A Practical Guide to Teacher-Conducted Research for Educators and School Leaders
by Jim Parsons, Kurtis Hewson, Lorna Adrian, & Nicole Day
Brush Education Inc., 2013
$19.95,149 pp, adult
brusheducation.ca
It seems that action research has taken a back seat to the increasing demands on teachers’ time. Standards testing, moderated marking, social intervention, bullying, classroom management, technology initiatives, not to mention curriculum delivery, have placed enormous stress on the day-to-day teaching and learning environments in every classroom. As we search for solutions to these issues, educators find themselves with little time left over for thinking, reflecting and implementing. Teachers looking for ways to understand what is happening in their classrooms or schools should read Engaging in Action Research. This excellent primer walks the novice researcher through the steps from starting a research plan through to creating a paper that is both methodologically supported and, most importantly, readable by peers. As in any undertaking in education today, sustainability is paramount—the authors have demonstrated the essence of collaboration over time to compile a text that is informative and readable to educators at any stage in their careers.
Review by Kent Miller.
This review is from Canadian Teacher Magazine’s Apr/May 2014 issue.