Cases and Stories of Transformative Action Research: Five Decades of Collaborative Action and Learning

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
About the author
1. Introduction
What is transformative action research?
About the “experimenting learning community” in which transformative
action research has developed
For whom is this book written, and why?
What this book aims to do
PART I: Applications
2. Program evaluations
Evaluations in community agencies
Case example of some steps in agency-consultant collaboration on
program evaluation
Toward a transformative approach to evaluation
Evaluation as the discovery of grounded theory
3. Uses of action research in community organizations
An ongoing process of information-gathering and review
Uses of action research in community groups
A focus that can shape organizational “politics”
Community needs assessments
Designing pilot projects and developing concept papers addressing
community needs and problems
Challenges and opportunities in working for significant, multilevel
changes
4. Community-based think tanks
Introduction
A vision for community-based think tanks
Sample plan for a community-based think tank
5. Toward expert knowledge and human development—the curriculum of the “experimenting community”
Learning as human development, and as knowledge and skill
development
A curriculum, based on the action-inquiry of collaborative script
improvisation, to promote ego development and progressively
increasing expert knowledge
The stages and the developmental transitions and progress—intersections
of content and process
WISR’s curricular approach—the “structure” of scripts for
improvisation
6. Using transformative action-inquiry during the COVID-19 pandemic: Critiquing studies and facing decision-making dilemmas
Action-and-inquiry during the COVID-19 pandemic
What “data” are relevant?
Our social responsibility in making decisions in the midst of a large-scale
crisis, and the importance of using qualitative as well as quantitative
data about the pandemic—a case study
The role of “qualitative data”
Concluding remarks
PART II: Illustrations
7. Intellectual activism and action research—a case study on workplace bullying
Introduction to a case study of an intellectual activist using action
research in addressing the problem of workplace bullying
From David Yamada’s dissertation: Action research and social
change
Social change theory and intellectual activism
Additional resources
8. Multifaceted, comprehensive action-oriented research, aimed at preserving and restoring the Omaha culture
Introduction
Action research and Grandfather Remembers—by Dennis Hastings
and Margery Coffey, Omaha Tribal Historical Research Project, Inc.
(OTHRP), July 2009
9. Stories, concepts, and methods of participatory action research—Transforming individuals and groups
Introduction
Sudia’s stories and insights—of participatory action research
Engaging in dialogue with Salvadoran immigrants living in California
and sharing words with Salvadoran educators back home and
Oaxacan indigenous communities
10. Getting out of the book and into the world: Ways to understand action research
11. Teaching and learning physics as inquiry—Similarities with transformative action research
The importance of inquiry
Creating learning environments conducive to inquiry
Concluding remarks and suggestions
12. Plans for a school-based project to involve students as teachers, learners, and colleagues of Artificial Intelligence
13. Stories of action research from WISR learners
Introduction
WISR alumni and students speak about action research
Vignettes—Stories of action research by WISR learners and their
reflections on what they did
Commentary
14. Autobiographical analysis of the role of social learning in transformative action-and-inquiry
The importance of social learning—learning from and in circumstances,
and from and with others
Storytelling and dialogue
Elicited, visceral reactions
Negative role modeling
Positive role modeling—from a “twentieth century woman,” and
learning to collaborate
Engaging with someone “different” who is willing to listen and
discuss
Intention to seek out circumstances to change
Immersion in the joy of inquiry that matters
The serendipity of what do I do next?
Mentoring to support my finding my own voice
Berkeley in 1970 … Something different is happening? I want to find
out
Immersed in a sea of critical preoccupations, and reactiveness
If you want to do it, create the circumstances, don’t wait
I want to learn how to “really” dance, so …
Intuition and listening—Act now and see what happens—I made a
mess, too
Where are all the Native Americans? In teachable moments, teachers
learn
Can “structure” coexist with learner-centered education?—Revising
script-improvisation
Learning from and with one’s “children”
References
Index