ACTION RESEARCH SIG NEwSLETTER - College of Education ...

Volume 5, Issue 1
Action Research SIG
SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST:
• AERA is in Montreal
April 11-15, 2005.
• There are a total of
ten presentations for
our SIG at AERA this
year.
• The Action Research
SIG business meeting
is on Monday,
April 11, at 6:15
p.m. at Le Centre
Sheraton Montreal.
• Current SIG membership
is 277.
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
Letter from the SIG
President
Member Publications 1
Letter from the SIG
President-Elect
Action Research
Websites of Interest
New Action Research
Journal: ARExpeditions
What’s Ahead in
Montreal
1
2
2
3
3
Membership Form 4
Newsletter
A C T I O N R E S E A R C H S I G O F A E R A
Dear SIG Colleagues
L e t t e r f r o m G e o f f M i l l s
S I G P r e s i d e n t
A brief note from your out-going
SIG Chair! I would like to take
this opportunity to welcome Cher
Hendricks from the University of
West Georgia to the leadership
of the SIG. Cher has great energy,
as is signaled by this newsletter,
and is committed to moving
the SIG ahead in the coming
years. In particular, Cher (with
the support of her colleagues at
the UWG) have developed a new
SIG website and have made a
commitment to keeping the
website alive and well (not an
easy thing to do)! Similarly, Cher
will use the SIG listserv to make
sure the membership has an
active role in determining the
directions we follow as well as
providing a forum for asynchronous
conversations about AR
issues. I am deeply indebted to
Cher for her new leadership of
the SIG and look forward to our
growth during the coming years.
I would also like to take this
opportunity to congratulate Cher
on her soon to be published
action research book.
For my part, my oversight of the
SIG for the past two years was
interrupted by a much needed
sabbatical in Australia and numerous
personal and professional
challenges. I continue to be
active in AR but have suffered by
Geoff Mills, Dean and Professor
Southern Oregon University
not teaching my AR classes (I
have become a full-time dean
administrator type!). Like every
other academic who has gone
down this path, my time to write
has been taxed by participation in
constant meetings. How I miss
being able to write on my office
schedule “Research and Writing”!
Nevertheless, with the help of a
sabbatical in 2003, I am putting
the finishing touches on Gay,
L.R., Mills, G.E. and Airasian, P.
(2006) Educational Research:
Competencies for Analysis and
Applications (8e), New Jersey:
Merrill Prentice Hall. I am particularly
proud of the new action
research chapter and the five
chapters on qualitative research!
I continue to write
about action research and will
have a third edition of my action
research text out in mid 2006.
We have an active membership,
a new energetic, creative SIG
leader, and increasing interest
in education (and other disciplines)
about the power and
promise of AR. Please join me in
welcoming Cher Hendricks to
the helm of the AR SIG, and I
look forward to seeing you all in
Montreal in April as we participate
in another exciting set of
AR SIG sessions.
Cheers
Geoff Mills
M e m b e r P u b l i c a t i o n s
January 2005
Capobianco, B. M., Horowitz, R., Canuel-Browne, D., & Trimarchi, R. (2004). Action research
for teachers: Understanding the steps for developing and implementing productive action
plans. The Science Teacher, 71(3), 48-53.
Cardno, C. (2003). Action research: A developmental approach. Wellington: New Zealand
Council for Educational Research.
Whitehead, J. (2004) DO ACTION RESEARCHERS' EXPEDITIONS CARRY HOPE FOR THE FU-
TURE OF HUMANITY? HOW DO WE KNOW? An enquiry into reconstructing educational
theory and educating social formations. Published in the October 2004 of Action Research
Expeditions. Retrieved 28 January 2004 from
http:/www.arexpeditions.montana.edu/articleviewer.php?AID=80
Note: Jack would appreciate responses to this article in the 'Discuss this Article' section of
ARExpeditions

Page 2
SIG Colleagues,
It is an honor to be serving as
President(-Elect) of the Action
Research SIG. I would like to
thank Geoff Mills for his past
leadership as President of
the SIG and for the sincere
passion he has shown for our
field of action research.
There are some exciting
changes for the SIG this year.
First, we now have a listserv,
which will allow SIG members
“It is teachers who, in
the end, will change the
world of the classroom
by understanding it”
—Lawrence Stenhouse
Action Research Network
L e t t e r f r o m C h e r H e n d r i c k s
S I G P r e s i d e n t - E l e c t
http://actionresearch.altec.org/index.php3
to discuss action research
issues and keep in touch with
colleagues.
Second, we have a new SIG
website, which can be viewed
at
http://coe.westga.edu/arsig
Please visit the website to
view newsletters, get information
on the annual AERA
meeting, link to ejournals,
sign up for the listserv, and
complete membership forms.
I’d also like to say a special
word of thanks to Marino
Alvarez for his years maintaining
the previous SIG website.
Marino’s work is much
appreciated.
Third, the SIG Newsletter is
back in publication and will
be printed six times per year.
Register at this site (free) to view educators’ action
research studies. Professors can set up class sites and
manage student action research papers through the network.
There are tools for submitting sections of the paper,
reviewing the paper, making comments, and communicating
about the work. The site can also be used to read any
and all of the action research studies that have been submitted
by teachers from across the U.S.
The Action Research Laboratory at Highland Park HS
http://www.d113.lake.k12.il.us/hphs/action/page1.htm
Meet a group of dynamic high school teachers who are
taking charge of their professional development by
conducting action research projects on their teaching.
Click on the link Back to the Table of Contents to read the
teachers’ studies.
It will be sent out electronically
and will also be available
on the website
(including archived newsletters).
Each newsletter will
feature recent SIG member
publications and action research
websites of interest.
Please submit your recent
publications (citations only)
and favorite websites so that
they can be included in the
Newsletter (email information
to cchester@westga.edu).
I hope you all will encourage
your friends and colleagues
who are interested in action
research to visit our website,
learn about the SIG, and
become part of our group.
Growth of the SIG will move
us in a positive direction
Action Research SIG
Cher Hendricks
Associate Professor &
Assessment Coordinator
University of West Georgia
A c t i o n R e s e a r c h W e b s i t e s o f I n t e r e s t
The Teacher Research Page at George Mason University
http://gse.gmu.edu/research/tr/index.shtml
and help us achieve our
goal of promoting practitioner
research.
I look forward to seeing
you all in Montreal in April.
Cher
This website provides information on the steps of action
research, including casting a question, data collection and
analysis, triangulation, and writing. It is geared toward
teacher researchers. Also included is information on how to
begin a teacher research team in an educational setting
and ways to find funding for teacher research projects.
There are also links to teacher research projects in the
areas of English/language arts, mathematics, science,
social studies, ESOL, technology, and special needs.
Is there an action research website that should be included
in an upcoming newsletter? If so, please email links to Cher
Hendricks at cchester@westga.edu

Volume 5, Issue 1
Based on our membership, the SIG
qualified for a total of 10 sessions
at the AERA 2005 Annual Meeting
in Montreal. We accepted 40
proposals for presentation, including
15 paper presentations, 16
paper discussions (formerly roundtables),
7 posters, and 2 symposia.
Our program is comprehensive,
examining the use and outcomes
of action research methodology in
K-12 settings, higher education,
and around the world. SIG sessions
are scheduled throughout
the week, although four sessions
N e w A c t i o n R e s e a r c h J o u r n a l
A R E x p e d i t i o n s
Michael Brody, Executive Editor
of ARExpeditions
AREXPEDITIONS is an on-line professional
journal promoting a creative
and critical dialogue between members
of the action research community
including educators in formal
and informal settings, community
members, university faculty, industrialists,
politicians, and administrators.
The journal includes articles describing
action research projects as well
Arlene Borthwick
Associate Professor
& Program Director
Technology in Education
National-Louis University
as strategies for conducting action
research and hosts an online dialogue
about issues in action research.
AREXPEDITIONS attempts to capture
the similarities between doing action
research in a professional setting and
traveling on an expedition. Like an
expedition, action research is a journey.
In the case of AR, this journey
leads to professional development
and social change.
Articles published in the journal communicate
the essence of action research:
planning, questioning, methodological
skill development, the continual
rethinking of the journey, collaboration
with colleagues and the
realization of outcomes, some of
which we might expect but others
which are a results of the natural
processes of the journey itself.
W h a t ’ s A h e a d i n M o n t r e a l
plus the SIG business meeting are
scheduled for Monday.
All SIG members and presenters
are encouraged to attend the SIG
business meeting on Monday evening
from 6:15 – 8:15 p.m. at Le
Centre Sheraton Montreal Hotel
(Kafka Room). We have invited
Janika Greenwood, Christchurch
College of Education, New Zealand,
to describe her experiences
at Dalian University in northern
China, where she worked with
faculty to develop a research culture.
She will discuss the enormous
difference in conceptualizations
of knowledge, learning, and
research that she confronted. She
will also discuss bicultural action
research activities in New Zealand.
Geoff Mills, Director of Teacher
Education at Southern Oregon
University and author of Action
Research: A Guide for the Teacher
Researcher (Merrill/Prentice Hall,
2003), will serve as discussant.
Symposia topics include “Action
Research in University Settings:
Reclaiming Our Radical Roots”
where panelists and attendees will
discuss various aspects of the
challenge of teaching action research
in university settings while
maintaining a focus on social justice
and politically engaged educational
reform—the transformative
intentions of action research
(Monday at 2:15 p.m.). During our
second symposium “Learning From
Our Students: Photovoice and
Classroom Action Research,” we
will learn how to use photographic
data as a primary research tool
from panel members that include
special education and science
teachers and teacher educators
(Wednesday at 12:25).
A tentative schedule of Action
Research SIG Sessions is listed
here. Please consult the published
program for the final schedule.
Page 3
In AREXPEDITIONS, we report action
research results, strategies for conducting
action research and invite
you to participate in our ongoing dialogue
about action research. You will
read about the results of AR including
personal accomplishments and
professional development, shared
outcomes, social change and insight
into professional practice informed
by research.
Michael Brody, Executive Editor
brody@montana.edu
Department of Education
Montana State University
Bozeman, Montana
www.arexpeditions.montana.edu
We look forward to seeing you in
Montreal!
SIG Sessions
MONDAY
Action Research Evidence for
Change (Paper Discussion) Time/
Room: 12:00pm - 12:40pm Marriott-Salle
de Bal Ballroom & Foyer
Action Research Applications in K–
12 and Higher Education (Poster
Session) Time/Room: 12:00pm -
1:30pm Hilton-Fontaine, Section A
Action Research in University Settings:
Reclaiming Our Radical
Roots (Interactive Symposium)
Time/Room: 2:15pm - 3:45 pm
Hilton-Montreal Ballroom, Section
Lachine
Action Research in Higher Education:
(Paper Session)
Time/Room: 4:05pm - 5:35 pm
Hilton-Montreal Ballroom, Section
Lachine
—continued on page 4—

SIG Sessions at AERA
—continued from page 3—
Monday (continued)
Action Research SIG Business Meeting: Establishing
Action Research Cultures Around the
World Time/Room: 6:15pm - 8:15pm Le
Centre Sheraton Montreal/Kafka
TUESDAY
Inservice Teacher Action Research (Paper)
Time/Room: 3:05pm - 3:45pm Marriott-Salle
de Bal Ballroom & Foyer
ACTION RESEARCH SIG OF
AERA
President Geoff Mills (mills@sou.edu)
President-Elect Cher Hendricks (cchester@westga.edu)
Program Chair Arlene Borthwick (aborthwick@nl.edu
Treasurer Barbara Kawulich (bkawulic@westga.edu)
Send membership form and dues to:
Barbara Kawulich
Dept. of Educational Leadership
University of West Georgia
153 Education Annex
Carrollton, GA 30118
Membership Form for Action Research Special Interest Group (SIG) of the
American Educational Research Association
Name: ______________________________________ Title: ______________________________________
Employer/Affiliation: ___________________________________________________________________________
Address: ________________________________ email: ____________________________________
________________________________ phones: __________________________________
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Special Area(s) of Interest: _____________________________________________________________________
Are you a member of AERA? Yes No
Membership Level (please choose one):
Student (one year), $5.00 Three Years, $25.00
One Year, $10.00 Four Years, $31.00
Two Years, $18.00 Five Years, $36.00
Please pay by check or money order.
WEDNESDAY
Learning From Our Students: Photovoice and
Classroom Action Research (Interactive Symposium)
Time/Room: 12:25pm - 1:55 pm
Marriott-Maisonneuve, Section D
Action Research in Mathematics, Science,
and Multicultural Education (Paper Session)
Time/Room: 2:15pm - 3:45pm Marriott-
Cartier, Section B & C
THURSDAY
Preservice Teacher Action Research (Paper
Discussion) Time/Room: 4:05pm -
4:45pm Marriott-Salle de Bal Ballroom &
Foyer
FRIDAY
Action Research in the K–12 Setting (Paper
Session) Time/Room: 2:15pm - 3:45pm Le
Centre Sheraton Montreal-Salon B