Living Theory Action Research: A Methodology for Improvement in Practice and Generation of Knowledge in Education

This paper will provide an overview of the philosophical premises, the generation of research questions, data collection and analysis process, potential ethical issues, and quality of inference of living theory action research methodology. Based on the ontological value that everyone has knowledge within themselves, living theory action research considers knowledge to be the creation from evaluation and reflection as part of actions to improve educational practices. This paper suggests a way to move ahead with living theory action research by shedding light on the significance of multimedia use and the role of educational influence in its methodology to communicate the meanings of expression of embodied values and for the validation process. This paper aims to help emerging educational action researchers understand living theory action research as an innovative methodology to address the gap between values and practical implementation for action researchers.

The longevity response to warm temperature is neurally controlled via regulation of collagen genes

ABSTRACTLower temperatures have been associated with longer lifespan, while higher temperatures with shorter lifespan. These inverse effects of temperature on longevity were traditionally explained by the “rate of living theory”, which posits that higher temperatures increase chemical reaction rates, thus speeding up the aging process. Recent studies have identified specific molecules and cells that mediate the longevity response to temperature, suggesting that the temperature effects on aging are not simply thermodynamic but regulated processes. However, the mechanisms underlying such regulation are not well understood. In the current study, we found that Caenorhabditis elegans lacking NPR-8, a neuronal GPCR related to the mammalian neuropeptide Y receptors, exhibited extended lifespan at warm temperature. Such lifespan extension can be suppressed by re-expression of NPR-8 in the amphid sensory neurons AWB and AWC or by inactivation of NPR-8-regulated collagen genes. These results suggest that the warm temperature effect on longevity is regulated by the nervous system through controlling collagen gene expression. Our study potentially provides mechanistic insights into understanding the relationship between temperature and longevity, which could prove useful in mitigating negative impacts of increasing temperature due to global warming.

Reclaiming relations : embodied practices of visual arts educators knowing, being and doing evaluation

The articles in this work address histories of how visual art educators have come to exist within scholarship on teacher evaluation. This study, reconceptualized outside of methodology through a post qualitative framework of inquiry, embodies poststructural feminist theories of ethics, exemplifying living theory and process as 'lifework'. (Re)situating the evaluative experiences of art educators through their own visual stories grounded in feminist ethics where research acts as sacred practice invites an exploration of more relational ways of being as teachers, leaders, makers, and researchers. In turn, this research seeks to open spaces where we ask what becomes possible in evaluative practice when we look to the arts as a model. Opportunities emerge as the resistances of art educators reverberate beyond current systemic boundaries and offer a possibility to think differently about evaluation. Utilizing the practices of quilting, the work charts a new coursnowledge and think and perform research and teacher evaluation differently as a practice of mending, challenging (mis)representations, building relational trust through power shifts and receptive listening, and constructing a true capacity for connectedness.

Remaining Human in COVID-19: Dialogues on Psychogeography

Post-COVID-19 environments have challenged our embodied identities with these challenges coming from a variety of domains, that is, microbiological, semiotic, and digital. We are embedded in a new complex set of relations, with other species, with cultural signs, and with technology and venturing further into an era that pushes back on our anthropocentrism to create a post-human dystopia. This does not imply that we are less human or forfeit ethics in this state of flux, but can lead to considering new ways of being alive and humanists. The aim of this project was to explore walking through our associated psychogeographies as captured in photographs and text from individual walks, as the means by which to characterize responses to the distress of the pandemic and to assess resistance to non-being. The psychogeographies were the starting points for our dialogic enquiry between authors who each represent living theory, representing their own emergent knowledge, inseparable from personal commitments and history. Walking and the associated images and reflections, provided a way to regulate our affect, reconnecting with our bodies, leading to understand and adapt to new meanings of context and ways of coping and healing in this new becoming. The interdisciplinarity of philosophy, social psychology, botany, and clinical psychology is nonetheless rejected in favour of multi-vocality; each author representing their own emergent, living theory, inseparable from personal commitments, and history.

Disability and Education in Cameroon

This chapter draws on the author's own experiences as a student and educator to provide another perspective of inclusive education in Cameroon. It is a call to attention to the day to day challenges that students with disabilities face in acquiring education in inclusive settings in the country. It may suffice for policy to state that education for persons with disabilities is best provided in inclusive environments based on their perceived advantages. However, an on-the-spot appreciation of the experiences of those in the field may reveal alternative results. This may be due to the milieu, the ignorance or negligence of those put as caregivers, and the non/poor implementation of policy. The author argues that while a significant volume of research is available in the country, presenting these experiences through a living theory methodology brings the reader closer to the personal experiences of students with disabilities and persons working with them. It further highlights issues which are often taken for granted when mainstream methodologies are adopted.

Our transformative journey to become action researchers

During my (Hafiz) childhood in Bangladesh, I experienced the negative impact of the educational system. My experiences initiated a process of conscientization leading to values-driven activism through the establishment of Education for Development and Sustainability (EDS), a child-friendly community of practice, with Trine and Alamin. In encounters with Erling and Sigrid, we became aware that our activities were in accordance with action research based on cooperative inquiry (Heron & Reason, 2008). From that point of departure, we developed our own collaborative living theory. In this paper, we explore the research question “How did we become action researchers and what is our driving force?” by using Stoller’s (1989) autobiographical narrative method to analyse selected, lived experiences. Sharing lived experiences and engaging in activism with each other and the EDS children became the base for our conscientization, radical empiricism and contemplating involvement in EDS. Value based activism can create empathic relations and emotions through shared engagement for social justice and the realization that we create a shared reality. Hence, conducting action research with children/youth is in our experience a key to sustainable development. However, to increase the transparency and validity of our research, we needed to explore how our experiences and actions have influenced our values, emotions and decisions to conduct research, our research topic and the research in itself. Therefore, we have engaged co-researchers and participants to critically question the research practice and made it open for discussion and comments in order to see alternative ways of interpreting situations and processes.

Contributing to Moving Action Research to Activism with Living Theory Research

This paper follows the organisation of the successful proposal: 1) The research and action aims; 2) methodology, theoretical tools and methods; 3) results, outputs, program changes and events. The research aims are focused on the communication of meanings of relationally dynamic values in educational conversations in the generation of living-theories by activist scholars that carry hope for the flourishing of humanity. The action aims are focused on establishing a global educational conversation with a focus on improving practice with these values. The methodology, theoretical tools and methods are focused on the generation of their living-theories. The results, outputs, program changes and events demonstrate the spreading global educational influences of Living Theory research.