Study Together: Collaborative and Transformative Action Research

• In Event: Preparing Social Justice Teachers: Rethinking Action Research Curriculum for Transformation

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to research the tensions and contractions within collaborative action research with pre-service education majors and practicing teachers. Action research is a common component of graduate education, however little research has been done regarding the use of action research with undergraduate students (Carboni, Wynn, & McGuire, 2007). The few studies that have been done have shown that exposing pre-service education students to action research methods has resulted in an increase in inquiry and reflection use once the students become teachers (Keating, Diaz-Greenberg, Baldwin, & Thousand, 1998, Price, 2001). Beyond becoming a more reflective practitioner, action research has the potential to help transform both teaching practices and contexts. Villegas and Lucas (2002) argue that transformative practices need to be incorporated in teacher education in order to ensure culturally responsive educators in today’s classrooms.

Culturally responsive pedagogy and Cultural Historical Activity theory (CHAT) were the theoretical frameworks and analytic tools employed. CHAT provides a way to explore tensions involved with change. CHAT provides a framework that connects change to the context provided by the institution and to the cultural-historical forces that influence the process. CHAT was “designed to be used to understand human activity situated in a collective context” (Yamagata-Lynch, 2007, p. 453). It is a part of the social constructivism paradigm that originated in Vygotsky’s work (Worthen, 2004). Through the examination of the six parts of the change process--subject, object, mediating artifacts, rules, community, and division of labor--tensions that influenced the outcome will be exposed (Ogawa, Crain, Loomis, & Ball, 2008).

Participants included six pairs of pre-service education majors and practicing teachers. The methodology for this qualitative research project was a multiple case study used for comparative purposes. By using a case study approach, this research uses multiple sources of information to add depth to analysis and provide a wider variety of data for the purposes of triangulation. Each teacher and student pairing was considered a case. Data collection procedures for this project included recordings of all student, teacher, researcher meetings, an interviews with the student and teacher, research documentation (which includes the action plan, data, and findings), and an analysis of the final project and results.

The aim of this research was to expose the tensions involved when pre-service and practicing teachers engage in collaborative action research. Preliminary findings suggest that the normative school environment influenced both the process and the product in the majority of cases. An additional mediating artifact was the relationship and teaching styles of the pre-service teacher and practicing teacher. While the goal was for both the pre-service and practicing teachers to see themselves as transformative agents of change through action research, this was difficult to negotiate in the current political climate. Through the continued examination of collaborative action research projects there is potential to develop a model that promotes transformation and change among both the practicing and pre-service teachers.

Author

• Lara Willox, The University of West Georgia