Canadian Journal of Action Research Volume 23, Issue 1, 2023, pages 1-2
REINVENTION THROUGH RESEARCH
An Editorial
Marianne Barker Managing Editor
There is something exciting about the capacity of action research to nurture agency among community members, teachers, students, and stakeholders. Whether following a gentle and persistent nudge of curiosity or intuition, or responding more urgently to changes beyond their control, action researchers work to reinvent, renew, improve, and adapt their practice.
The articles in this issue reflect the strengths of using action research to illuminate new approaches, expand knowledge, form partnerships, and transform classrooms and communities.
The first two articles center on action research projects that supported teachers in reinventing their practice in the face of change. Liman Zhang, Yuen Sze Michelle Tan, and Douglas James Adler’s contribution explores the potential for collaborative action research to support secondary school teachers in mainland China in carrying out curriculum reforms.
This study identifies factors that affect teachers’ willingness and capacity to invoke curricular changes as they navigate their professional and psychological dispositions in an educational system historically oriented towards standardization and assessment that is now shifting towards more holistic approaches to learning, Their findings suggest collaborative action research is a promising tool to empower teachers by carving out a space in which they can collaborate with one another, increase self-efficacy, and take a central role in finding innovative ways to respond to their students’ needs.
Heidi Horn-Olivito, Dragana Martinovic, and Kelly Winney used four surveys over the course of a school year to determine the needs, challenges, and successes of mathematics teachers amid the shift to online learning in 2020. The authors report on how teachers reinvented and redesigned their teaching approaches to adapt to their new online classrooms – reinventing their modes of collaborating, giving feedback, and applying mathematical concepts in household settings. The authors theorize new positions and possibilities for teachers and learners of mathematics – ways that teachers can leverage technological tools and the digital world to improve learning outcomes in the future.
Editorial Barker
The Canadian Journal of Action Research, Volume 23, Issue 1 (2023), 1-2 2
The third article in this issue, by Kelsey Walker and Phu Vu, presents a classroom-based action research study in which a teacher designed a classroom-based intervention to support students’ relational skills. The sixth-grade teacher implemented a series of discussion protocols in her classroom to help students engage with one another, and she designed measures to determine the efficacy of the protocols. The inquiry “allowed the teacher to view her classroom through a different lens” (p. 63). Using new approaches supported teaching and learning in her classroom while also fostering an interest in further practitioner-inquiry.
In Donna L. Kozak and Leyton M. Schnellert’s contribution, a critical participatory action research approach was used to bring together parents, teachers, and co-researchers in a
‘third space’ to explore the relational interface between the school and home. Through analysis of discursive metaphors in the data, the authors suggest the need for a shift towards
“non-hierarchical participatory processes of meaningful engagement” (p. 85) where parents and families become active partners in working towards common educational goals. This innovative way of conceiving the relationship between school and home has potential for boundary crossing and deeper understanding of diverse and unique needs.
The final article presents a wide-scale community driven action research endeavor. Samuel Turcotte along with a research team of 11 co-authors, with Johanne Filiatrault as the principle researcher, collaborated to develop a toolkit to support intergenerational practice that was instigated by, developed in partnership with, and implemented in community organizations in Montreal, Quebec. The ongoing five-phase project is empowering community members and supporting them in achieving their goals.
Taken together, this issue showcases engaged and forward-thinking community members, researchers, and teachers endeavoring to improve their classrooms, neighborhoods, and localities through reflexive and creative approaches. The articles feature action research as a tool for reinvention through the presentation of new perspectives and solutions.
