The methodology of students-as-researchers : valuing and using experience and expertise to develop methods

Students in England are increasingly involved in consultation and governance of schools. Some are also involved in researching their own learning, how they are taught, the kinds of curriculum on offer, and school policies and practices. In this article, we suggest that this could be seen as a form of “standpoint research”. We suggest that one way standpoint can be exercised is via the construction of experience-based research tools. We exemplify this through a student research project in which photo-elicitation and verbal scenarios based in students' understandings of their school did not produce an “authentic” and homogenised voice, but rather multiple perspectives of the classroom and wider school.

Teacher research on literacy: turning around to students and technology

This chapter first reviews the evolution of teacher research that links inquiry to democracy, social justice, and educational change. It then examines key moves in teacher research in and on children's literacy education. The 'turn around' metaphor is utilized to emphasize our belief that teachers need to engage in research for their own well-being and that of their students and communities. Using the metaphor of teachers 'turning around' to students as researchers and to technology, the chapter explores productive directions for future teacher research, given the strengths of past research and opportunities of the present. The research in this chapter demonstrates that engaging in teacher research has the potential to change teachers' work and their subjectivities.

Applying social critical literacy theory to deaf education

This article explores social critical literacy theory and its application to deaf education. It argues that critical literacy offers an approach that can lead to engagement with and empowerment over written text, repositioning students as researchers of language. Texts that represent deaf people - if only through their absence - offer an opportunity for deaf students to engage in literate practices in meaningful contexts. An example of critical text analysis is provided using articles on a contested issue: cochlear implantation.

But, where are the children?

We examine the position and positioning of children in leadership studies through describing a project where we have worked with children as researchers and policymakers. The research group that we are a part of is located in a successful secondary school, and we have worked together over the past two years to find out more about student and staff perceptions of bullying with a view to developing and implementing a revised school policy. We examine the findings from this work, and show how it challenges current notions regarding pupil voice, and how the potential exists to think differently about what leadership is and how it is practiced.

Where is the rate in the rule?

A well-developed understanding of rate is foundational to conceptual understanding of introductory calculus. Many students achieve procedural competence with the application of rules for differentiation without developing an awareness of the connection between derivative and rate. In addition, rate-related reasoning is needed to make informed decisions in many everyday applications of rate. This paper reports on additional data collected during interviews for a project investigating the different ways rate may be experienced by pre-calculus students. Many researchers (for example Kaput, 1999) have suggested that the conceptual understanding of function may be enhanced through the presentation and exploration of multiple representations of a variety of functions. In this paper, one section of each interview is considered in detail to evaluate the participants’ understanding in a specific rate context. Participants were asked to discuss a dynamic geometry simulation of a blind on two different windows one rectangular and the other not. Detailed analysis of the video-record of each participant’s interview provides insights into their perceptions of rate in several different representations. In the sections below, the conceptual framework is described; details of the interviews and the computer-based simulation are provided; and the analysis of the data is discussed.

Knowing schooling, identity and pedagogy visually

This research produced in one region in Ghana examines the production of educational practices, relations of power and student experiences within teaching and non-teaching spaces in junior secondary settings. The strength of the visual approach in interrogating school cultural norms and the problematising of the tangled complexities of knowing about schooling, identity and pedagogy are outlined. An important aspect of the study is the foregrounding of educational practice as a social act occurring in response to historical circumstances and changing social contexts (Brown & Jones, 2001). We see this work as an important step towards democratization of the research relationship and empowerment of students to contribute to the way they are educated. But also we are wary of how representation through visual methods also can 'frame' participants and the researchers. We recognise that one way to uncover how school practices are exemplified in Ghana is to put students in the middle of researching their experiences. In this way, our research moved from constructing students as simply consumers of adult designed and managed products to practices based on democratic participation (Thomson & Gunter, 2007). Throughout the research journey we were guided by the fact that knowledge is not neutral or to be discovered. Culture and communicative processes are essential determinants of reality. In this study the students as researchers, produced photographs that trigger dialectical conversations of students’ perspectives that foreground their experiences at school. This enabled us to digress from dominant positivistic empiricism to a more legitimate ethical practice, and understanding of the intricacies of educational practice, the norms and structures that underpin everyday actions in schools.

Introduction : consumer groups and the democratization of health policy

This book examines the important role of consumer activism within health policy in different national contexts. In an age of shifting boundaries between state and civil society, consumer groups are potentially drivers of democratization in the health domain. The expert contributors explore how their activities bring new dynamics to relations between service providers, the medical profession, government agencies, and other policy actors. This book is unique in comprehensively analysing the opportunities and dilemmas of this type of activism, including ambiguous partnerships between consumer groups and stakeholders such as the pharmaceutical industry. These themes are explored within an internationally comparative framework, with case studies from various countries. Students and researchers in the fields of health policy and sociology, public policy and social movements will find this relevant and path-breaking book enlightening. It will also prove invaluable for participants and activists in patient and health consumer organizations.

From activism to state inclusion : health consumer groups in Australia

This book examines the important role of consumer activism within health policy in different national contexts. In an age of shifting boundaries between state and civil society, consumer groups are potentially drivers of democratization in the health domain. The expert contributors explore how their activities bring new dynamics to relations between service providers, the medical profession, government agencies, and other policy actors. This book is unique in comprehensively analysing the opportunities and dilemmas of this type of activism, including ambiguous partnerships between consumer groups and stakeholders such as the pharmaceutical industry. These themes are explored within an internationally comparative framework, with case studies from various countries. Students and researchers in the fields of health policy and sociology, public policy and social movements will find this relevant and path-breaking book enlightening. It will also prove invaluable for participants and activists in patient and health consumer organizations.

Health consumer organizations and the pharmaceutical industry : is transparency the answer?

This book examines the important role of consumer activism within health policy in different national contexts. In an age of shifting boundaries between state and civil society, consumer groups are potentially drivers of democratization in the health domain. The expert contributors explore how their activities bring new dynamics to relations between service providers, the medical profession, government agencies, and other policy actors. This book is unique in comprehensively analysing the opportunities and dilemmas of this type of activism, including ambiguous partnerships between consumer groups and stakeholders such as the pharmaceutical industry. These themes are explored within an internationally comparative framework, with case studies from various countries. Students and researchers in the fields of health policy and sociology, public policy and social movements will find this relevant and path-breaking book enlightening. It will also prove invaluable for participants and activists in patient and health consumer organizations.

Reimagining poetry : innovative literacies, national agendas and digital landscapes

Renewing engagement with literature and integrating technologies in order to address the needs of an increasingly diverse student cohort are some of the challenges confronting 21st century English teachers as they go about implementing the Australian Curriculum: English. This chapter reports on an action research cycle of classroom inquiry into the interpretation and creation of poetry, drawing on both multimodal and traditional poetic forms. Three middle school teachers, in partnership with three university-based researchers, sought to explore the possibilities of one-to-one computing for creating differentiated literacy curriculum based on personalised learning goals and harnessing the affordances of multimodal literacy pedagogies. The learning gains achieved through this collaboration exceeded the expectations of all concerned: teachers, students and researchers. Student achievement was shown by their enhanced knowledge and creativity when interpreting and composing poetry. Furthermore, students increased their capacities in other ways, through collaborating and problem-solving, as well as increased technological mastery, meta-cognition and self-assessment. Such transformations in student learning challenge standardised notions of accomplishment in English and the kinds of pedagogy necessary to support their learning. The teachers involved in this research engaged in rich forms of collaboration, engaging in professional learning that matched the learning of their students. For academics, the co-creation of professional praxis with middle years teachers and students reaffirmed their sense of the value of generating literacy pedagogies through reflective dialogue within local, situated knowledge communities

Muslim active citizenship in the West

Muslim Active Citizenship in the West investigates the emergence and nature of Muslims’ struggle for recognition as full members of society in Australia, Great Britain and Germany. What actions have been taken by Muslims to achieve equal civic standing? How do socio-political and socio-economic factors impact on these processes? And how do Muslims negotiate their place in a society that is often regarded as sceptical – if not hostile – towards Muslims’ desire to belong? This book sheds new light on Muslims’ path towards citizenship in Australia, Great Britain and Germany. Existing research and statistics on Muslims’ socio-economic status, community formation, claim-making and political responses, and the public portrayal of Islam are systematically examined. These insights are tested ‘through the eyes of Muslims’, based on in-depth interviews with Muslim community leaders and other experts in all three countries. The findings offer unique perspectives on Muslim resilience to be recognised as equal citizens of Islamic faith in very different socio-political national settings. Pursuing an interdisciplinary and comparative approach, this book examines the country-specific interplay of historical, institutional, political, and identity dimensions of Muslims’ active citizenship and will be invaluable for students and researchers with an interest in Sociology, Religious Studies and Political Science.

Building a digital library : what to expect as a technology project manager on a library construction project

The Taylor Family Digital Library is the central library opened in 2011 at the University of Calgary dedicated to supporting digital scholarship, creativity, analysis and a supportive learning environment for students. The new building is a technologically advanced converged cultural institution, with mandates to continually evolve in order to meet the needs of students and researchers. The infrastructure to support these mandates required research, collaboration and intense planning, resulting in new construction and technology standards for library renovation and construction projects. This pragmatic article is written for those who will follow in similar footsteps; it provides a roadmap for those embarking on the construction of a new technologically advanced library building.

Religion and development in the Asia-Pacific : sacred places as development spaces

The book considers theories of ‘place’ as a component of successful development interventions and expands this analysis to consider the specific role that sacred places – buildings and social networks – have in planning, implementing and promoting sustainable development. A series of case studies examine various sacred places as sites for development activities. These case studies include Christian churches and disaster relief in Vanuatu; Muslim shrines and welfare provision in Pakistan; a women’s Buddhist monastery in Thailand advancing gender equity; a Jewish aid organisation providing language training to Muslim Women in Australia; and Hawaiian sacred sites located within a holistic retreat centre committed to ecological sustainability.Religion and Development in the Asia-Pacific demonstrates the important role that sacred spaces can play in development interventions, covering diverse major world religions, interfaith and spiritual contexts, and as such will be of considerable interest for postgraduate students and researchers in development studies, religious studies, sociology of religion and geography.

A bridge over troubling waters in education: the complexity of a "students as co-researchers" project

“Students as co-researchers” is a mode of engagement between students and teachers in school systems that has been likened to a bridge. This article explores the bridge metaphor with reference to one school’s experience of a students as co-researchers project involving students and teachers in the school and a university partner. We use the bridge metaphor, inspired by the imagist poet Ezra Pound, to explore particular challenges faced in this project, and to envision new modes of teacher/student relationships in education. We argue that the purpose of building such a bridge between students and teachers is not an instrumental one (to reach the other side), but rather that the bridge offers up zones of affective relational encounters between students and teachers.