scholarly journals Sustainable Development of Students’ Assumed Responsibility for Their Own Learning during Participatory Action Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10183
Author(s):  
Aušra Kazlauskienė ◽  
Ramutė Gaučaitė ◽  
Dolors Cañabate ◽  
Jordi Colomer ◽  
Remigijus Bubnys

The goal to ensure sustainable development in the education process obliges to create such practices of teaching and learning which would create conditions for individuals to act in complex situations in a sustainable manner. Personalized, perceived responsibility of a learner for one’s own learning becomes important for implementation of sustainable learning. This research is aimed to reveal authentic experiences of school students assuming responsibility for learning, emphasizing prospects of sustainable education development in practice and possibilities for improvement by employing the strategy of participatory action research. The data was collected according to the stages of the chosen action research during lessons on learning to learn. Forty-six school students and two teachers took part in the research. On the basis of content analysis, it was revealed that school students assume the responsibility for learning when it is grounded on cooperation taking place in the dialogue-based culture, where negotiation and creation of opportunities to choose are among the most important strategies making the assumed responsibility relevant. Intervening conditions emerging in the context of the strategies were also identified: making learning experiences relevant, clarity of criteria, attitude towards failure and the self as a major resource of learning, expectations, and goals and feedback of learning. Interacting with each other, prevailing strategies, and intervening conditions act as components of sustainable development of school students’ assumed responsibility for learning.

Author(s):  
Colin Bryson

This case study evaluates a new initiative to establish a cross-disciplinary forum focusing on enhancing learning, teaching and the student experience. All staff and students are welcome to participate and participants set the agenda themselves. The intention is to have open and informal dialogue and to work in partnership towards setting up collective participatory action-research projects. This is modelled on the Teaching and Learning Academy at Western Washington University (Werder and Otis, 2010). An important aim was to create a space to give voice for those - the so-called ‘hard to reach’- who do not get such opportunities in traditional structures. There have been many challenges to creating a sustainable and successful working model, not least such barriers as communications, creating time and opportunity and working against current dominant cultures. Nonetheless, staff and students, including many international students, have participated and found legitimacy to discuss their own priorities. 


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalis G Wamba

The Kwithu project started when a volunteer who joined Kwithu, a community-based organization in Mzuzu, Malawi (Africa), to teach English gave a diagnostic test to a random group of forty 7th and 8th graders (20 boys and 20 girls) and discovered that most of them could hardly read or write in English. The test results prompted Maureen, the Kwithu director and co-founder, the teacher and myself to meet with the headteachers of the three schools mostly attended by Kwithu children. The headteachers appreciated our concerns about the English proficiency of the children, but they advised us to focus on more urgent matters if we truly wanted to help, e.g., lack of teaching and learning materials, lack of running water in schools, hunger, teacher qualifications, etc. This advice shifted our initial inquiry goal—from English language teaching—to a community-based participatory action research project designed to address the school conditions in Luwinga. In this paper, I describe the community-based participatory action research inquiry and I reflect on the process of participation.


Author(s):  
Fiki Fitriyah ◽  
Yeny Fitriyani ◽  
Milna Wafirah ◽  
Achmad Labib ◽  
Titis Rosowulan

Tatanan Hidup Baru (New Normal) dimasa pandemi COVID-19 memberikan pengalaman yang benar-benar baru bagi dunia pendidikan khususnya siswa Sekolah Dasar (SD) di Indonesia. Kewajiban untuk taat protokoler kesehatan yang salah satu klausulnya adalah tidak berkerumun dan menjauhi krumunan menjadikan kegiatan belajar mengajar sangat tidak biasa. Tidak ada tatapmuka baik dengan guru ataupun teman, semua dilakukan secara daring (online). Hal tersebut membuat pelajar mempunyai waktu luang yang banyak dan cenderung tanpa pengawasan baik dari orang tua maupun guru. Tujuan pengabdian ini adalah untuk mengoptimalkan waktu luang siswa dengan manajemen waktu di masa normal baru. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini menggunakan metode Participatory Action Research (PAR). Tahapan penting dalam PAR adalah Research (pemetaan masalah), Action (rencana aksi dalam penyelesaian masalah) and Participatory (orang tua dan siswa SD di Desa Desekan). Teknik Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan observasi, survei, dokumen dan wawancara. Pendampingan diharapakan dapat membantu siswa memahami pentingnya manajemen waktu dengan membuat jadwal kegiatan harian sehingga siswa dapat memanage waktunya dengan efektif dan efisien. Kesimpulan dari pengabdian ini adalah para siswa belum memahami dengan baik mengenai manajemen waktu dan banyak menghabiskan waktu dengan dawai dan bermain yang tidak berhubungan dengan pendidikan. Kata kunci: Tatanan Hidup Baru, COVID-19, Manajemen Waktu, PAR ABSTRACT The New Living Order (New Normal) during the COVID-19 pandemic provided a completely new experience for the world of education, especially elementary school students in Indonesia. The obligation to comply with the Health protocol makes learning without face-to-face either with teachers or friends and everything is done online. This makes students have a lot of free time and tends to be without supervision from either parents or teachers. The aim of this service is to optimize students' free time with time management in the new normal. The method used in this study uses the Participatory Action Research (PAR) method. The important stages in PAR are Research (mapping problems), Action (action plans in solving problems) and Participatory (participation of parents and elementary students in Desekan village). The technique of collecting data was carried out by observation, surveys, documents and interviews. It is hoped that mentoring can help students understand the importance of time management by scheduling daily activities so that students can manage their time effectively and efficiently. The conclusion of this dedication is that the students do not understand well about time management and spend a lot of time with strings and games that are not related to education. Keywords: New Normal, COVID-19, Time Management, PAR


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lulza Olim de Sousa ◽  
Emerentia Antoinette Hay ◽  
Schalk Petrus Raath ◽  
Aubrey Albertino Fransman ◽  
Barend Wilhelm Richter

This article reflects the learning of five researchers in higher education in South Africa who took part in a participatory action research project to educate teachers how to integrate climate change issues into their teaching and learning. It was the first time any of the researchers had used participatory action research. We are all from natural science backgrounds and now involved in education for sustainable development. We had been trained in more traditional, objective, and researcher-driven methodologies grounded in a positivist paradigm. The purpose of this article is to share our learning about the changes we had to make in our thinking and practices to align with a participatory paradigm. We used reflective diaries to record our journey through the action research cycles. A thematic analysis of our diaries was supplemented by recorded discussions between the researchers. The analysis revealed that, while it was challenging to begin thinking in a different paradigm, we came to appreciate the value of the action research process that enabled teachers to integrate climate change issues into their teaching in a participatory way. We also concluded that we require more development to be able to conduct participatory research in a manner true to its values and principles. The conclusions we came to through our collaborative reflections may be of value to other researchers from similar scientific backgrounds who wish to learn what shifts in paradigm, methods, and processes are needed to be able to conduct community-based research in a participatory way.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Irene Muller ◽  
Lesley Wood

The United Nations Children's Fund 2008 report, Our Climate, Our Children, Our Responsibility, warned that children will suffer most from the effects of climate change. Environmental education is one way to prepare children to cope and enable them to educate their families and friends about the need to act now to minimise the danger climate change poses. This article reports on findings from a participatory action research project aimed at integrating education for sustainable development into the Grade 7 curriculum, with a specific focus on climate change. Critical participatory action research has a transformative intent, engaging participants in learning to cultivate a sense of purpose and increase their capacity to solve local problems. Learner responses to qualitative questionnaires and recorded discussions related to the Do One Thing (DOT) strategy were used to determine learning about climate change and enable both learners and community members to identify action for change. Thematic coding was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the DOT strategy in increasing awareness of agency and resultant learning. The findings indicate that not only did the learners gain knowledge about the causes and consequences of climate change but the potential of the learners and community members to identify possible actions for change was increased as well. We provide suggestions as to how teachers can use the DOT strategy as part of an action research approach to integrating environmental education for sustainable development in order to raise awareness of local environmental threats and encourage learners and their families to behave in a more environmentally friendly way. The explanation of the research process offered in this article also highlights how participatory learning activities can help engage learners as active agents in their own learning.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 979-985
Author(s):  
Govinda Prasad Devkota ◽  
Sheri Bastien ◽  
Petter D. Jenssen ◽  
Manoj K. Pandey ◽  
Bhimsen Devkota ◽  
...  

Abstract Appropriate handwashing can prevent 50–70% of water and foodborne infections. However, schoolchildren who are in the formative stage of life, particularly in low-income countries like Nepal, are deprived of such a lifesaving skill. This study investigates the effectiveness of a school-based participatory action research intervention to promote handwashing with soap among basic level community school students in Nepal. Teachers, the school management committee, the participatory action research committee, and child-club members actively participated in designing and implementing the intervention. This study employed a semi-structured interview with the headteacher, five focus group discussions, and spot observations during 50 handwashing with soap events involving students, to collect the data. This study assesses the handwashing situation of students before and after the intervention. As part of the intervention, participatory teaching methods such as singing, drawing, showing a video, games, and demonstrations were used. Findings from basic level students who actively participated in hygiene sessions and increased their handwashing with soap before meals and after toilet use were used as a comparison to baseline. Participants reported that the intervention was perceived positively, pragmatic, and cost-effective. This intervention study concluded that handwashing behaviors improved because of the influence of sensitization sessions and demonstrations about handwashing. However, some predominant issues in the teaching of handwashing practices include limited hygiene contents in the curriculum and the practical use of teaching and learning activities. The lack of availability of soap at handwashing stations is the main barrier in sustaining handwashing behaviors in schoolchildren.


2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1&2) ◽  
pp. 157-205
Author(s):  
Christine McDougall

In Jamaica, learner-centered instruction is commended for teaching a curriculum focused on environmental education and sustainable development. This study investigated the potential of participatory action research (PAR) as an inquiry-based instructional method in a sixth-grade Jamaican classroom. Mixed methods compared the academic performance of students between teacher-led and PAR-driven groups, and analyzed key attributes of sustainable development. Though practicing PAR had no significant effect on students’ academic performance, perceived collaboration skills, and interest in science, participants displayed leadership skills, such as self-confidence, commitment, and teambuilding. Moreover, the inquiry group conducted cross-curricular research towards place-based environmental improvement. These assets correspond to the Jamaican educational objective of integrating multiple disciplines and stakeholders in the equation for a sustainable future and warrant a further evaluation of PAR in Jamaican schools.


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