Understanding the "Third Space": Backward-Mapping Teacher Practice to Research

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Research Use SIG Roundtable Session

Abstract

This project maps the actors, activities, and motivations within which research is exchanged, transformed, and communicated. Specifically, education resources were tracked backwards to their origins in the research community. Cases were purposefully sampled resources (N=53) identified by school-based practitioners in a nationally representative, large scale survey of evidence use in education. Using a four-step approach, interview and survey data were analysed from practitioners, brokers, and researchers who played an active role in using, developing, or informing the development of the selected resources. Findings from the study provide a model of the diversity of actors and the kinds of ties that exist between them. Additionally, study results provide insights into where certain ‘leverage points’ exist to strengthen research use in education.

Authors

• Samantha Jo Shewchuk, University of Delaware

• Elizabeth N. Farley-Ripple, University of Delaware