted as a fact. To date, science educators have yet to build on such research. Drawing on an ethnographic study of high school students during an internship in a scientific research laboratory, which we understand as a "perspicuous setting" and a "smart setting," in which otherwise invisible dimensions of human practices become evident, we analyze the relationship between spatial configurations of the setting and the nature and temporal organization of knowing and learning in science. Our analyses show that spatial aspects of the laboratory projectively organize how participants act and can serve as resources to help the novices to participate in difficult and unfamiliar tasks. First, existing spatial relations projectively organize the language involving interns and lab members. In particular, spatial relations projectively organize where and when pedagogical language should happen; and there are specific discursive mechanisms that produce cohesion in language across different places in the laboratory. Second, the spatial arrangements projectively organize the temporal dimensions of action. These findings allow science educators to think explicitly about organizing "smart contexts" that help learners participate in and learn complex scientific laboratory practices.

Analysis of the Navy’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Program Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

mortar and wood supports. (1) U.S. Government Response Shortly after the earthquake the president of Pakistan, President Musharraf made a formal...complicating coordination efforts. 3. Lessons Learned The USN has created and recently updated an online system for use as a repository of after action...I guess the military could somehow post online a list of projects they are doing and also put up a list of projects they want groups to do. This way

[Integrated project of personalisation school curricula and training].

PubMed

Zanon, A; Tomassoni, R; Santangelo, N; Gargano, M; Treglia, E; Granai, M G; Incagnoli, A

2017-01-01

To strengthen the motivation to study, promote awareness of their attitudes and actions of orientation / re-orientation to the profession, making the learning experience more stimulating and training in order to staunch the sharp drop-out affecting the school. The project, coordinated by psychologists, involved the administration of AMOS Test as a tool to detect the variables of interest (self-image, ambitions and motivations, concerns for the future, soft skills etc.) in a sample of students belonging the CFP of Lazio. The sample consisted of 632 students (aged between 14 and 20 years and made up 70.6% of females). The sample is divided between the Agency's structures Formation of the Province of Frosinone: Anagni (7,3%); Cassino (24,7%); Ferentino (10,9%); Frosinone (31,8 %); Pontecorvo (4,1%) and Sora (21,2%) that offer various training courses: a wellness area (81%), electronic / mechanical area (12%), administrative one (7%). Most of the students have poor self-esteem and con dence in their own resources. They have a poor perception of their skills both profes- sionally and personally, have trouble thinking of an ambitious future with a 'negative self-image'. Few have plans for the future and are determined to achieve them and bring them forward, demonstrating uncertainty about future careers. The survey findings emerges the need of the students to have a support not only educational but also cognitive and emotional. Possible proposals for action are: the implementation of techniques such as cooperative learning, action learning, problem solving, the 'activation of a door psychological listening and the like.

Improving Nutrition and Physical Activity Policies and Practices in Early Care and Education in Three States, 2014-2016.

PubMed

Smith, Teresa M; Blaser, Casey; Geno-Rasmussen, Cristy; Shuell, Julie; Plumlee, Catherine; Gargano, Tony; Yaroch, Amy L

2017-08-31

The National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives (ECELC) project aims to facilitate best practices in nutrition, physical activity, screen time, and breastfeeding support and infant feeding among early care and education (ECE) programs across multiple states. The project uses a train-the-trainer approach with 5, in-person learning-collaborative sessions, technical assistance, and action planning. We describe the longitudinal practice-based evaluation of the project and assess whether ECE programs evaluated (n = 104) sustained changes in policies and practices 1 year after completing the project. The number of best practices increased from pre-assessment to post-assessment (P < .01) but did not change significantly from post-assessment to follow-up assessment. ECELC shows promise as an approach to incorporate professional development and training focused on improving best practices for environment-level child nutrition and physical activity, which is one strategy among many that are warranted for obesity prevention in young children.

Reflection-for-action and the choice or design of examples in the teaching of mathematics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olteanu, Constanta

2017-09-01

A qualitative study documented the use of examples in connection with reflection-for-action by mathematics educators. This article focuses on the use of mathematical examples that were chosen or designed by the teachers during lesson planning. The data are drawn from a 3-year project intended to make educational research in mathematics more useful to teachers. The focus in the present article was on how teachers reflected about students' learning as they prepared lessons. Analysis of the data showed that reflection-for-action was an effective teacher practice and useful for increasing the quality of the content the teacher intended to cover in a teaching situation. However, at the beginning of the study the teachers could not provide a proper explanation of what reflection was about. Their reflections were limited to preparing for the lessons in relation to the actual curriculum in Sweden. During the study, the teachers' reflection-for-action improved as a consequence of using patterns of variation in designing examples connected to the object of learning.

Lights, camera, action research: The effects of didactic digital movie making on students' twenty-first century learning skills and science content in the middle school classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ochsner, Karl

Students are moving away from content consumption to content production. Short movies are uploaded onto video social networking sites and shared around the world. Unfortunately they usually contain little to no educational value, lack a narrative and are rarely created in the science classroom. According to new Arizona Technology standards and ISTE NET*S, along with the framework from the Partnership for 21st Century Learning Standards, our society demands students not only to learn curriculum, but to think critically, problem solve effectively, and become adept at communicating and collaborating. Didactic digital movie making in the science classroom may be one way that these twenty-first century learning skills may be implemented. An action research study using a mixed-methods approach to collect data was used to investigate if didactic moviemaking can help eighth grade students learn physical science content while incorporating 21st century learning skills of collaboration, communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills through their group production. Over a five week period, students researched lessons, wrote scripts, acted, video recorded and edited a didactic movie that contained a narrative plot to teach a science strand from the Arizona State Standards in physical science. A pretest/posttest science content test and KWL chart was given before and after the innovation to measure content learned by the students. Students then took a 21st Century Learning Skills Student Survey to measure how much they perceived that communication, collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking were taking place during the production. An open ended survey and a focus group of four students were used for qualitative analysis. Three science teachers used a project evaluation rubric to measure science content and production values from the movies. Triangulating the science content test, KWL chart, open ended questions and the project evaluation rubric, it appeared that science content was gained from this project. Students felt motivated to learn and had positive experience. Students also felt that the repetition of production and watching their movies helped them remember science. Students also perceived that creating the didactic digital movie helped them use collaboration, communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills throughout their production.

Gaining a Competitive Edge through Action Design Research

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alexa, L.; Alexa, M.; Avasilcăi, S.

2016-08-01

The current business environment is characterized by increased competition and highly innovative approach, in order to create products and services to better respond to the costumers’ needs and expectations. In this specific context, the research approaches need to be more flexible and business oriented and so, throughout the paper we have used a research method that combines design research and action research, named Action Design Research which is a research method used for generating prescriptive design knowledge through building and evaluating IT artifacts in an organizational setting [1]. Following the Action Design Research stages and principles: problem identification, building, intervention and evaluation, reflection and learning and formalization of learning, the research team has developed an online instrument used to actively involve the consumer in the product development process, in order to generate a better consumers insight regarding their needs and desires and to design and/or adjust the product accordingly. The customer engagement IT tool created and tested by using Action Design Research, E-PICUS, has been developed within the framework of the research project „E-solutions for innovation through customer pro-active involvement in value creation to increase organisational competitiveness (E-PICUS)”, PN- II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1811, currently undergoing.

Using Appreciative Inquiry for an e-Learning Change Management Programme: The ENTICE Project at Brunel University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, Linda A.; Alberts, Philip P.; Stephenson, Julia E.

Brunel University's e-Learning strategy provides direction for the teaching staff, but remains flexible. Although all Schools had engaged with e-Learning in the past, detailed consideration of effective e-Learning and the e-experience of students had not been generally in evidence. We sought to address this gap in the strategic work of schools by implementing a change management program, the major elements of which were the development of a local evidence-base of effectiveness of e-Learning practices and conversations for change. Our program was based on the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) method, which we adapted for this educational context. The aim was to identify the pedagogic value of the diverse range of e-Learning activities already being undertaken and to encourage more widespread use. There was also a longer-term objective of assisting schools to establish or review their own e-Learning strategies and action plans. In terms of the effectiveness of the process, it is evident that the AI methodology was very beneficial. There is greater awareness among academic staff of the range of e-Learning activities that are currently being used in teaching designs of teaching staff at the University and about student use and attitudes to those activities. The evidence provides inputs to the development/review of e-Learning action plans and strategies for each school, usually within the context of the overall school plan.

Community-based research in action: tales from the Ktunaxa community learning centres project.

PubMed

Stacy, Elizabeth; Wisener, Katherine; Liman, Yolanda; Beznosova, Olga; Lauscher, Helen Novak; Ho, Kendall; Jarvis-Selinger, Sandra

2014-01-01

Rural communities, particularly Aboriginal communities, often have limited access to health information, a situation that can have significant negative consequences. To address the lack of culturally and geographically relevant health information, a community-university partnership was formed to develop, implement, and evaluate Aboriginal Community Learning Centres (CLCs). The objective of this paper is to evaluate the community-based research process used in the development of the CLCs. It focuses on the process of building relationships among partners and the CLC's value and sustainability. Semistructured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders, including principal investigators, community research leads, and supervisors. The interview transcripts were analyzed using an open-coding process to identify themes. Key challenges included enacting shared project governance, negotiating different working styles, and hiring practices based on commitment to project objectives rather than skill set. Technological access provided by the CLCs increased capacity for learning and collective community initiatives, as well as building community leads' skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy. An important lesson was to meet all partners "where they are" in building trusting relationships and adapting research methods to fit the project's context and strengths. Successful results were dependent upon persistence and patience in working through differences, and breaking the project into achievable goals, which collectively contributed to trust and capacity building. The process of building these partnerships resulted in increased capacity of communities to facilitate learning and change initiatives, and the capacity of the university to engage in successful research partnerships with Aboriginal communities in the future.

Institutionalizing Lessons Learned

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McBrayer, Robert O.; Thomas, Dale

2001-01-01

The NASA Integrated Action Team (NIAT) was formed by the NASA Administrator in March 2000. The purpose of this team was to identify the actions that NASA must take to address systemic findings reported in 4 different anomaly investigations. Team membership represented senior managers from all the field centers and NASA Headquarters. NIAT report addressed 165 findings and developed 17 action plans that are described in five themes: people and teams, technology, risk, formulation rigor, and communications. The NIAT actions present a systems solution for strengthening formulation and implementation of programs and improving the environment for their support. NIAT results included: enhancing success by avoiding failures that could have been prevented through good planning and sound practice; ensuring that prudent risks do not compromise safety; and ensuring that mission risks are objectively assessed, appropriately mitigated and consciously accepted by the program team and customers. Definitions of Faster, Better, Cheaper and Success Criteria were also developed and included as part of the NIAT report. As a result of the NIAT report, program and project management process changes were incorporated into NASA's quality system documentation, including NPG 7120.513, "NASA Program and Project Management Processes and Requirements. This paper describes the NIAT results and the resulting updates to NPG 7120.5 that keep this program and project management description a living process.

Basolateral Amygdala to Orbitofrontal Cortex Projections Enable Cue-Triggered Reward Expectations.

PubMed

Lichtenberg, Nina T; Pennington, Zachary T; Holley, Sandra M; Greenfield, Venuz Y; Cepeda, Carlos; Levine, Michael S; Wassum, Kate M

2017-08-30

To make an appropriate decision, one must anticipate potential future rewarding events, even when they are not readily observable. These expectations are generated by using observable information (e.g., stimuli or available actions) to retrieve often quite detailed memories of available rewards. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are two reciprocally connected key nodes in the circuitry supporting such outcome-guided behaviors. But there is much unknown about the contribution of this circuit to decision making, and almost nothing known about the whether any contribution is via direct, monosynaptic projections, or the direction of information transfer. Therefore, here we used designer receptor-mediated inactivation of OFC→BLA or BLA→OFC projections to evaluate their respective contributions to outcome-guided behaviors in rats. Inactivation of BLA terminals in the OFC, but not OFC terminals in the BLA, disrupted the selective motivating influence of cue-triggered reward representations over reward-seeking decisions as assayed by Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. BLA→OFC projections were also required when a cued reward representation was used to modify Pavlovian conditional goal-approach responses according to the reward's current value. These projections were not necessary when actions were guided by reward expectations generated based on learned action-reward contingencies, or when rewards themselves, rather than stored memories, directed action. These data demonstrate that BLA→OFC projections enable the cue-triggered reward expectations that can motivate the execution of specific action plans and allow adaptive conditional responding. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Deficits anticipating potential future rewarding events are associated with many psychiatric diseases. Presently, we know little about the neural circuits supporting such reward expectation. Here we show that basolateral amygdala to orbitofrontal cortex projections are required for expectations of specific available rewards to influence reward seeking and decision making. The necessity of these projections was limited to situations in which expectations were elicited by reward-predictive cues. These projections therefore facilitate adaptive behavior by enabling the orbitofrontal cortex to use environmental stimuli to generate expectations of potential future rewarding events. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/378374-11$15.00/0.

Basolateral Amygdala to Orbitofrontal Cortex Projections Enable Cue-Triggered Reward Expectations

PubMed Central

Lichtenberg, Nina T.; Pennington, Zachary T.; Holley, Sandra M.; Greenfield, Venuz Y.; Levine, Michael S.

2017-01-01

To make an appropriate decision, one must anticipate potential future rewarding events, even when they are not readily observable. These expectations are generated by using observable information (e.g., stimuli or available actions) to retrieve often quite detailed memories of available rewards. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) are two reciprocally connected key nodes in the circuitry supporting such outcome-guided behaviors. But there is much unknown about the contribution of this circuit to decision making, and almost nothing known about the whether any contribution is via direct, monosynaptic projections, or the direction of information transfer. Therefore, here we used designer receptor-mediated inactivation of OFC→BLA or BLA→OFC projections to evaluate their respective contributions to outcome-guided behaviors in rats. Inactivation of BLA terminals in the OFC, but not OFC terminals in the BLA, disrupted the selective motivating influence of cue-triggered reward representations over reward-seeking decisions as assayed by Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer. BLA→OFC projections were also required when a cued reward representation was used to modify Pavlovian conditional goal-approach responses according to the reward's current value. These projections were not necessary when actions were guided by reward expectations generated based on learned action-reward contingencies, or when rewards themselves, rather than stored memories, directed action. These data demonstrate that BLA→OFC projections enable the cue-triggered reward expectations that can motivate the execution of specific action plans and allow adaptive conditional responding. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Deficits anticipating potential future rewarding events are associated with many psychiatric diseases. Presently, we know little about the neural circuits supporting such reward expectation. Here we show that basolateral amygdala to orbitofrontal cortex projections are required for expectations of specific available rewards to influence reward seeking and decision making. The necessity of these projections was limited to situations in which expectations were elicited by reward-predictive cues. These projections therefore facilitate adaptive behavior by enabling the orbitofrontal cortex to use environmental stimuli to generate expectations of potential future rewarding events. PMID:28743727

Action Learning: Avoiding Conflict or Enabling Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corley, Aileen; Thorne, Ann

2006-01-01

Action learning is based on the premise that action and learning are inextricably entwined and it is this potential, to enable action, which has contributed to the growth of action learning within education and management development programmes. However has this growth in action learning lead to an evolution or a dilution of Revan's classical…

Action learning enhances professional development of research supervisors: an Australian health science exemplar.

PubMed

Davis, Kierrynn; Brownie, Sonya; Doran, Frances; Evans, Sue; Hutchinson, Marie; Mozolic-Staunton, Beth; Provost, Stephen; van Aken, Rosalie

2012-03-01

The worldwide academic workforce is ageing. At the same time, health and human services workforces are expanding. The preparation of educators to fill gaps in expertise and to position the health sciences for future growth is an urgent need. The findings from a recent action learning project that aimed to enhance the professional growth and development of higher degree researcher student supervisors in a School of Health and Human Sciences are presented. Seven early career researchers and the facilitator met for two hours every two to three weeks over 4 months between April and July 2010, in a rural and regional university in New South Wales, Australia. The processes initiated were a combination of experiential knowledge, referral to relevant published reports, use of an effective supervision checklist, and critical conversations. Learning outcomes centered on higher degree management and supervision pedagogy, communities of practice, knowledge translation, and the establishment of a research culture. The contextual barriers and implications of the methodology and learning outcomes for the professional development of health and human science practitioners, researchers and educators is also discussed. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Fostering cultural inclusiveness and learning in culturally mixed business classes.

PubMed

Mak, Anita S; Daly, Anne; Barker, Michelle C

2014-01-01

Business educators have advocated that in order to build faculty's intercultural capability, it is vital to provide them with professional development in using intercultural training resources and with "community of practice" support in adapting such resources for enhancing their students' intercultural learning. This approach has been adopted in an Australian action research project titled "Internationalisation at Home" (IaH), which involved providing faculty with professional development adapted from an established intercultural training resource - the EXCELL (Excellence in Cultural Experiential Learning and Leadership) Program. In this paper, we present two case studies of the implementation of the IaH Project in business schools at the University of Canberra and at Griffith University. Lessons learned from the first study were incorporated in the design and evaluation of the second one. Faculty leaders will describe how they engage and support colleagues in adapting components of EXCELL to foster cultural inclusiveness and facilitate students' intercultural competence development. As part of project evaluation, we hypothesised that students who participated in IaH courses would report greater levels of (1) cultural inclusiveness in their educational environment, and (2) cultural learning development, compared with students who were not enrolled in IaH courses. Research participants in the Canberra case study comprised an intervention group of 140 business undergraduates enrolled in an IaH course, and a control group of 59 non-IaH undergraduates. At Griffith, participants were 211 first year management students in the intervention group and 84 students enrolled in a non-IaH first year course. In each case study, an end-of-semester survey showed that students who had completed courses with the IaH project intervention reported significantly greater levels of perceived cultural inclusiveness in multicultural classes, and of cultural learning development, than students in the control group. Faculty's reflections on project processes and outcomes further suggest that implementing strategic, structured active learning interventions such as in the IaH Project, could bring about more productive social interactions in multicultural classes and benefit domestic and especially international students. We will discuss implications of the findings for students' intercultural learning, faculty's needs for continual professional development, and the role of institutional support in intercultural competence development.

Transforming Language Ideologies through Action Research: A Case Study of Bilingual Science Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Eunah

This qualitative case study explored a third grade bilingual teacher's transformative language ideologies through participating in a collaborative action research project. By merging language ideologies theory, Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), and action research, I was able to identify the analytic focus of this study. I analyzed how one teacher and I, the researcher, collaboratively reflected on classroom language practices during the video analysis meetings and focus groups. Further, I analyzed twelve videos that we coded together to see the changes in the teacher's language practices over time. My unit of analysis was the discourse practice mediated by additive language ideologies. Throughout the collaborative action research process, we both critically reflected on the classroom language use. We also developed a critical consciousness about the participatory shifts and learning of focal English Learner (EL) students. Finally, the teacher made changes to her classroom language practices. The results of this study will contribute to the literacy education research field for theoretical, methodological, and practical insights. The integration of language ideologies, CHAT, and action research can help educational practitioners, researchers, and policy makers understand the importance of transforming teachers' language ideologies in designing additive learning contexts for ELs. From a methodological perspective, the transformative language ideologies through researcher and teacher collaborated video analysis process provide a unique contribution to the language ideologies in education literature, with analytic triangulation. As a practical implication, this study suggests action research can be one of the teacher education tools to help the teachers transform language ideologies for EL education.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Long, John P.; Hamill, Michael J.; Mitchell, M. G.

A major portion of the Wireless Networking Project at Sandia National Laboratories over the last few years has been to examine IEEE 802.11 wireless networking for possible use at Sandia and if practical, introduce this technology. This project team deployed 802.11a, b, and g Wireless Local Area Networking at Sandia. This report examines the basics of wireless networking and captures key results from project tests and experiments. It also records project members thoughts and designs on wireless LAN architecture and security issues. It documents some of the actions and milestones of this project, including pilot and production deployment of wirelessmore » networking equipment, and captures the team's rationale behind some of the decisions made. Finally, the report examines lessons learned, future directions, and conclusions.« less

Empirical grounding of the nature of scientific inquiry: A study of developing researchers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stucky, Amy Preece

This work uses grounded theory methodology for developing theory about the nature of authentic scientific inquiry that occurs on a day-to-day basis in an academic research laboratory. Symbolic interaction and situated learning provide a theoretical framework. Data were collected from field notes, over 100 hours of videotape of researchers working in a chemical research laboratory, and interviews with participants. The phenomena of a research laboratory suggest that authentic daily work stretches scientists in three learning modalities: cognitive, affective and motivational beliefs and goals, which influence action to promote learning. A laboratory's line of research is divided into individual, thematic projects. Researchers are enabled in a specialized laboratory environment with sets of unique artifacts, substances, people and theoretical concepts to facilitate production of significant research goals. The work itself consists of chemical and mechanical processes facilitated by human actions, appropriate mental states, and theoretical explanations. The cognitive, affective (emotional), and conative (motivational) stretching then leads to explicit learning as well as implicit learning in the gain of experience and tacit knowledge. Implications of these findings about the nature of authentic scientific research on a day-to-day basis are applied to inquiry in science education in undergraduate and graduate education.

Building a community of practice for sustainability: strengthening learning and collective action of Canadian biosphere reserves through a national partnership.

PubMed

Reed, Maureen G; Godmaire, Hélène; Abernethy, Paivi; Guertin, Marc-André

2014-12-01

Deliberation, dialogue and systematic learning are now considered attributes of good practice for organizations seeking to advance sustainability. Yet we do not know whether organizations that span spatial scales and governance responsibilities can establish effective communities of practice to facilitate learning and action. The purpose of this paper is to generate a framework that specifies actions and processes of a community of practice designed to instill collective learning and action strategies across a multi-level, multi-partner network. The framework is then used to describe and analyze a partnership among practitioners of Canada's 16 UNESCO biosphere reserves, and additional researchers and government representatives from across Canada. The framework is a cycle of seven action steps, beginning and ending with reflecting on and evaluating present practice. It is supported by seven characteristics of collaborative environmental management that are used to gauge the success of the partnership. Our results show that the partnership successfully built trust, established shared norms and common interest, created incentives to participate, generated value in information sharing and willingness to engage, demonstrated effective flow of information, and provided leadership and facilitation. Key to success was the presence of a multi-lingual facilitator who could bridge cultural differences across regions and academia-practitioner expectations. The project succeeded in establishing common goals, setting mutual expectations and building relations of trust and respect, and co-creating knowledge. It is too soon to determine whether changes in practices that support sustainability will be maintained over the long term and without the help of an outside facilitator. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of science-based restoration planning to a desert river system.

PubMed

Laub, Brian G; Jimenez, Justin; Budy, Phaedra

2015-06-01

Persistence of many desert river species is threatened by a suite of impacts linked to water infrastructure projects that provide human water security where water is scarce. Many desert rivers have undergone regime shifts from spatially and temporally dynamic ecosystems to more stable systems dominated by homogenous physical habitat. Restoration of desert river systems could aid in biodiversity conservation, but poses formidable challenges due to multiple threats and the infeasibility of recovery to pre-development conditions. The challenges faced in restoring desert rivers can be addressed by incorporating scientific recommendations into restoration planning efforts at multiple stages, as demonstrated here through an example restoration project. In particular, use of a watershed-scale planning process can identify data gaps and irreversible constraints, which aid in developing achievable restoration goals and objectives. Site-prioritization focuses limited the resources for restoration on areas with the greatest potential to improve populations of target organisms. Investment in research to understand causes of degradation, coupled with adoption of a guiding vision is critical for identifying feasible restoration actions that can enhance river processes. Setting monitoring as a project goal, developing hypotheses for expected outcomes, and implementing restoration as an experimental design will facilitate adaptive management and learning from project implementation. Involvement of scientists and managers during all planning stages is critical for developing process-based restoration actions and an implementation plan to maximize learning. The planning process developed here provides a roadmap for use of scientific recommendations in future efforts to recover dynamic processes in imperiled riverine ecosystems.

Application of Science-Based Restoration Planning to a Desert River System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laub, Brian G.; Jimenez, Justin; Budy, Phaedra

2015-06-01

Persistence of many desert river species is threatened by a suite of impacts linked to water infrastructure projects that provide human water security where water is scarce. Many desert rivers have undergone regime shifts from spatially and temporally dynamic ecosystems to more stable systems dominated by homogenous physical habitat. Restoration of desert river systems could aid in biodiversity conservation, but poses formidable challenges due to multiple threats and the infeasibility of recovery to pre-development conditions. The challenges faced in restoring desert rivers can be addressed by incorporating scientific recommendations into restoration planning efforts at multiple stages, as demonstrated here through an example restoration project. In particular, use of a watershed-scale planning process can identify data gaps and irreversible constraints, which aid in developing achievable restoration goals and objectives. Site-prioritization focuses limited the resources for restoration on areas with the greatest potential to improve populations of target organisms. Investment in research to understand causes of degradation, coupled with adoption of a guiding vision is critical for identifying feasible restoration actions that can enhance river processes. Setting monitoring as a project goal, developing hypotheses for expected outcomes, and implementing restoration as an experimental design will facilitate adaptive management and learning from project implementation. Involvement of scientists and managers during all planning stages is critical for developing process-based restoration actions and an implementation plan to maximize learning. The planning process developed here provides a roadmap for use of scientific recommendations in future efforts to recover dynamic processes in imperiled riverine ecosystems.

Application of science-based restoration planning to a desert river system

USGS Publications Warehouse

Laub, Brian G.; Jimenez, Justin; Budy, Phaedra

2015-01-01

Persistence of many desert river species is threatened by a suite of impacts linked to water infrastructure projects that provide human water security where water is scarce. Many desert rivers have undergone regime shifts from spatially and temporally dynamic ecosystems to more stable systems dominated by homogenous physical habitat. Restoration of desert river systems could aid in biodiversity conservation, but poses formidable challenges due to multiple threats and the infeasibility of recovery to pre-development conditions. The challenges faced in restoring desert rivers can be addressed by incorporating scientific recommendations into restoration planning efforts at multiple stages, as demonstrated here through an example restoration project. In particular, use of a watershed-scale planning process can identify data gaps and irreversible constraints, which aid in developing achievable restoration goals and objectives. Site-prioritization focuses limited the resources for restoration on areas with the greatest potential to improve populations of target organisms. Investment in research to understand causes of degradation, coupled with adoption of a guiding vision is critical for identifying feasible restoration actions that can enhance river processes. Setting monitoring as a project goal, developing hypotheses for expected outcomes, and implementing restoration as an experimental design will facilitate adaptive management and learning from project implementation. Involvement of scientists and managers during all planning stages is critical for developing process-based restoration actions and an implementation plan to maximize learning. The planning process developed here provides a roadmap for use of scientific recommendations in future efforts to recover dynamic processes in imperiled riverine ecosystems.

"Learning-in-Action" and "Learning Inaction": Advancing the Theory and Practice of Critical Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vince, Russ

2008-01-01

This paper seeks to improve our understanding of the emotional and political dynamics that are generated (and too often avoided) in action learning. The idea at the centre of the paper is a distinction between "learning-in-action" and "learning inaction". The phrase "learning-in-action" represents the value of action…

Adolescents' Development of Skills for Agency in Youth Programs: Learning to Think Strategically

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larson, Reed W.; Angus, Rachel M.

2011-01-01

This research examines how youth in arts and leadership programs develop skills for organizing actions over time to achieve goals. Ethnically diverse youth (ages 13-21) in 11 high-quality urban and rural programs were interviewed as they carried out projects. Qualitative analyses of 712 interviews with 108 youth yielded preliminary grounded theory…

Learning Responsibility: The Importance of the Home, School and Workplace. Ideas for Action in Education and Work, Issue 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Northwest Regional Educational Lab., Portland, OR.

The findings of a research project undertaken by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) on student responsibility as it relates to job performance are reported. Forty high school students, 15 teachers, and 18 employers involved in Cooperative Work Experience and Experience-Based Career Education programs were interviewed. The…

The Effects of Project-Based Learning on Student Achievement in Psychology: An Action Research Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Iwamoto, Darren H.

2013-01-01

Since the Fall 2009 semester, low academic performance and disengaged students have been regularly observed in the General Education Core's first-year psychology class. Because examination scores have been consistently low and student engagement has been declining, this researcher sought an alternative approach that would better meet the…

Collaborative Research for Sustainable Learning: The Case of Developing Innovation Capabilities at Volvo Cars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borjesson, Sofia

2011-01-01

This paper aims to make a contribution to the stream of literature on action research by describing a longitudinal collaborative research project which evolved out of a long-term, participation partnership with Volvo Cars. The collaboration was aimed at developing innovation capabilities in the company and accumulating knowledge on how…

Projections: From a Graduate TELL Class to the Practical World of L2 Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein; Kim, Alexis Jeong; Klein, Tristin J.

2010-01-01

Our action research study used a mixed design to explore the experiences of 90 pre- and in-service ESL, foreign language (FL), and bilingual teachers in studying and incorporating technology-enhanced language learning (TELL) in their classrooms. Through focus on a TELL graduate course, we considered participants' expectations, experiences, and…

iPad Use for Accelerating Reading Gains in Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Retter, Shannan; Anderson, Christine; Kieran, Laura

2013-01-01

This action research project explored the use of the iPad 2 in a special education classroom with high school students who were considered struggling readers to determine if an academic gain in reading comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary implementing the intervention of an iPad and four specific applications (apps). The high school…

Beyond the Library: Using Multiple, Mixed Measures Simultaneously in a College-Wide Assessment of Information Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitlock, Brandy; Ebrahimi, Nassim

2016-01-01

To get the best sense of how graduating students demonstrate information literacy skills and how the institution can improve student learning, the Assessment in Action (AiA) project at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) deployed a combination of indirect measures and authentic assessment of student work, utilizing assessment tools flexible…

Can Ethics Be Learned?: Results from a Three-Year Action-Research Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Langlois, Lyse; Lapointe, Claire

2010-01-01

Purpose: In response to the growing need for educational leaders who possess ethical, critical and reflective qualities, a training program was developed based on ethics as a reflective critical capacity and on Starratt's three-dimensional model. This paper aims to describe the impact of the program on ethical decision making and on educational…

Increasing Student Motivation through the Use of Multiple Intelligences and Cooperative Learning Techniques.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charbonneau, Nancy L.; Ribar, Linda L.

This action research project implemented and evaluated a program for increasing student motivation and interest in school to improve academic growth. The targeted population consisted of 37 high school students in a rural central Illinois community. Twenty-five students were in art classes and 12 were in child care classes. Anecdotal records,…

Problem Based Instruction: Getting at the Big Ideas and Developing Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inglis, Laura; Miller, Nicole

2011-01-01

Written collaboratively by two former teaching partners, this paper details the journey taken by a team of teachers from a large southern Ontario school board as they completed an action research project during the 2008-2009 school year, in conjunction with ETFO and their Teachers Learning Together: A Math Journey initiative. This paper will…

Early Environmental Adult Education: An Oral History of Citizen Researchers' Learning in the Appalachian Land Ownership Study, 1979-1981

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sodano, Keara

2013-01-01

The Appalachian Land Ownership Study was a participatory action research project in one of our nation's poorest regions suffering from absenteeism, poverty, powerlessness, and improper taxation. In discovering who owned the region's land, the participants sought to organize against the social, economic and environmental injustices imposed on the…

An Appreciative Inquiry into the Transformative Learning Experiences of Students in a Family Literacy Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giles, David; Alderson, Sharon

2008-01-01

Educational discourse has often struggled to genuinely move beyond deficit-based language. Even action research, a predominant model for teacher development, starts with the identification of a problem (Cardno 2003). It would appear that the vocabulary for a hope-filled discourse which captures the imagination and influences our future educational…

Six Approaches to Post-16 Citizenship: 6. Citizenship through Research Projects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fettes, Trisha

2007-01-01

Citizenship enables young people to learn about their rights and responsibilities, to understand how society works, and develop knowledge and understanding of social and political issues. Through citizenship education young people are encouraged to take action on issues of concern to themselves and to play an active part in the democratic process,…

The Implementation and Preliminary Results of an Action Research Project in the Mahopac Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cicchelli, Jerry J.; Richards, Edgar L.

This 3-month investigation of changes in teaching and learning behaviors as microcomputers and computer literacy are integrated into the curriculum involved nine primary teachers (Mahopac Central School District, New York) in grades 1 to 3, who had received training in the use of microcomputers and in Logo. Each teacher implemented the same…

Impact Assessment and Forecasts of Information and Telecommunications Technologies Applied to Education and Training. R&D in Information and Communication Based Learning Technology. Analysis of Key Issues for the Orientation of the Work of Sector Actors in the Framework of DELTA. Volume I--Executive Summary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium).

This report, the first volume in a three volume set, summarizes the results of a study performed by the DELTA (Developing European Learning through Technological Advance) Unit in parallel with the projects underway in the research and development Exploratory Action. The report identifies the key issues, associated requirements and options, and…

Learning styles of first-year orthopedic surgical residents at 1 accredited institution.

PubMed

Caulley, Lisa; Wadey, Veronica; Freeman, Risa

2012-01-01

This study represents 1 arm of a 5-year prospective study investigating the learning styles of orthopedic residents and their surgical educators. This project investigates the learning styles of the 2009-2010 year 1 orthopedic surgical residents. A cross-sectional survey using the Kolb Learning Style Inventory was completed by 13 first year orthopedic residents. Direct 1-to-1 interviews were completed with the primary investigator and each participant using the Kolb Learning Style Inventory and learning styles were determined. Converging learning style was the most common among the residents (53.8%). Residents demonstrated a high tendency toward the learning skill of abstract conceptualization combined with active experimentation, and a transition from action-oriented to more reflective learning style with age and postgraduate education. These results may be useful in creating strategies specific to each learning style that will be offered to residents to enhance future teaching and learning. Copyright © 2012 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

New Evaluation Vector through the Stanford Mobile Inquiry-Based Learning Environment (SMILE) for Participatory Action Research

PubMed Central

An, Ji-Young

2016-01-01

Objectives This article reviews an evaluation vector model driven from a participatory action research leveraging a collective inquiry system named SMILE (Stanford Mobile Inquiry-based Learning Environment). Methods SMILE has been implemented in a diverse set of collective inquiry generation and analysis scenarios including community health care-specific professional development sessions and community-based participatory action research projects. In each scenario, participants are given opportunities to construct inquiries around physical and emotional health-related phenomena in their own community. Results Participants formulated inquiries as well as potential clinical treatments and hypothetical scenarios to address health concerns or clarify misunderstandings or misdiagnoses often found in their community practices. From medical universities to rural village health promotion organizations, all participatory inquiries and potential solutions can be collected and analyzed. The inquiry and solution sets represent an evaluation vector which helps educators better understand community health issues at a much deeper level. Conclusions SMILE helps collect problems that are most important and central to their community health concerns. The evaluation vector, consisting participatory and collective inquiries and potential solutions, helps the researchers assess the participants' level of understanding on issues around health concerns and practices while helping the community adequately formulate follow-up action plans. The method used in SMILE requires much further enhancement with machine learning and advanced data visualization. PMID:27525157

E-Learning as an Opportunity for the Public Administration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Casagranda, Milena; Colazzo, Luigi; Molinari, Andrea; Tomasini, Sara

In this paper we will describe the results of a learning project in the Public Administration, highlighting the methodological approach based on a blended training model in a context that has never experienced this type of activities. The observations contained in the paper will be focused on the evaluation results of this experience and the redesign elements in term of alternation between the classroom and distance training, methodologies, the value and use of the e-learning platform and learning evaluation. The elements that emerge will also provide the basis for the design of future teaching actions for this context (in which at this moment we are involved). The objective is to identify a "learning model", related also to the use of technological tools that are able to support lifelong learning and to define dynamics and process relating to facilitating learning activities of teachers and tutors.

Action Learning in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stappenbelt, Brad

2017-01-01

In the present action learning implementation, twelve action learning sets were conducted over eight years. The action learning sets consisted of students involved in undergraduate engineering research thesis work. The concurrent study accompanying this initiative investigated the influence of the action learning environment on student approaches…

Brazilian Eratosthenes Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langhi, R.; Vilaça, J.

2014-10-01

The objective of Brazilian Eratosthenes Project is the development and application of teaching training actions according the ``docent autonomy" concept to basic Astronomy Education. Argentina coordinates the project in South America, but Brazil works in this project since 2010 with the theme ``Projeto Eratóstenes Brasil" in the homepage: http://sites.google.com/site/projetoerato. Two schools measure a sticks shadow and communicate their results. After, they calculate an average radius of Earth. The stick (gnomon) should stay in vertical position in the leveled ground. Since 2010, the project received hundreds of Brazilian schools with different experiments that were constructed with autonomy, because our site doesn't show some itinerary pre-ready to elaborate the experiments. To collect data for our research, we will use interviews via Skype with the teachers. These data are useful to researches about Science Education area and the Teaching Formation. Teaching professional practice could change and we see modifications in the teachers work, what depends of their realities and context. This project intents to respect the docent autonomy. This autonomy to responsible modifications during continued formation is called ``activist formative model" according Langhi & Nardi (Educação em Astronomia: repensando a formação de professores. São Paulo: Escrituras Editora, 2012). This project discusses about researches in Astronomy Education - still extreme rare in Brazil, when we compare with other areas in Science Education. We believe that actions like this could motivate the students to learn more Astronomy. Furthermore, this national action can be a rich source of data to investigations about teaching formation and scientific divulgation.

The four pillars of education - learning by value

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Czerniak-Czyżniak, Marta

2017-04-01

Nature is a great laboratory and a place of research. Observing and being with nature tells us how to acquire knowledge, how to work in a group, how to protect nature and how to behave in its environment. There are four important elements of contemporary education. Many scientific achievements and inventions created by observation and imitation of nature. Teaching nature can take into account the four pillars of education presented in the report for the United Nations Jacques Delors: Learning to KNOW - by discovering, experiencing, develop interests Learn to ACT - by activity, experimentation, creativity and courage Learning to LIVE TOGETHER - through group work, help and care Learn to BE - safe, helpful, experience and maintain social contacts Teaching through action is extremely important for the development of the child-man* (Piaget, 2006). The thinking originates primarily from the action. Therefore, students should undertake independent research activities, perform experiments and conduct observations and thus raise questions about the world, looking for meanings and solutions. Adults (a teacher, a person with a passion) are to be the support in the search for knowledge. The following poster is the summary of Project „Environmental Education for Sustainable Development in teacher training" co-financed by Norwegian as well national funds. The aim of the project is to increase environment al awareness and strengthenknowledge about the environment and cli mate change among students of Elary childhood education, to exchange Polish-Norwegian experience on outdoor nature education didactics in the first grades of primary school, to develop a didactics of the outdoor education and to implement it in program of an early childhood education study. *Piaget, J. (2006) How a child imagines the world, Warsaw: PWN Publishing

Action Learning at Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mumford, Alan, Ed.

This book contains 34 papers examining the theory, process, and outcomes of action learning at work. The following papers are included: "An Introduction to the Text" (Alan Mumford); "The Learning Equation" (Reg Revans); "Action Learning as a Vehicle for Learning" (Alan Mumford); "Placing Action Learning and…

Notes toward a Philosophy of Action Learning Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coghlan, David; Coughlan, Paul

2010-01-01

The philosophical foundations of action learning research have not received a great deal of attention. In the context of action learning postgraduate and professional programmes in universities, articulation of a philosophy of action learning research seems timely and appropriate. This article explores a philosophy of action learning research,…

Climate Literacy Ambassadors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ackerman, S. A.; Mooney, M. E.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy Ambassadors program is a collaborative effort to advance climate literacy led by the Cooperative Institute of Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. With support from NASA, CIMSS is coordinating a three-tiered program to train G6-12 teachers to be Ambassadors of Climate Literacy in their schools and communities. The complete training involves participation at a teacher workshop combined with web-based professional development content around Global and Regional Climate Change. The on-line course utilizes e-learning technology to clarify graphs and concepts from the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers with content intricately linked to the Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science. Educators who take the course for credit can develop lesson plans or opt for a project of their choosing. This session will showcase select lesson plans and projects, ranging from a district-wide action plan that engaged dozens of teachers to Ambassadors volunteering at the Aldo Leopold Climate Change Nature Center to a teacher who tested a GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign (SCRC) learning project with plans to participate in the SCRC program. Along with sharing successes from the CIMSS Climate Literacy Ambassadors project, we will share lessons learned related to the challenges of sustaining on-line virtual educator communities.

Choose Your Own Adventure: Designing an Environment that Supports NASA Scientists' Goals in Education, Outreach, and Inreach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DeWitt, S.

2015-12-01

What is your communication goal? That is the opening question asked in NASA's first agency-wide science communication leadership development program. Many scientists know what they want to communicate, some know to whom they'd like to communicate, but few can clearly express why they want to do it. So what? First, being clear about one's goal is critical in being able to measure success. Second, when asked to think critically about communication goals, some scientists may shift their communication behaviors and practices to better achieve those goals. To that end, NASA has designed a deep learning experience for scientists (and engineers and others) to: critically examine their communication goals; learn techniques for getting to know their intended audience; and develop and apply specific communication skills to a project of their choice. Participants in this program come into the classroom with projects that span a wide spectrum including: formal and informal education, public outreach, media interviews, public speaking, stakeholder briefings, and internal awareness-building. Through expert advisors, professional coaches and peer networks, this program provides a supportive environment for individuals to workshop their project in the classroom and receive feedback before, during, and after the project is complete. This program also provides an opportunity for scientists and other participants to learn more about communication at NASA, and to directly influence the agency's science communication culture through action learning. In this presentation, I will summarize NASA's dual-design science communication leadership development program and present some lessons-learned, participant feedback and evaluation data from the initial course offerings.

Exploring teachers' beliefs and knowledge about scientific inquiry and the nature of science: A collaborative action research project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fazio, Xavier Eric

Science curriculum reform goals espouse the need to foster and support the development of scientific literacy in students. Two critical goals of scientific literacy are students' engagement in, and developing more realistic conceptions about scientific inquiry (SI) and the nature of science (NOS). In order to promote the learning of these curriculum emphases, teachers themselves must possess beliefs and knowledge supportive of them. Collaborative action research is a viable form of curriculum and teacher development that can be used to support teachers in developing the requisite beliefs and knowledge that can promote these scientific literacy goals. This research study used a collective case study methodology to describe and interpret the views and actions of four teachers participating in a collaborative action research project. I explored the teachers' SI and NOS views throughout the project as they investigated ideas and theories, critically examined their current curricular practice, and implemented and reflected on these modified curricular practices. By the end of the research study, all participants had uniquely augmented their understanding of SI and NOS. The participants were better able to provide explanatory depth to some SI and NOS ideas; however, specific belief revision with respect to SI and NOS ideas was nominal. Furthermore, their idealized action research plans were not implemented to the extent that they were planned. Explanations for these findings include: impact of significant past educational experiences, prior understanding of SI and NOS, depth of content and pedagogical content knowledge of the discipline, and institutional and instructional constraints. Nonetheless, through participation in the collaborative action research process, the teachers developed professionally, personally, and socially. They identified many positive outcomes from participating in a collaborative action research project; however, they espoused constraints to implementing innovative actions. Indeed, local school cultures were barriers to the participants' development. A model of teacher development embracing all the developmental areas is presented---an integration of social, personal, and professional development. Implications and recommendations for future research on teachers' beliefs and knowledge, as well as the viability of collaborative action research to facilitate teacher and curriculum development are presented.

Collaborating on Climate: The Signs of the Land Camp as a Model for Meaningful Learning Between Indigenous Communities and Western Climate Scientists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chase, M.; Brunacini, J.; Sparrow, E. B.

2016-12-01

As interest in Indigenous Knowledge (IK) grows, how can researchers ensure that collaboration is meaningful, relevant, and valuable for those involved? The Signs of the Land: Reaching Arctic Communities Facing Climate Change Camp is a collaborative project developed by the Association for Interior Native Educators (AINE), the International Arctic Research Center (IARC), and the PoLAR Partnership. Modeled on AINE's Elder Academy and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the camp facilitates in-depth dialogue about climate change and explores causes, impacts, and solutions through the cultural lens of Alaska Native communities. The project integrates local observations, IK, and western climate science. Participants engage with Alaska Native Elders, local climate researchers, and learn about climate communication tools and resources for responding. Following camps in 2014 and 2016, project partners identified a variety of questions about the challenges and opportunities of the collaboration that will be discussed in this presentation. For instance, what does it mean to equitably integrate IK, and in what ways are Native communities able to participate in research project design, delivery, and evaluation? How are decisions made and consensus built within cultural practices, project goals, and funding expectations? How do opportunities available to Indigenous communities to engage with western climate science broaden understanding and response? And, how does the ability to connect with and learn from Alaska Native Elders affect motivation, engagement, and community action? Finally, what is the effect of learning about climate change in a cultural camp setting?

Implementing local projects to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

PubMed

Warner, Richard

2008-01-01

This editorial describes strategies used and the lessons learned in implementing two local anti-stigma projects. The WPA Programme to Reduce Stigma and Discrimination Because of Schizophrenia established projects to fight stigma in 20 countries, using social-marketing techniques to enhance their effectiveness. First steps at each site were to establish an action committee and conduct a survey of perceived stigma. Based on survey results, the action committees selected a few homogeneous and accessible target groups, such as employers, and criminal justice personnel. Messages and media were selected, tested, and refined. Guidelines are provided for setting up a consumer (service-user) speakers' bureau and for establishing a media-watch organization, which can lobby news and entertainment media to exclude negative portrayals of people with mental illness. Improvements in knowledge about mental illness were effected in high school students and criminal justice personnel. Positive changes in attitude towards people with mental illness were achieved with high school students, but were more difficult to achieve with police officers. Local antistigma projects can be effective in reducing stigma and relatively inexpensive. The involvement of consumers is important in working with police officers. Project organizers should be on the lookout for useful changes that can become permanent.

Implications of a Culturally Rich and Linguistically Diverse Musical Life for Music Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fung, Annabella

2016-01-01

I am a Chinese-Australian musician-educator of over three decades. In this autoethnography, I act as an agent of change by presenting my life as a social project. This assists understanding of a larger relational, communal and political world that moves us to critical engagement, social action and change. Evolutionary psychology asserts that…

Analytical Thinking, Analytical Action: Using Prelab Video Demonstrations and e-Quizzes to Improve Undergraduate Preparedness for Analytical Chemistry Practical Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jolley, Dianne F.; Wilson, Stephen R.; Kelso, Celine; O'Brien, Glennys; Mason, Claire E.

2016-01-01

This project utilizes visual and critical thinking approaches to develop a higher-education synergistic prelab training program for a large second-year undergraduate analytical chemistry class, directing more of the cognitive learning to the prelab phase. This enabled students to engage in more analytical thinking prior to engaging in the…

Analyzing the Extensive Reading Approach: Benefits and Challenges in the Mexican Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varona Archer, Aurora

2012-01-01

Some scholars have highlighted the benefits of using extensive reading as a way to motivate students to learn a second language (L2). This article is derived from a study that aimed at implementing extensive reading in an action research project in a public University in Mexico. Therefore, the following article examines some arguments of different…

PHR in Health and Social Care for Older People--Regional Development through Learning within and across Organisations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rämgård, Margareta; Forsgren, Annika; Avery, Helen

2017-01-01

The study draws on findings from a series of seven participatory action research projects in community care for older people carried out over a period of eight years in 20 municipalities in southern Sweden. The analysis here looks at social impact across administrative levels and geographical scales. Different professional groups and care workers…

Marching toward Justice: Lessons Learned from the Shaw High School Mighty Cardinals Marching Band in East Cleveland

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luminais, Misty; Williams, Rhonda Y.

2016-01-01

The Shaw High School marching band has emerged as a collective site of individual and group pride and empowerment in the stories gathered through the community-based "Voicing & Action Project", which the Social Justice Institute debuted in East Cleveland. At first glance, a high school marching band might not have much in common with…

PETALL in Action: Latest Developments and Future Directions of the EU-Funded Project Pan-European Task Activities for Language Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lopes, António

2016-01-01

The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) proposes Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as an important strategy to develop the learners' linguistic competences along with their communicative skills. Since it is learner-centred and relies mostly on engaging learners in meaningful communicative interchanges in a foreign language, it allows…

An Action Research Project to Assess Middle School Educators' Professional Development Needs in Single-Sex Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simm, Lynnette Marie Gresham

2010-01-01

According to the National Association of Single-Sex Public Education (NASSPE, 2010), an increase of 540 public schools offering single-sex classrooms in the United States has occurred since 2001. Educators who understand the gender differences between boys and girls can inspire students to learn to the best of their ability; however, the problem…

A survey of planning and scheduling research at the NASA Ames Research Center

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zweben, Monte

1988-01-01

NASA Ames Research Center has a diverse program in planning and scheduling. This paper highlights some of our research projects as well as some of our applications. Topics addressed include machine learning techniques, action representations and constraint-based scheduling systems. The applications discussed are planetary rovers, Hubble Space Telescope scheduling, and Pioneer Venus orbit scheduling.

Digital Literacy Integration in Educational Practice: Creating a Learning Community, through a Geographic Project in Mytilene Senior High School, Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Exarchou, Evi; Klonari, Aikaterini; Lambrinos, Nikos; Vaitis, Michalis

2017-01-01

This study focused on the analysis of Grade-12 (Senior) students' sociocultural constructivist interactions using Web 2.0 applications during a geographical research process. In the study methodology context, a transdisciplinary case study (TdCS) with ethnographic and research action data was designed, implemented and analyzed in real teaching…

Turning Anxiety into Creativity: Using Postmodern Principles to Alleviate Anxiety and Stress through the Art Curriculum and Beyond

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferry, Lisa Marie

2016-01-01

The purpose of this action research study is to help students alleviate their anxiety and stress symptoms using activities based on Olivia Gude's postmodern principles. The activities included are the participants own take-along visual art journal kit and classroom projects. Professional learning outcomes include the knowledge to equip teachers…

Enhancing Moral and Ethical Judgment through the Use of Case Histories: An Ethics Course for Pre-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mc Danel de García, Mary Anne

2013-01-01

This article refers to an action research project involving pre-service teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine if specific learning outcomes could be successfully employed as objectives for an ethics course for preservice teacher preparation. Real life case histories were used by students to identify and reflect upon moral and…

The Global Classroom: A Study in Appreciation, Awareness, and Acceptance of Different Cultures and People in Our Ever Changing World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demovsky, Sandra; Niemuth, Judy

An action research project developed and implemented a program for increasing global skills and awareness of ethnic diversity in the classroom so that students could better understand others. The targeted population at two midwestern sites consisted of middle school sixth graders and high school learning disabled students in social studies…

Action Learning as a Core Process for SME Business Support

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powell, James A.; Houghton, Jane

2008-01-01

This is an account the work of NetworkNorthWest, a [pound]1m project at the University of Salford that ran between 2004 and 2007 and was developed to address the issues relating to poor take up of traditional business support by small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and low levels of engagement of the business community with Institutes of…

Distance learning education for mitigation/adaptation policy: a case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slini, T.; Giama, E.; Papadopoulou, Ch.-O.

2016-02-01

The efficient training of young environmental scientists has proven to be a challenging goal over the last years, while several dynamic initiatives have been developed aiming to provide complete and consistent education. A successful example is the e-learning course for participants mainly coming from emerging economy countries 'Development of mitigation/adaptation policy portfolios' organised in the frame of the project Promitheas4: Knowledge transfer and research needs for preparing mitigation/adaptation policy portfolios, aiming to provide knowledge transfer, enhance new skills and competencies, using modern didactic approaches and learning technologies. The present paper addresses the experience and the results of these actions, which seem promising and encouraging and were broadly welcomed by the participants.

Decision support frameworks and tools for conservation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Schwartz, Mark W.; Cook, Carly N.; Pressey, Robert L.; Pullin, Andrew S.; Runge, Michael C.; Salafsky, Nick; Sutherland, William J.; Williamson, Matthew A.

2018-01-01

The practice of conservation occurs within complex socioecological systems fraught with challenges that require transparent, defensible, and often socially engaged project planning and management. Planning and decision support frameworks are designed to help conservation practitioners increase planning rigor, project accountability, stakeholder participation, transparency in decisions, and learning. We describe and contrast five common frameworks within the context of six fundamental questions (why, who, what, where, when, how) at each of three planning stages of adaptive management (project scoping, operational planning, learning). We demonstrate that decision support frameworks provide varied and extensive tools for conservation planning and management. However, using any framework in isolation risks diminishing potential benefits since no one framework covers the full spectrum of potential conservation planning and decision challenges. We describe two case studies that have effectively deployed tools from across conservation frameworks to improve conservation actions and outcomes. Attention to the critical questions for conservation project planning should allow practitioners to operate within any framework and adapt tools to suit their specific management context. We call on conservation researchers and practitioners to regularly use decision support tools as standard practice for framing both practice and research.

Leadership development through action learning sets: an evaluation study.

PubMed

Walia, Surinder; Marks-Maran, Di

2014-11-01

This article examines the use of action learning sets in a leadership module delivered by a university in south east England. An evaluation research study was undertaking using survey method to evaluate student engagement with action learning sets, and their value, impact and sustainability. Data were collected through a questionnaire with a mix of Likert-style and open-ended questions and qualitative and quantitative data analysis was undertaken. Findings show that engagement in the action learning sets was very high. Action learning sets also had a positive impact on the development of leadership knowledge and skills and are highly valued by participants. It is likely that they would be sustainable as the majority would recommend action learning to colleagues and would consider taking another module that used action learning sets. When compared to existing literature on action learning, this study offers new insights as there is little empirical literature on student engagement with action learning sets and even less on value and sustainability. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Science and the city: A visual journey towards a critical place based science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibrahim, Sheliza

The inclusion of societal and environmental considerations during the teaching and learning of science and technology has been a central focus among science educators for many decades. Major initiatives in science and technology curriculum advocate for science, technology, society and environment (STSE). Yet, it is surprising that despite these longstanding discussions, it is only recently that a handful of researchers have turned to students' 'places' (and the literature of place based education) to serve as a source of teaching and learning in science education. In my study, I explore three issues evident in place based science education. First, it seems that past scholarship focused on place-based projects which explore issues usually proposed by government initiatives, university affiliation, or community organizations. Second, some of the studies fail to pay extended attention to the collaborative and intergenerational agency that occurs between researcher, teacher, student, and community member dynamics, nor does it share the participatory action research process in order to understand how teacher practice, student learning, and researcher/local collaborations might help pedagogy emerge. The third issue is that past place-based projects, rarely if ever, return to the projects to remember the collaborative efforts and question what aspects sustained after they were complete. To address these issues, I propose a critical place based science education (CPBSE) model. I describe a participatory action research project that develops and explores the CPBSE model. The data were gathered collaboratively among teachers, researchers, and students over 3 years (2006-2008), via digital video ethnography, photographs, and written reflections. The data were analysed using a case study approach and the constant comparative method. I discuss the implications for its practice in the field of STSE and place based education. I conclude that an effective pedagogical model of CPBSE comprises of three stages: critical visualizing, investigating, remembering, by sharing Science and the City (a case study that connects science to place using visual imagery).

A new method for teaching physical examination to junior medical students.

PubMed

Sayma, Meelad; Williams, Hywel Rhys

2016-01-01

Teaching effective physical examination is a key component in the education of medical students. Preclinical medical students often have insufficient clinical knowledge to apply to physical examination recall, which may hinder their learning when taught through certain understanding-based models. This pilot project aimed to develop a method to teach physical examination to preclinical medical students using "core clinical cases", overcoming the need for "rote" learning. This project was developed utilizing three cycles of planning, action, and reflection. Thematic analysis of feedback was used to improve this model, and ensure it met student expectations. A model core clinical case developed in this project is described, with gout as the basis for a "foot and ankle" examination. Key limitations and difficulties encountered on implementation of this pilot are discussed for future users, including the difficulty encountered in "content overload". This approach aims to teach junior medical students physical examination through understanding, using a simulated patient environment. Robust research is now required to demonstrate efficacy and repeatability in the physical examination of other systems.

Health promotion for young people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

PubMed

Davis, Kathy; Carter, Simone; Myers, Elizabeth; Rocca, Nicola

2018-02-07

Research confirms that children and young people with severe learning disabilities do not have the same level of access to high-quality care, health education and health promotion activities as children and young people without disabilities. This article discusses a quality improvement, action research project to investigate alternative approaches to health promotion that enhance the health and well-being of children and young people with complex neurodisabilities. The project involved assessment of school records and completion by staff of an eight-question survey. It found that the proactive approach of school nurses in raising awareness and understanding through questioning was positively received, and reinforced how meaningful and relevant information could be delivered to these young people. The project also had unexpected benefits, including more integrated team working, increased knowledge, greater awareness and understanding of the importance of health promotion participation, and student satisfaction. ©2018 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

Tensions related to implementation of postgraduate degree projects in specialist nursing education.

PubMed

German Millberg, Lena; Berg, Linda; Lindström, Irma; Petzäll, Kerstin; Öhlén, Joakim

2011-04-01

In conjunction with the introduction of the Bologna process in Sweden, specialist nursing education programmes were moved up to the second cycle of higher education with the opportunity to take a one-year master's degree, which also meant that students would undertake a degree project carrying 15 ECTS. The purpose of this study was to examine the introduction of postgraduate degree projects on the second-cycle level into Swedish specialist nursing programmes in accordance with the Bologna process. Five universities were involved and the study design took the form of action research. Problem formulation, planning, evaluation and follow-up with reflection led to new actions over a period of 2 1/2 years. Through a review of local curriculum documents, the implementation of a postgraduate degree project was monitored and these reviews, together with field notes, were analysed by means of constant comparative analysis. The results revealed a variety of tensions that arose when postgraduate degree projects were introduced, taking the form of differing views on the relationship between research, clinical development, specific professional objectives and academic objectives. These tensions were reflected in six areas of change. In summary, it can be noted that implementation of the postgraduate degree projects highlighted tensions related to basic views of learning. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Key issues and challenges in developing a pedagogical intervention in the simulation skills center--an action research study.

PubMed

Reierson, Inger Åse; Hvidsten, Anne; Wighus, Marianne; Brungot, Solvor; Bjørk, Ida Torunn

2013-07-01

Simulation skills centers (SSC) are considered important learning arenas for preparing and qualifying nursing students. Limited clinical placements and claims of diminished learning opportunities raise concerns that newly educated nurses lack proficiency in many psychomotor skills. Accordingly, there is an increased focus on learning in the SSC. However, it has been questioned if the pedagogical underpinning of teaching and learning in the SSC is missing or unclear. At a bachelor nursing education in Norway, there was a desire to change practice and enhance learning in the SSC by systematic use of The Model of Practical Skill Performance (Bjørk and Kirkevold, 2000). A participatory action research design was chosen. A pedagogical intervention was developed and implemented in 2010 in a cohort of eighty-seven first year bachelor nursing students during their basic nursing skill course. The intervention is shortly described. This article reports key issues and challenges that emerged during development of the new intervention. Data to inform the study were collected via thorough meeting minutes and the project leader's logbook, and analyzed using fieldnotes analysis. Six key issues and challenges were identified. These are presented and discussed consecutively in light of their importance for development and implementation of the new intervention. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lessons Learned on Effective Co-production of Drought Science and Decision Support Tools with the Wind River Reservation Tribal Water Managers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McNeeley, S.; Ojima, D. S.; Beeton, T.

2015-12-01

The Wind River Reservation in west-central Wyoming is home of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes. The reservation has experienced severe drought impacts on Tribal livelihoods and cultural activities in recent years. Scientists from the North Central Climate Science Center, the National Drought Mitigation Center, the High Plains Regional Climate Center, and multiple others are working in close partnership with the tribal water managers on a reservation-wide drought preparedness project that includes a technical assessment of drought risk, capacity building to train managers on drought and climate science and indicators, and drought planning. This talk will present project activities to date along with the valuable and transferrable lessons learned on effective co-production of actionable science for decision making in a tribal context.

Wiki as a tool for microbiology teaching, learning and assessment.

PubMed

Sampaio-Maia, B; Maia, J S; Leitão, S; Amaral, M; Vieira-Marques, P

2014-05-01

Evidence suggests that cooperative learning and peer-assessment fosters students' ability to work with others and may lead to better cognitive outcomes and higher achievement. This work aimed to assess the use of an online collaborative tool for the teaching/learning and assessment of Microbiology. A total of 144 students were grouped and assigned to create wiki entries as well as to peer review wikis created by colleagues (peer-assessment process) using the Wiki module from Moodle Virtual Learning Environment (MVLE). MVLE actions log was used for tracking students' activity. The number of student's actions within wiki did not present a strong correlation with wiki scores, so it should not be used as a heavy evaluation parameter. The amount of work developed between members of the same group differed significantly, suggesting that final scores should be attributed individually. When peer-assessment process was implemented, the number of editing actions increased, suggesting that the peer-assessment strategy encourages the development of a better work. The vast majority of students execute the work in the last 10% of the period assigned for task development, which can be counter-productive for a truly collaborative work. Wiki revealed to be a useful tool for Microbiology teaching/learning and assessment, promoting collaborative work, promoting virtual mobility and facilitating the real-time monitoring of the students' work. This pedagogical project promoted also the involvement of students in their assessment process, encouraging their critical sense and quest for Excellency. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A long-term study of ecological impacts of river channelization on the population of an endangered fish: Lessons learned for assessment and restoration

USGS Publications Warehouse

Roberts, James H.; Anderson, Gregory B.; Angermeier, Paul

2016-01-01

Projects to assess environmental impact or restoration success in rivers focus on project-specific questions but can also provide valuable insights for future projects. Both restoration actions and impact assessments can become “adaptive” by using the knowledge gained from long-term monitoring and analysis to revise the actions, monitoring, conceptual model, or interpretation of findings so that subsequent actions or assessments are better informed. Assessments of impact or restoration success are especially challenging when the indicators of interest are imperiled species and/or the impacts being addressed are complex. From 1997 to 2015, we worked closely with two federal agencies to monitor habitat availability for and population density of Roanoke logperch (Percina rex), an endangered fish, in a 24-km-long segment of the upper Roanoke River, VA. We primarily used a Before-After-Control-Impact analytical framework to assess potential impacts of a river channelization project on the P. rex population. In this paper, we summarize how our extensive monitoring facilitated the evolution of our (a) conceptual understanding of the ecosystem and fish population dynamics; (b) choices of ecological indicators and analytical tools; and (c) conclusions regarding the magnitude, mechanisms, and significance of observed impacts. Our experience with this case study taught us important lessons about how to adaptively develop and conduct a monitoring program, which we believe are broadly applicable to assessments of environmental impact and restoration success in other rivers. In particular, we learned that (a) pre-treatment planning can enhance monitoring effectiveness, help avoid unforeseen pitfalls, and lead to more robust conclusions; (b) developing adaptable conceptual and analytical models early was crucial to organizing our knowledge, guiding our study design, and analyzing our data; (c) catchment-wide processes that we did not monitor, or initially consider, had profound implications for interpreting our findings; and (d) using multiple analytical frameworks, with varying assumptions, led to clearer interpretation of findings than the use of a single framework alone. Broader integration of these guiding principles into monitoring studies, though potentially challenging, could lead to more scientifically defensible assessments of project effects.

Bringing Action Reflection Learning into Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rimanoczy, Isabel; Brown, Carole

2008-01-01

This paper introduces Action Reflection Learning (ARL) as a learning methodology that can contribute to, and enrich, the practice of action learning programs. It describes the Swedish constructivist origins of the model, its evolution and the coded responses that resulted from researching the practice. The paper presents the resulting sixteen ARL…

Promoting Children's and Adolescents' Social and Emotional Development: District Adaptations of a Theory of Action.

PubMed

Kendziora, Kimberly; Osher, David

2016-01-01

This article contributes to the broader discussion of promotion, prevention, and intervention in child and adolescent mental health by describing implementation and early outcomes of an 8-school district demonstration project aimed at making the promotion of social and emotional learning a systemic part of school districts' practice. Eight districts are 2-3 years in to their participation in the 6-year project. The districts are large, are predominantly urban, and serve many students who are at disadvantage. The evaluation involved collection of qualitative data to measure the degree to which the districts realized the goals established in the initiative's theory of action, as well as school climate data, extant student records, and surveys of students' social and emotional competence. To date, results show that districts have followed highly individual pathways toward integrating social and emotional learning systemically, and all have made progress over time. Although school-level implementation remains at moderate levels, 2 districts in which we could examine school climate showed gains from preinitiative years. Four of 6 measured districts showed improvement in social and emotional competence for students in Grade 3, and achievement and discipline showed overall improvements across all districts. Overall findings show that implementation of the initiative's theory of action by school districts is feasible, even in times of budgetary stress and leadership turnover. This establishes the potential for school districts to serve as a lever of change in the promotion of students' social and emotional development and mental wellness.

The intralaminar thalamus—an expressway linking visual stimuli to circuits determining agency and action selection

PubMed Central

Fisher, Simon D.; Reynolds, John N. J.

2014-01-01

Anatomical investigations have revealed connections between the intralaminar thalamic nuclei and areas such as the superior colliculus (SC) that receive short latency input from visual and auditory primary sensory areas. The intralaminar nuclei in turn project to the major input nucleus of the basal ganglia, the striatum, providing this nucleus with a source of subcortical excitatory input. Together with a converging input from the cerebral cortex, and a neuromodulatory dopaminergic input from the midbrain, the components previously found necessary for reinforcement learning in the basal ganglia are present. With this intralaminar sensory input, the basal ganglia are thought to play a primary role in determining what aspect of an organism’s own behavior has caused salient environmental changes. Additionally, subcortical loops through thalamic and basal ganglia nuclei are proposed to play a critical role in action selection. In this mini review we will consider the anatomical and physiological evidence underlying the existence of these circuits. We will propose how the circuits interact to modulate basal ganglia output and solve common behavioral learning problems of agency determination and action selection. PMID:24765070

Taking a unified approach to teaching and implementing quality improvements across multiple residency programs: the Atlantic Health experience.

PubMed

Daniel, Donna M; Casey, Donald E; Levine, Jeffrey L; Kaye, Susan T; Dardik, Raquel B; Varkey, Prathibha; Pierce-Boggs, Kimberly

2009-12-01

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education recently emphasized the importance of systems-based practice and systems-based learning; however, successful models of collaborative quality improvement (QI) initiatives in residency training curricula are not widely available. Atlantic Health successfully conceptualized and implemented a QI collaborative focused on medication safety across eight residency training programs representing 219 residents. During a six-month period, key faculty and resident leaders from 8 (of 10) Atlantic Health residency training programs participated in three half-day collaborative learning sessions focused on improving medication reconciliation. Each session included didactic presentations from a multidisciplinary team of clinical experts as well as the application of principles that identified challenges, barriers, and solutions to QI initiatives. The learning sessions emphasized the fundamental principles of medication reconciliation, its critical importance as a vital part of patient handoff in all health care settings, and the challenges of achieving successful medication reconciliation improvement in light of work hours restrictions and patient loads. Each residency program developed a detailed implementation and measurement plan for individual "action learning" projects, using the Plan-Do-Study-Act method of improvement. Each program then implemented its QI project, and expert faculty (e.g., physicians, nurses, pharmacists, QI staff) provided mentoring between learning sessions. Several projects resulted in permanent changes in medication reconciliation processes, which were then adopted by other programs. The structure, process, and outcomes of this effort are described in detail.

Critical-Service Learning as a Revolutionary Pedagogy: An International Project of Student Agency in Action. Critical Constructions: Studies on Education and Society

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porfilio, Bradley, Ed.; Hickman, Heather, Ed.

2011-01-01

This volume will be a valuable resource to instructors who teach in the fields of teacher education, social studies, educational leadership, social work, social, cultural and philosophical foundations of education, sociology, political science, and global studies as well as their students. Due to the volume's international focus, the authors also…

Project on the Effects of the School as a Workplace on Teachers' Engagement: Field Study on Principals' Management of Schools To Affect Teacher Engagement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossmiller, Richard A.

Despite the recognized importance of school-level leadership, little attention has been given to principals' influence over teachers' daily work lives. This study tries to identify what principals do, through their actions and decisions, to affect teachers' working conditions. Since teacher engagement in their work affects student learning, the…

The Effects of Stimulus Writing Modality To Produce Writing Fluency in the Primary Grades.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duross, Christine; And Others

An action research project set out to increase students' writing fluency and investigate whether writing fluency varies as a function of writing prompts and directions given to students. Subjects were 62 students in a first-grade class, a second-grade class, and a fifth/sixth-grade Special Day class (all in this class are learning disabled) in a…

Developing Social Skills in Children Who Have Disabilities through the Use of Social Stories and Visual Supports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Kristi; Haufe, Theresa

2009-01-01

The purpose of this action research project was to improve the social skills of eight preschool students and four first grade and second grade students through the use of Social Stories and visual supports to create a more positive learning environment. The teacher researchers wanted to increase the social skills of students who had been diagnosed…

Cutting the Distance in Distance Education: Reflections on the Use of E-Technologies in a New Zealand Social Work Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanley-Clarke, Nicky; English, Awhina; Yeung, Polly

2018-01-01

The development of new e-technologies and an increased focus on developing distance social work education programs has created the impetus for social work educators to consider the tools they can employ in delivering distance courses. This article reflects on an action learning research project involving the development of an online toolbox of…

The Effect of Drill and Practice Software on Multiplication Skills: "Multiplication Puzzles" versus "The Mad Minute."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Lynda Patterson

The purpose of the study was to compare two methods of learning multiplication facts in order to develop speed and accuracy. The researcher conducted the action research project with a seventh grade enrichment class, which met for seven weeks during the school year. As part of the curriculum students were provided with activities to refine their…

The Potential of Transnational Language Policy to Promote Social Inclusion of Immigrants: An Analysis and Evaluation of the European Union's INCLUDE Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bian, Cui

2017-01-01

Language issues and social inclusion consistently remain two major concerns for member countries of the European Union (EU). Despite an increasing awareness of the importance of language learning in migrants' social inclusion, and the promotion of language policies at European and national levels, there is still a lack of common actions at the…

"Complex Teaching Realities" and "Deep Rooted Cultural Traditions": Barriers to the Implementation and Internalisation of Formative Assessment in China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poole, Adam; Adamson, Bob

2016-01-01

This article forms the first part of an Action Research project designed to incorporate formative assessment into the culture of learning of a bilingual school in Shanghai, China. It synthesises the empirical literature on formative assessment in China to establish some of the difficulties that teachers have faced in trying to incorporate this…

Early Childhood Education and Beyond: Can We Adapt the Practices and Philosophies from the Preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy into Our Elementary Schools in America?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Firlik, Russell

The model presented by the preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, is one of cooperation and collaborations among teachers, parents, and children; curriculum based on the "project approach," and constructivist learning philosophy, which states that children construct their knowledge and values as a result of interactions with and action on…

What's Our Position? A Critical Media Literacy Study of Popular Culture Websites with Eighth-Grade Special Education Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kesler, Ted; Tinio, Pablo P. L.; Nolan, Brian T.

2016-01-01

This article reports on an action research project with 9 eighth-grade special education students in a self-contained classroom in an urban public school. The 1st author, in collaboration with the classroom teacher (3rd author), taught the students a critical media literacy framework to explore popular culture websites. Students learned to analyze…

Entrepreneurial Learning through Action: A Case Study of the Six-Squared Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pittaway, Luke; Missing, Caroline; Hudson, Nigel; Maragh, Dean

2009-01-01

This paper explores the role of "action" in entrepreneurial learning and illustrates how programs designed to support action learning can enhance management development in entrepreneurial businesses. The paper begins by exploring action learning and the way "action" is conceived in different types of program. In the second part, the paper details…

Enhancing Postgraduate Learning and Development: A Participatory Action Learning and Action Research Approach through Conferences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Lesley; Louw, Ina; Zuber-Skerritt, Ortrun

2017-01-01

As supervisors who advocate the transformational potential of research both to generate theory and practical and emancipatory outcomes, we practice participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). This paper offers an illustrative case of how supervision practices based on action learning can foster emancipatory and lifelong learning…

Teacher collaboration and elementary science teaching: Using action research as a tool for instructional leadership

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roberts, Sara Hayes

The primary purpose of this action research study was to explore an elementary science program and find ways to support science education as an administrator of an elementary school. The study took place in a large suburban school system in the southeastern United States. Seven teachers at a small rural school volunteered to participate in the study. Each participant became an active member of the research by determining what changes needed to take place and implementing the lessons in science. The study was also focused on teacher collaboration and how it influenced the science instruction. The data collected included two interviews, ten observations of science lessons, the implementation of four science units, and informal notes from planning sessions over a five month period. The questions that guided this study focused on how teachers prepare to teach science through active learning and how instruction shifts due to teacher collaboration. Teachers were interviewed at the beginning of the study to gain the perceptions of the participants in the areas of (a) planning, (b) active learning, (c) collaboration, and (d) teaching science lessons. The teachers and principal then formed a research team that determined the barriers to teaching science according to the Standards, designed units of study using active learning strategies, and worked collaboratively to implement the units of study. The action research project reviewed the National Science Education Standards, the theory of constructivism, active learning and teacher collaboration as they relate to the actions taken by a group of teachers in an elementary school. The evidence from this study showed that by working together collaboratively and overcoming the barriers to teaching science actively, teachers feel more confident and knowledgeable about teaching the concepts.

Learning and change in a community mental health setting.

PubMed

Mancini, Michael A; Miner, Craig S

2013-10-01

This article offers methodological reflections and lessons learned from a three-year university-community partnership that used participatory action research methods to develop and evaluate a model for learning and change. Communities of practice were used to facilitate the translation of recovery-oriented and evidence-based programs into everyday practice at a community mental health agency. Four lessons were drawn from this project. First, the processes of learning and organizational change are complex, slow, and multifaceted. Second, development of leaders and champions is vital to sustained implementation in an era of restricted resources. Third, it is important to have the agency's values, mission, policies, and procedures align with the principles and practices of recovery and integrated treatment. And fourth, effective learning of evidence-based practices is influenced by organizational culture and climate. These four lessons are expanded upon and situated within the broader literature and implications for future research are discussed.

Sector-specific issues and reporting methodologies supporting the General Guidelines for the voluntary reporting of greenhouse gases under Section 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Volume 1: Part 1, Electricity supply sector; Part 2, Residential and commercial buildings sector; Part 3, Industrial sector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

DOE encourages you to report your achievements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and sequestering carbon under this program. Global climate change is increasingly being recognized as a threat that individuals and organizations can take action against. If you are among those taking action, reporting your projects may lead to recognition for you, motivation for others, and synergistic learning for the global community. This report discusses the reporting process for the voluntary detailed guidance in the sectoral supporting documents for electricity supply, residential and commercial buildings, industry, transportation, forestry, and agriculture. You may have reportable projects in several sectors; you maymore » report them separately or capture and report the total effects on an entity-wide report.« less

Advice and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Citizen-Science Environmental Health Assessments.

PubMed

Barzyk, Timothy M; Huang, Hongtai; Williams, Ronald; Kaufman, Amanda; Essoka, Jonathan

2018-05-11

Citizen science provides quantitative results to support environmental health assessments (EHAs), but standardized approaches do not currently exist to translate findings into actionable solutions. The emergence of low-cost portable sensor technologies and proliferation of publicly available datasets provides unparalleled access to supporting evidence; yet data collection, analysis, interpretation, visualization, and communication are subjective approaches that must be tailored to a decision-making audience capable of improving environmental health. A decade of collaborative efforts and two citizen science projects contributed to three lessons learned and a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) that address the complexities of environmental health and interpersonal relations often encountered in citizen science EHAs. Each project followed a structured step-by-step process in order to compare and contrast methods and approaches. These lessons and FAQs provide advice to translate citizen science research into actionable solutions in the context of a diverse range of environmental health issues and local stakeholders.

Project Management Framework to Organizational Transitions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kotnour, Tim; Barton, Saul

1996-01-01

This paper describes a project management framework and associated models for organizational transitions. The framework contains an integrated set of steps an organization can take to lead an organizational transition such as downsizing and change in mission or role. The framework is designed to help an organization do the right work the right way with the right people at the right time. The underlying rationale for the steps in the framework is based on a set of findings which include: defining a transition as containing both near-term and long-term actions, designing actions which respond to drivers and achieve desired results, aligning the organization with the external environment, and aligning the internal components of the organization. The framework was developed based on best practices found in the literature, lessons learned from heads of organizations who have completed large-scale organizational changes, and concerns from employees at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The framework is described using KSC.

The Representation of Motor (Inter)action, States of Action, and Learning: Three Perspectives on Motor Learning by Way of Imagery and Execution

PubMed Central

Frank, Cornelia; Schack, Thomas

2017-01-01

Learning in intelligent systems is a result of direct and indirect interaction with the environment. While humans can learn by way of different states of (inter)action such as the execution or the imagery of an action, their unique potential to induce brain- and mind-related changes in the motor action system is still being debated. The systematic repetition of different states of action (e.g., physical and/or mental practice) and their contribution to the learning of complex motor actions has traditionally been approached by way of performance improvements. More recently, approaches highlighting the role of action representation in the learning of complex motor actions have evolved and may provide additional insight into the learning process. In the present perspective paper, we build on brain-related findings and sketch recent research on learning by way of imagery and execution from a hierarchical, perceptual-cognitive approach to motor control and learning. These findings provide insights into the learning of intelligent systems from a perceptual-cognitive, representation-based perspective and as such add to our current understanding of action representation in memory and its changes with practice. Future research should build bridges between approaches in order to more thoroughly understand functional changes throughout the learning process and to facilitate motor learning, which may have particular importance for cognitive systems research in robotics, rehabilitation, and sports. PMID:28588510

Dipping Your Toes into Evaluation in Five Easy Steps: Tips, Tricks, and Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martin, A. M.

2013-04-01

With limited funding, staffing, and resources for STEM education projects, the push for rigorous evaluation of our efforts offers up significant challenges, but opportunities as well. Evaluative thinking can enrich and improve the entire life cycle of an education, communication, or outreach project, and can take many forms other than a final, summative evaluation report. The community of attendees at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific will share an abundance of evaluation expertise, approaches, and results, but where does one turn if evaluation is a new concept or responsibility? This session will briefly highlight five tips, tricks, and lessons learned from the perspective of a novice and from a NASA project new to evaluation. The resources and ideas shared in the session will represent the concrete advice and driving ideas that put the author on firmer evaluative footing. Themes explored will include: (1) strategies for incorporating evaluative thinking early in the development of a project and throughout its life cycle; (2) the benefit of taking the time to elucidate a program's logic model of theory of action; (3) linking program activities to outcomes that are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely); (4) working with an external or internal evaluator; and (5) taking evaluation beyond the formal, final report. Finally, we'll close with resources to help individuals and their organizations learn more about evaluation and build their evaluation capacity.

Action Learning and Constructivist Grounded Theory: Powerfully Overlapping Fields of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rand, Jane

2013-01-01

This paper considers the shared characteristics between action learning (AL) and the research methodology constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Mirroring Edmonstone's [2011. "Action Learning and Organisation Development: Overlapping Fields of Practice." "Action Learning: Research and Practice" 8 (2): 93-102] article, which…

Overview of overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid programs.

PubMed

Drifmeyer, Jeff; Llewellyn, Craig

2003-12-01

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) conducts humanitarian assistance missions under the Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid program for the statutory purposes of training military personnel, serving the political interests of the host nation and United States, and providing humanitarian relief to foreign civilians. These purposes are undertaken via the humanitarian assistance (HA), humanitarian and civic assistance, and excess property donation programs. DoD conducts over 200 such projects annually at a direct cost of approximately 27 million dollars in fiscal year 2001. Although varying by year and command, as many as one-half of these projects involve aspects of health care. These range from short-term patient care to donation of medical supplies and equipment excess to the needs of the DoD. Despite the considerable resources invested and importance of international actions, there is presently no formal evaluation system for these HA projects. Current administrative staffing of these programs by military personnel is often by individuals with many other duties and responsibilities. As a result, humanitarian projects are often inadequately coordinated with nongovernmental organizations, private volunteer organizations, or host-nation officials. Nonmedical military personnel sometimes plan health-related projects with little or no coordination with medical experts, military or civilian. After action reports (AARs) on these humanitarian projects are often subjective, lack quantitative details, and are devoid of measures of effectiveness. AARs are sometimes inconsistently completed, and there is no central repository of information for analysis of lessons learned. (The approximate 100 AARs used in the conduct of these studies are available for official use in the Learning Resources Center, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.) Feedback from past humanitarian projects is rare and with few exceptions; DoD-centric projects of a similar design are often repeated. Critical reviews to determine whether other kinds of projects might be more effective are rarely conducted. Recommendations for improving the effectiveness of DoD HA under Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid programs include: ensuring adequate staffing to meet the complex, dynamic nature of humanitarian missions and measuring the effectiveness of each project in mandatory, standardized AARs. For medical HA projects, application of public health strategies would compliment the patient care approach of the majority of medical projects to date. This offers possibilities for enhancing host nation infrastructure, allowing improvements beyond the short period of most military humanitarian projects.

Accreditation of prior learning: andragogy in action or a 'cut price' approach to education?

PubMed

Howard, S

1993-11-01

The rapid changes in nurse education are proceeding within the wider context of developments in adjacent educational fields, which are themselves subject to external influences, and one such development is the accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL). In order to be critically aware of the potential involved in embracing this concept, it is necessary to clarify and examine the influencing factors which guide the current andragogical climate of nurse education, and those which predispose to the recognition of APEL. Utilizing a case-study approach, this paper will examine the relevant issues as they relate to experienced students pursuing the learning outcomes of Project 2000, and will address the question of value for all parties concerned.

Influence of action-effect associations acquired by ideomotor learning on imitation.

PubMed

Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J; Quandt, Lorna C; Bouquet, Cedric A

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants' hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation.

Influence of Action-Effect Associations Acquired by Ideomotor Learning on Imitation

PubMed Central

Bunlon, Frédérique; Marshall, Peter J.; Quandt, Lorna C.; Bouquet, Cedric A.

2015-01-01

According to the ideomotor theory, actions are represented in terms of their perceptual effects, offering a solution for the correspondence problem of imitation (how to translate the observed action into a corresponding motor output). This effect-based coding of action is assumed to be acquired through action-effect learning. Accordingly, performing an action leads to the integration of the perceptual codes of the action effects with the motor commands that brought them about. While ideomotor theory is invoked to account for imitation, the influence of action-effect learning on imitative behavior remains unexplored. In two experiments, imitative performance was measured in a reaction time task following a phase of action-effect acquisition. During action-effect acquisition, participants freely executed a finger movement (index or little finger lifting), and then observed a similar (compatible learning) or a different (incompatible learning) movement. In Experiment 1, finger movements of left and right hands were presented as action-effects during acquisition. In Experiment 2, only right-hand finger movements were presented during action-effect acquisition and in the imitation task the observed hands were oriented orthogonally to participants’ hands in order to avoid spatial congruency effects. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that imitative performance was improved after compatible learning, compared to incompatible learning. In Experiment 2, although action-effect learning involved perception of finger movements of right hand only, imitative capabilities of right- and left-hand finger movements were equally affected. These results indicate that an observed movement stimulus processed as the effect of an action can later prime execution of that action, confirming the ideomotor approach to imitation. We further discuss these findings in relation to previous studies of action-effect learning and in the framework of current ideomotor approaches to imitation. PMID:25793755

Inquiring into the Dilemmas of Implementing Action Learning. Innovative Session 6. [Concurrent Innovative Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yorks, Lyle; Dilworth, Robert L.; Marquardt, Michael J.; Marsick, Victoria; O'Neil, Judy

Action learning is receiving increasing attention from human resource development (HRD) practitioners and the HRD management literature. Action learning has been characterized as follows: (1) working in small groups to take action on meaningful problems while seeking to learn from having taken the specified action lies at the foundation of action…

The DELTA PREP Initiative: Accelerating Coalition Capacity for Intimate Partner Violence Prevention

PubMed Central

Zakocs, Ronda; Freire, Kimberley E.

2018-01-01

Background The DELTA PREP Project aimed to build the prevention capacity of 19 state domestic violence coalitions by offering eight supports designed to promote prevention integration over a 3-year period: modest grant awards, training events, technical assistance, action planning, coaching hubs, the Coalition Prevention Capacity Assessment, an online workstation, and the online documentation support system. Objectives Using quantitative and qualitative data, we sought to explain how coalitions integrated prevention within their structures and functions and document how DELTA PREP supports contributed to coalitions’ integration process. Results We found that coalitions followed a common pathway to integrate prevention. First, coalitions exhibited precursors of organizational readiness, especially having prevention champions. Second, coalitions engaged in five critical actions: engaging in dialogue, learning about prevention, forming teams, soliciting input from the coalition, and action planning. Last, by engaging in these critical actions, coalitions enhanced two key organizational readiness factors—developing a common understanding of prevention and an organizational commitment to prevention. We also found that DELTA PREP supports contributed to coalitions’ abilities to integrate prevention by supporting learning about prevention, fostering a prevention team, and engaging in action planning by leveraging existing opportunities. Two DELTA PREP supports—coaching hubs and the workstation—did not work as initially intended. From the DELTA PREP experience, we offer several lessons to consider when designing future prevention capacity-building initiatives. PMID:26245934

The DELTA PREP Initiative: Accelerating Coalition Capacity for Intimate Partner Violence Prevention.

PubMed

Zakocs, Ronda; Freire, Kimberley E

2015-08-01

The DELTA PREP Project aimed to build the prevention capacity of 19 state domestic violence coalitions by offering eight supports designed to promote prevention integration over a 3-year period: modest grant awards, training events, technical assistance, action planning, coaching hubs, the Coalition Prevention Capacity Assessment, an online workstation, and the online documentation support system. Using quantitative and qualitative data, we sought to explain how coalitions integrated prevention within their structures and functions and document how DELTA PREP supports contributed to coalitions' integration process. We found that coalitions followed a common pathway to integrate prevention. First, coalitions exhibited precursors of organizational readiness, especially having prevention champions. Second, coalitions engaged in five critical actions: engaging in dialogue, learning about prevention, forming teams, soliciting input from the coalition, and action planning. Last, by engaging in these critical actions, coalitions enhanced two key organizational readiness factors-developing a common understanding of prevention and an organizational commitment to prevention. We also found that DELTA PREP supports contributed to coalitions' abilities to integrate prevention by supporting learning about prevention, fostering a prevention team, and engaging in action planning by leveraging existing opportunities. Two DELTA PREP supports-coaching hubs and the workstation-did not work as initially intended. From the DELTA PREP experience, we offer several lessons to consider when designing future prevention capacity-building initiatives. © 2015 Society for Public Health Education.

Action Learning. A Guide for Professional, Management and Educational Development. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGill, Ian; Beaty, Liz

Action learning is a process of learning and reflection that happens with the support of a group of colleagues ("set") working with real problems with the intention of getting things done. This guide is for those who want to practice action learning. It can be used to introduce the concepts of action learning to others and as a manual…

Learning to listen: improving students' communication with disabled people.

PubMed

Anderson, Elizabeth Susan; Ford, Jenny; Thorpe, Lucy

2011-01-01

This report outlines the action research used to develop a workshop for interprofessional student groups to enhance listening skills. The project aimed to enable students to reflect interprofessionally on the human factors central to effective communication using the power of storytelling by disabled people and their carers. Qualitative data from students and participating service users were collected using focus groups and one-to-one interviews over three pilot cycles. The results from each pilot informed the cyclical development of the project so that each stage of data collection informed the next stage. During the pilots, 20 interviews with service users were completed and a total of 109 students participated. Transcribed data were analysed using principles from grounded theory. Quantitative scored questions on students' learning were analysed using statistical package for the social sciences. Both students (health and social care) and users benefitted from the education process which delivered highly relevant explicit learning opportunities, with analysis of how to improve communication for safe practice. Students benefitted from meaningful interactions with service users who shared their experiences and gave feedback on students' communication skills. The final workshop design resulted in a learning model which reflects the human side of healthcare delivery.

Explore the concept of “light” and its interaction with matter: an inquiry-based science education project in primary school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varela, P.; Costa, M. F.

2015-04-01

The exploration process leading to the understanding of physical phenomena, such as light and its interaction with matter, raises great interest and curiosity in children. However, in most primary schools, children rarely have the opportunity to conduct science activities in which they can engage in an enquiry process even if by the action of the teacher. In this context, we have organised several in-service teacher training courses and carried out several pedagogic interventions in Portuguese primary schools, with the aim of promoting inquiry- based science education. This article describes one of those projects, developed with a class of the third grade, which explored the curricular topic “Light Experiments”. Various activities were planned and implemented, during a total of ten hours spread over five lessons. The specific objectives of this paper are: to illustrate and analyse the teaching and learning process promoted in the classroom during the exploration of one of these lessons, and to assess children's learning three weeks after the lessons. The results suggest that children made significant learning which persisted. We conclude discussing some processes that stimulated children’ learning, including the importance of teacher questioning in scaffolding children's learning and some didactic implications for teacher training.

Action Learning for Professionals: A New Approach to Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abbott, Christine; Mayes, Cathy

2014-01-01

Following on from the article "Building Capacity in Social Care: An Evaluation of a National Programme of Action Learning Facilitator Development" (Abbott, C., L. Burtney, and C. Wall. 2013. "Action Learning: Research & Practice" 10 (2): 168--177), this article describes how action learning is being introduced in Cornwall…

Making sense of health information technology implementation: A qualitative study protocol.

PubMed

Kitzmiller, Rebecca R; Anderson, Ruth A; McDaniel, Reuben R

2010-11-29

Implementing new practices, such as health information technology (HIT), is often difficult due to the disruption of the highly coordinated, interdependent processes (e.g., information exchange, communication, relationships) of providing care in hospitals. Thus, HIT implementation may occur slowly as staff members observe and make sense of unexpected disruptions in care. As a critical organizational function, sensemaking, defined as the social process of searching for answers and meaning which drive action, leads to unified understanding, learning, and effective problem solving -- strategies that studies have linked to successful change. Project teamwork is a change strategy increasingly used by hospitals that facilitates sensemaking by providing a formal mechanism for team members to share ideas, construct the meaning of events, and take next actions. In this longitudinal case study, we aim to examine project teams' sensemaking and action as the team prepares to implement new information technology in a tiertiary care hospital. Based on management and healthcare literature on HIT implementation and project teamwork, we chose sensemaking as an alternative to traditional models for understanding organizational change and teamwork. Our methods choices are derived from this conceptual framework. Data on project team interactions will be prospectively collected through direct observation and organizational document review. Through qualitative methods, we will identify sensemaking patterns and explore variation in sensemaking across teams. Participant demographics will be used to explore variation in sensemaking patterns. Outcomes of this research will be new knowledge about sensemaking patterns of project teams, such as: the antecedents and consequences of the ongoing, evolutionary, social process of implementing HIT; the internal and external factors that influence the project team, including team composition, team member interaction, and interaction between the project team and the larger organization; the ways in which internal and external factors influence project team processes; and the ways in which project team processes facilitate team task accomplishment. These findings will lead to new methods of implementing HIT in hospitals.

Making sense of health information technology implementation: A qualitative study protocol

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Implementing new practices, such as health information technology (HIT), is often difficult due to the disruption of the highly coordinated, interdependent processes (e.g., information exchange, communication, relationships) of providing care in hospitals. Thus, HIT implementation may occur slowly as staff members observe and make sense of unexpected disruptions in care. As a critical organizational function, sensemaking, defined as the social process of searching for answers and meaning which drive action, leads to unified understanding, learning, and effective problem solving -- strategies that studies have linked to successful change. Project teamwork is a change strategy increasingly used by hospitals that facilitates sensemaking by providing a formal mechanism for team members to share ideas, construct the meaning of events, and take next actions. Methods In this longitudinal case study, we aim to examine project teams' sensemaking and action as the team prepares to implement new information technology in a tiertiary care hospital. Based on management and healthcare literature on HIT implementation and project teamwork, we chose sensemaking as an alternative to traditional models for understanding organizational change and teamwork. Our methods choices are derived from this conceptual framework. Data on project team interactions will be prospectively collected through direct observation and organizational document review. Through qualitative methods, we will identify sensemaking patterns and explore variation in sensemaking across teams. Participant demographics will be used to explore variation in sensemaking patterns. Discussion Outcomes of this research will be new knowledge about sensemaking patterns of project teams, such as: the antecedents and consequences of the ongoing, evolutionary, social process of implementing HIT; the internal and external factors that influence the project team, including team composition, team member interaction, and interaction between the project team and the larger organization; the ways in which internal and external factors influence project team processes; and the ways in which project team processes facilitate team task accomplishment. These findings will lead to new methods of implementing HIT in hospitals. PMID:21114860

Through Their Eyes: Lessons Learned Using Participatory Methods in Health Care Quality Improvement Projects

PubMed Central

Balbale, Salva N.; Locatelli, Sara M.; LaVela, Sherri L.

2016-01-01

In this methodological article, we examine participatory methods in-depth to demonstrate how these methods can be adopted for quality improvement (QI) projects in health care. We draw on existing literature and our QI initiatives in the Department of Veterans Affairs to discuss the application of photovoice and guided tours in QI efforts. We highlight lessons learned and several benefits of using participatory methods in this area. Using participatory methods, evaluators can engage patients, providers and other stakeholders as partners to enhance care. Participant involvement helps yield actionable data that can be translated into improved care practices. Use of these methods also helps generate key insights to inform improvements that truly resonate with stakeholders. Using participatory methods is a valuable strategy to harness participant engagement and drive improvements that address individual needs. In applying these innovative methodologies, evaluators can transcend traditional approaches to uniquely support evaluations and improvements in health care. PMID:26667882

Lessons Learned in Student Venture Creation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caner, Edward

The Physics Entrepreneurship Master's Program (PEP) at Case Western Reserve University is now in its 15th year of operation. PEP is a 27 credit-hour Master of Science in Physics, Entrepreneurship Track. The curriculum can be tailored to the needs of each student. Coursework consists of graduate-level classes in science, business, intellectual property law, and innovation. A master's thesis is required that is based on a real-world project in innovation or entrepreneurship within an existing company or startup (possibly the student's). PEP faculty help students connect with mentors, advisors, partners, funding sources and job opportunities. In this talk I will chronicle several pitfalls that we have encountered with our ''real world'' student projects and start-up businesses, several of which met their complete demise despite showing great promise for success. I will discuss how we have learned to avoid most of these pitfalls by taking surprisingly simple actions.

Work-based learning using action learning sets.

PubMed

Rosser, Elizabeth

2016-10-27

Elizabeth Rosser, Deputy Dean (Education and Professional Practice) and Professor of Nursing at Bournemouth University reflects on the concept of action learning, and the benefits of being part of an action learning set.

Action Learning Research? Reflections from the Colloquium at the Third International Conference on Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coghlan, David

2013-01-01

The case for the notion of action learning research has been posed and explored in several publications over the past few years. There is no tradition within action learning of understanding it as an approach to research. Within some academic circles, there has been a focus on the "action turn," the development of the notion of actionable…

Education for Disability Equality through Disabled People's Life Stories and Narratives: Working and Learning Together in a School-Based Professional Development Programme for Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chrysostomou, Marianna; Symeonidou, Simoni

2017-01-01

This paper reports on the findings of an action research project that took place in a primary school in Cyprus. A professional development programme was devised with contributions from teachers involved in the research. The programme was aimed at helping teachers to map the difficulties they encounter when working with their students on…

Resisting the Discourse on Resistance: Theorizing Experiences from an Action Research Project on Feminist Pedagogy in Different Learning Cultures in Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bondestam, Fredrik

2011-01-01

Feminist pedagogy implies performing some kind of feminist teaching practices, while at the same time contesting the very possibility of performing such practices. One needs to start out from the assumption that only what cannot be foreseen will enable one not just to overcome resistance to feminist knowledge and teaching but also to make such…

National Science Resources Center Project to Improve Science Teaching in Elementary Schools. Appendix D. Science for Children, an Agenda for Action. Appendix E. Science for Children, Resources for Teachers

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-12-01

activities in chemistry tivities for the Visually Impaired/Science and physics: The Acid Test, How Dense?, The Cookie Monster, and The Sugar...baking powder. assembling a Grade(s): 3,4,5,6 gas generator, and learning how dough rises. Adult supervision is necessary for $6.95 these activities. 86

The ELAA 2 Citizen Science Project: The Case for Science, Equity, and Critical Thinking in Adult English Language Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basham, M.

2012-08-01

This article summarizes a paper presented at the recent ASP conference Connecting People to Science in Baltimore 2011. This action research study currently in progress aims to explore the impact of integrating science into English language instruction (English Language Acquisition for Adults, or ELLA) serving largely Hispanic immigrants at an adult learning center based in Phoenix, Arizona.

What Have We Learned about Preventing Child Abuse? An Overview of the "Community and Minority Group Action to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect" Program. Prevention Focus Working Paper No. 009.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Ellen

Results from the evaluation of 11 demonstration programs designed to prevent child abuse are summarized in this working paper. The programs were of three types: perinatal programs; community-wide education, information, and referral projects; and culturally relevant parent education efforts. The four perinatal programs focused on extended…

Combining the Formative with the Summative: The Development of a Two-Stage Online Test to Encourage Engagement and Provide Personal Feedback in Large Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voelkel, Susanne

2013-01-01

The aim of this action research project was to improve student learning by encouraging more "time on task" and to improve self-assessment and feedback through the introduction of weekly online tests in a Year 2 lecture module in biological sciences. Initially voluntary online tests were offered to students and those who participated…

[Summary of the World Conference on Education for All.] The Major Project in the Field of Education in the Latin American and Caribbean Region. Bulletin 21.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Santiago (Chile). Regional Office for Education in Latin America and Caribbean.

This bulletin features four papers, a summary of the World Conference on Education for All held in Jomtien, Thailand in March of 1990, the World Declaration on Education for All, and a framework for action to meet basic learning needs. The four presentations include: "Educational Planning in the Future" (Jesus M. Gurriaran); "An…

Automated Chat Thread Analysis: Untangling the Web

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

delays, distractions, errant information sources, and overall cognitive effort. The most significant challenge to conducting an effective after...to emphasize. Thus, the goal is to develop a tool that serves as a cognitive aid to instructors developing an After-Action Review (AAR). Our...work is being done by the “ Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes” (CALO) project, a joint effort between SRI and Stanford University’s Center for

Preparing teachers to create a mainstream science classroom conducive to the needs of English-language learners: A feminist action research project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buck, Gayle; Mast, Colette; Ehlers, Nancy; Franklin, Elizabeth

2005-11-01

A feminist action research team, which consisted of a science educator, an English-language learner (ELL) educator, a first-year science teacher, and a graduate assistant, set a goal to work together to explore the process a beginning teacher goes through to establish a classroom conducive to the needs of middle-level ELL learners. The guiding questions of the study were answered by gathering a wealth of data over the course of 5 months and taken from the classroom, planning sessions, and researchers and students. These data were collected by observations, semistructured interviews, and written document reviews. The progressive analysis ultimately revealed that: (a) successful strategies a beginning teacher must utilize for teaching middle-level ELL children in a mainstream classroom involve complex structural considerations that are not part of the teacher's preparation; (b) learning increases for all children, but there are differences in learning achievement between ELL and non-ELL children; and (c) student and peer feedback proved to be an effective means of enhancing the growth of a beginning teacher seeking to increase her skills in teaching ELL learners. The experiences and findings from this project have implications for teacher preparation programs committed to preparing educators to teach science to all children.

Guiding science expeditions: The design of a learning environment for project-based science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Polman, Joseph Louis

Project-based pedagogy has been revived recently as a teaching strategy for promoting students' active engagement in learning science by doing science. Numerous reform efforts have encouraged project-based teaching in high schools, along with a range of supports for its implementation, often including computers and the Internet. History has shown, however, that academic research and new technologies are not enough to effect real change in classrooms. Ultimately, teachers accomplish activity with their students daily in classrooms. Putting the idea of project-based teaching into practice depends on many particulars of teachers' situated work with students. To better understand the complexity of project-based science teaching in schools, I conducted an interpretive case study of one exceptional teacher's work. The teacher devotes all class time after the beginning of the year to open-ended, student-designed Earth Science research projects. Over four years of involvement with the Learning through Collaborative Visualization (CoVis) reform effort, this teacher has developed, implemented, and refined strategies for supporting and guiding students in conducting open-ended inquiry. Through a close examination of the teacher's work supporting student projects, I explore the design issues involved in such an endeavor, including affordances, constraints, and tradeoffs. In particular, I show how time constrains both student and teacher action, how the traditional school culture and grading create stumbling blocks for change, and how conflicting beliefs about teaching and learning undermine the accomplishment of guided inquiry. I also show how Internet tools including Usenet news, email, and the World Wide Web afford students an opportunity to gather and make use of distributed expertise and scientific data resources; how an activity structure, combined with a corresponding structure to the artifact of the final written product, supports student accomplishment of unfamiliar practices; and how the teacher guides students in real time through mutually transformative communication. I synthesize the important design elements into a framework for conducting project-based science, especially in settings where such pedagogy is relatively new. This study will inform teachers and reformers of the practical and complex work of implementing project-based teaching in schools.

Understanding the Causal Path between Action, Learning, and Solutions: Maximizing the Power of Action Learning to Achieve Great Results

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonard, H. Skipton

2015-01-01

Clients and practitioners alike are often confused about the ultimate purpose of action learning (AL). Because of the title of the method, many believe the primary goal of AL is to generate learning. This article clarifies the relationship between action, learning, and solutions. It also provides historical evidence to support the conclusion that…

RITES: Online (Reaching In-Service Teachers With Earth Sciences Online)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baptiste, H.

2002-12-01

The RITES: Online project team (Drs. H. Prentice Baptiste, Susan Brown, Jennifer Villa) believe that the power of technology could not be effectively utilized unless it is grounded in new models of teaching and learning based on a student centered and project based curriculum, that increases opportunities for active, hands-on learning and respect for multiculturalism. We subscribe to an inquiry approach to learning. Specifically, science teaching should actively engage the learners in activities that draw on multiple abilities and learning styles. Recent brain-based research has shown that human beings construct knowledge through actions and interactions within their environment. Learning occurs in communities, and new ideas are linked to previous knowledge and constructed by the learner. Knowledge is acquired by making connections. We believe the aforementioned ideas and points to be equally true for the inservice teachers participating in the RITES: Online project as well as for their students. The ESSEA science courses are delivered by distance learning via the university WebCt distance education system. Teachers are encouraged to use technology in their classrooms and to record their students' involvement in science activities with digital cameras. Teachers involved in the ESSEA courses are engaged in earth science inquiry activities relevant to the four spheres (atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere) with the students in their classes. This presentation will highlight the teachers in the roles of designer, researcher, and collaborator. As a result of our courses our teachers attain the following positive outcomes: 1) Teachers experience the inquiry approach to learning about the spheres of our earth. 2) Teachers become confident in using technology. 3) Teachers learn to work cooperatively in-groups and understand what their own students must feel. 4) Teachers find ways to obtain dynamic professional development and not leave their classrooms or homes. 5) Teachers develop relationships with other teachers that have an interest in teaching science and a learning community evolves.

Impairments in action-outcome learning in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Morris, Richard W; Cyrzon, Chad; Green, Melissa J; Le Pelley, Mike E; Balleine, Bernard W

2018-03-03

Learning the causal relation between actions and their outcomes (AO learning) is critical for goal-directed behavior when actions are guided by desire for the outcome. This can be contrasted with habits that are acquired by reinforcement and primed by prevailing stimuli, in which causal learning plays no part. Recently, we demonstrated that goal-directed actions are impaired in schizophrenia; however, whether this deficit exists alongside impairments in habit or reinforcement learning is unknown. The present study distinguished deficits in causal learning from reinforcement learning in schizophrenia. We tested people with schizophrenia (SZ, n = 25) and healthy adults (HA, n = 25) in a vending machine task. Participants learned two action-outcome contingencies (e.g., push left to get a chocolate M&M, push right to get a cracker), and they also learned one contingency was degraded by delivery of noncontingent outcomes (e.g., free M&Ms), as well as changes in value by outcome devaluation. Both groups learned the best action to obtain rewards; however, SZ did not distinguish the more causal action when one AO contingency was degraded. Moreover, action selection in SZ was insensitive to changes in outcome value unless feedback was provided, and this was related to the deficit in AO learning. The failure to encode the causal relation between action and outcome in schizophrenia occurred without any apparent deficit in reinforcement learning. This implies that poor goal-directed behavior in schizophrenia cannot be explained by a more primary deficit in reward learning such as insensitivity to reward value or reward prediction errors.

Psychological Climates in Action Learning Sets: A Manager's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeadon-Lee, Annie

2015-01-01

Action learning (AL) is often viewed as a process that facilitates professional learning through the creation of a positive psychological climate [Marquardt, M. J. 2000. "Action Learning and Leadership." "The Learning Organisation" 7 (5): 233-240; Schein, E. H. 1979. "Personal Change Through Interpersonal…

Statistical learning in social action contexts.

PubMed

Monroy, Claire; Meyer, Marlene; Gerson, Sarah; Hunnius, Sabine

2017-01-01

Sensitivity to the regularities and structure contained within sequential, goal-directed actions is an important building block for generating expectations about the actions we observe. Until now, research on statistical learning for actions has solely focused on individual action sequences, but many actions in daily life involve multiple actors in various interaction contexts. The current study is the first to investigate the role of statistical learning in tracking regularities between actions performed by different actors, and whether the social context characterizing their interaction influences learning. That is, are observers more likely to track regularities across actors if they are perceived as acting jointly as opposed to in parallel? We tested adults and toddlers to explore whether social context guides statistical learning and-if so-whether it does so from early in development. In a between-subjects eye-tracking experiment, participants were primed with a social context cue between two actors who either shared a goal of playing together ('Joint' condition) or stated the intention to act alone ('Parallel' condition). In subsequent videos, the actors performed sequential actions in which, for certain action pairs, the first actor's action reliably predicted the second actor's action. We analyzed predictive eye movements to upcoming actions as a measure of learning, and found that both adults and toddlers learned the statistical regularities across actors when their actions caused an effect. Further, adults with high statistical learning performance were sensitive to social context: those who observed actors with a shared goal were more likely to correctly predict upcoming actions. In contrast, there was no effect of social context in the toddler group, regardless of learning performance. These findings shed light on how adults and toddlers perceive statistical regularities across actors depending on the nature of the observed social situation and the resulting effects.

Statistical learning in social action contexts

PubMed Central

Meyer, Marlene; Gerson, Sarah; Hunnius, Sabine

2017-01-01

Sensitivity to the regularities and structure contained within sequential, goal-directed actions is an important building block for generating expectations about the actions we observe. Until now, research on statistical learning for actions has solely focused on individual action sequences, but many actions in daily life involve multiple actors in various interaction contexts. The current study is the first to investigate the role of statistical learning in tracking regularities between actions performed by different actors, and whether the social context characterizing their interaction influences learning. That is, are observers more likely to track regularities across actors if they are perceived as acting jointly as opposed to in parallel? We tested adults and toddlers to explore whether social context guides statistical learning and—if so—whether it does so from early in development. In a between-subjects eye-tracking experiment, participants were primed with a social context cue between two actors who either shared a goal of playing together (‘Joint’ condition) or stated the intention to act alone (‘Parallel’ condition). In subsequent videos, the actors performed sequential actions in which, for certain action pairs, the first actor’s action reliably predicted the second actor’s action. We analyzed predictive eye movements to upcoming actions as a measure of learning, and found that both adults and toddlers learned the statistical regularities across actors when their actions caused an effect. Further, adults with high statistical learning performance were sensitive to social context: those who observed actors with a shared goal were more likely to correctly predict upcoming actions. In contrast, there was no effect of social context in the toddler group, regardless of learning performance. These findings shed light on how adults and toddlers perceive statistical regularities across actors depending on the nature of the observed social situation and the resulting effects. PMID:28475619

Reconciling Market Requirements and Operations Resources: An Opportunity for Action Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coughlan, Paul; Coghlan, David

2009-01-01

This article brings together the fields of action learning and operations strategy. It presents a case of action learning focused on strategic operations improvement in the extended manufacturing enterprise. As the third article in the set of explorations in this journal within the fields of action learning, operations strategy and collaborative…

Action Learning. Symposium 21. [Concurrent Symposium Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

2000

This document contains three papers from a symposium on action learning that was conducted as part of a conference on human resource development (HRD). "Searching for Meaning in Complex Action Learning Data: What Environments, Acts, and Words Reveal" (Verna J. Willis) analyzes complex action learning documents produced as course…

Transitioning to a More Sustainable Society: Unpacking the Role of the Learning-Action Nexus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moyer, Joanne M.; Sinclair, A. John; Quinn, Lisa

2016-01-01

In recent years, action on sustainability has been highly influential around the globe and many now recognize the importance of individual and social learning for inspiring action and achieving sustainability outcomes. Transformative learning theory has been criticized, however, for insufficient development of the link between learning and action.…