Section archive - Research Methods

This article draws upon the author's experience while conducting an ethnographic study in an international school in mainland China. The author reflected on two issues: what field relations were established in what ways, and what threads to ethics and research validity the author encountered in the course of the fieldwork.

In this article, the authors describe the use of self-study as a frame for professional learning that grew out of a professional development program for teachers examining their practice in a dual-language K-4 school in Iowa. The authors argue that the use of self-study as the frame for their professional learning experience was seen as a powerful and positive experience overall, impacting both their own practice and the dual language program at large. The authors also argue that during the process of self-study, many of the teachers became supportive collegial friends, colleagues who appeared genuinely interested in working together to improve practice. By working as collegial friends, by engaging in critical discussions of genuine issues and teacher-chosen interests in improving practice, the dual language program as a whole benefited.

This article reports a self-study of the experiences of a teacher educator who has developed and taught a university-based action research course. The author adopted self-study as the methodology, using qualitative data collection methods. The article describes three themes which emerged during the action research: 1) Teacher culture clashes with the research world, 2) Teachers’ assumptions about teaching and learning and 3) Action research, domesticated by traditional research.

The author suggests that educators of preservice teachers begin to employ insights gained from the Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future. In order to show relationships between early childhood play and Gardner’s theory, the author crafted the framework. This framework takes into account both artistic and scientific aspects of the mind. The article describes each mind as interpreted from Gardner, and explores the implications for the instruction of preservice teachers. The author concludes that recognizing the importance of play, as captured within Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future, allows us to acknowledge that play is a meaningful and necessary feature in the contexts of school, and ultimately in the lives of the nation’s school children.