Inquiry and Participatory Action Research in Primary School

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1&2) ◽  
pp. 157-205
Author(s):  
Christine McDougall
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
Educational Objective ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Interest In Science ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
Self Confidence

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.

scholarly journals Raising Awareness of Agency to Address Climate Change: The Do One Thing (DOT) Strategy

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Irene Muller ◽  
Lesley Wood
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Action Research Approach

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.

scholarly journals Step by step: a participatory action-research framework to improve social participation in coastal systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia de Miranda Grilli ◽  
Mariana Martins de Andrade ◽  
Luciana Yokoyama Xavier ◽  
Cláudia Regina Santos ◽  
Fernanda Terra Stori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Development Plan ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecological Features ◽  
Local Stakeholders

Abstract Social participation enriches decision-making and is considered a civil right in many democratic countries, despite remaining a challenge. This paper presents evidence and discusses the evolution of social participation in the Araçá Bay (Southeastern Brazil), as a result of participatory action-research. Over three years, a process of social mobilization and participatory environmental assessment and planning engaged local stakeholders and resulted in a sustainable development plan. Enhanced social participation was evidenced by: (1) building trust among participants; (2) increasing knowledge of social-ecological features of Araçá Bay; (3) acknowledging different perspectives and interests about the bay; and (4) improving the understanding of management dynamics and institutions. The process led to the emergence of a local stewarded group that has the potential to foster the implementation of the sustainable development plan.

scholarly journals Sustainability from the Transdisciplinary Perspective: An Action Research Strategy for Continuing Education Program Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilga Salīte ◽  
Elga Drelinga ◽  
Dzintra Iliško ◽  
Eridiana Oļehnoviča ◽  
Sandra Zariņa
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Continuing Education ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Transdisciplinary Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Strategic Vision

Abstract The need to focus on a transdisciplinary approach in education for sustainable development (EDS) has been reflected in research and especially action research as a possible solution, which can open a new perspective for understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomenon of sustainability as well as for developing new open continuing education programmes by integrating research and learning activities in the context of open transdisciplinary research. The content structure of the article: (1) it describes the experience that has evolved at one faculty and its subordinate scientific institute and has been proposed to be used within the entire institution; (2) it generalises issues arising from the extensive experience, which in action research manifest themselves as issues relating to the appropriate perspective choice in terms of sustainability, approaches that in education make it possible to understand the sustainability phenomenon, as well as features that help identify sustainability at different levels. Well-known cases in the history of science, philosophy of science, and systems development research have been used to highlight the relationship among the dynamic interaction of complex problems that can systematically appear as sustainable or unsustainable. Therefore, the article provides insight into a specific relationship among science development, integration and Anthropocene phenomena with sustainability / non-sustainability phenomena and their interaction; (3) it offers the experience necessary for the creation of participatory action research ideas and research base to expand the cooperation of university and its graduates using a stakeholder approach and connecting it with a transdisciplinary research framework, which envisages an activity around the sustainability phenomenon and its deep relationship to the openness for the evolution of sustainability consciousness as concerns individuals and societies; (4) it describes the first three activities of the first phase of the undertaken action research, which allowed determining the participants’ motivation to take part in the action research, identifying participants’ attitude and understanding sustainability and Anthropocene phenomena, as well as establishing a strategic vision of open transdisciplinary framework benefits and opportunities through participatory action research to develop open evolutionary study programs for continuing education, which would extend and deepen the cooperation of university and its graduates for social innovation creation and achieving quality education for sustainable development by reorienting the society and education towards sustainability and sustainable development. The present article aims at establishing an open transdisciplinary research framework, which is necessary for undertaking action research, and outlining a strategic vision for developing continuing education programs in the participatory action research that will help reorient continuing education to sustainable development.

scholarly journals Using Participatory Action Research to Develop a Course Module on Education for Sustainable Development in Pre-Service Chemistry Teacher Education

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Mareike Burmeister ◽  
Ingo Eilks
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Student Evaluation ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Chemistry Teacher ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Participatory Action

This paper describes the development of a course module on sustainability issues and Education for Sustainable Development in German pre-service chemistry teacher education. The module was inspired by empirical research findings about the knowledge base of student teachers. It was created and cyclically refined using Participatory Action Research. Experience gained during its three-year application will be reflected upon here, including feedback collected from student evaluation sheets. In the end, the participants responded extremely positively to the course. The student teachers stated that the module was interesting, relevant and valuable for their later profession as high school chemistry teachers. They also emphasised that they now felt more competent in the area of sustainability and ESD.

scholarly journals Prefiguring Sustainability through Participatory Action Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Reflections and Recommendations for Student Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 3332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlie Trott ◽  
Andrea Weinberg ◽  
Laura Sample McMeeking
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Student Development ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Structural Barriers ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Research Experiences

PAR-based UREs are undergraduate research experiences (UREs)—built into university-community partnerships—that apply principles of participatory action research (PAR) towards addressing community-defined challenges. In this paper, we advance PAR-based UREs as an action-oriented framework through which higher education institutions can simultaneously enact and advance the United Nations sustainable development agenda, while cultivating student development. We draw upon interdisciplinary scholarship on sustainable development and PAR, as well as empirical findings from a pilot program, to accomplish dual goals. First, through the lens of six Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) clusters, we explore the synergies between undergraduate PAR engagement and sustainable development, explaining how PAR-based UREs can prefigure and facilitate SDG achievement by promoting cross-sector collaboration and supporting diverse stakeholder engagement through community-driven research and action. Second, within each SDG cluster, we offer complementary reflections and recommendations around the design and implementation of PAR-based UREs towards advancing students’ skills and abilities as: (1) Community Collaborators (and Learners); (2) Community-Engaged Researchers; (3) (Interdisciplinary) Scholars; (4) Agents of Change; (5) (Sustainable) Co-Innovators; and (6) Institutional Representatives. Finally, we discuss the critical role of higher education institutions in minimizing structural barriers to PAR-based URE implementation, given their prefigurative and practical potential for both SDG achievement and student development.

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
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning To Learn ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
School Students ◽  
Education Development ◽  
Education Process ◽  
Development Of Students

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.

scholarly journals African primary care research: Participatory action research

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Mash
Keyword(s):  
Primary Care ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action Research ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Primary Care Research ◽  
Care Research ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
Cooperative Inquiry ◽  
Key Characteristics

This article is part of the series on African primary care research and focuses on participatory action research. The article gives an overview of the emancipatory-critical research paradigm, the key characteristics and different types of participatory action research. Following this it describes in detail the methodological issues involved in professional participatory action research and running a cooperative inquiry group. The article is intended to help students with writing their research proposal.

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