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Collaborative Reflective Practice Of Two Early Childhood Educators: The Impact On Their Ongoing Inquiry And Professional Development, Stacy Cummings Onks

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Two preschool teachers served as participants in this instrumental case study with the purpose of: (1) identifying the emergence of new understandings and processes of joint, shared activity, (2) examining the ways in which the use of two diverse methods (electronic and audio journals) influenced and mediated critical reflective practice, and (3) examining the link between reflection and action.

There were two major findings. First, the use of multiple methods to engage in reflection was found to be critical to encourage and support effective, rich reflection. Second, teachers changed the conceptualization of their professional relationships and of reflective practice. …

Flame Or Fizzle? A Comparative Case Study Of The Sparc Experience, Cynthia Bushey

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Social Perceiving-Acting Reciprocal Conversations (SPARC) is an emerging approach to large group discussions. SPARC utilizes an iterative approach to group discussions by nesting small fishbowl discussions within a larger whole group discussion. Theoretically, this structure affords reciprocal participant interactions for the negotiation of meaning and increased depth of inquiry. This study takes a detailed look at the experiences of three undergraduates who participated in SPARC during an Educational Psychology course for non-education majors at a large university in the Northeastern United States. Luke, Esmeralda, and Diane participated in SPARC eleven times between January and May.

Kindling Sparc: The Emergence Of Social Perceiving-Acting Reciprocal Conversations, Cynthia Bushey

NERA Conference Proceedings 2009

Based on an ecological theory of knowing (see Barab & Plucker, 2002; Barab & Roth, 2006; Gibson, 1986; Young, 2004), Social Perceiving-Acting Reciprocal Conversations (SPARC) is an emerging discussion approach designed to tune agents’ perceptions to the affordances of discussion interactions and to develop their effectivities to act on these affordances. This paper discusses the creation and subsequent iterations of SPARC that emerged in my undergraduate Educational Psychology class between January and May of 2009. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.

Reflective Practice And A Process Called “Levelising”, John M. Peters

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

The most widely accepted concept of reflective practice depicts a cyclic process of reflection in action and on action. Building on the tradition that begins with Schön’s seminal work, this paper describes an approach to reflective practice that incorporates the perspectives and theories of others whose own views promise to increase the potential of individual reflection on and in practice. Called “Levelising,” the process begins in our routine, unexamined ways of being; from various perspectives that are themselves subject to reflection, we come to know more about what we do as individuals in order to go on together with others. …

Data-Data: A Model For Practitioner-Researchers, John M. Peters

IACE Hall of Fame Repository

This paper is about planning and conducting action research projects. It is written for practitioners who need a guide for doing a kind of inquiry that was once considered to be the exclusive domain of the academic and academies. It is also for academics who have broadened their concept of knowing, including how knowledge is constructed and whose knowledge it is. The author’s model of action research is described and discussed in terms of how it integrates features of reflective practice and formal research methodology. A special focus is the practitioner’s own involvement in his or her inquiry and the …