Why ontology matters to reviewing environmental education research

This paper responds to a keynote paper presented by William Scott at the 2007 World Environmental Education Congress held in Durban, South Africa. The keynote address reviewed 30 years of environmental education research. In this response to William Scott's paper I contemplate the way in which environmental education research may enable reflexivity in modernity and develop knowledge that can serve as cultural mediator between individual and society. Through emphasizing ontology, I consider the reality of global knowledge production in relation to the way in which ontology may influence the reasons how and why we come to do particular forms of research, providing an ontological reference for the ever‐expanding pluralism that characterizes the field of environmental education research. The paper comments on various aspects of the Scott paper, but presents an argument for not only valuing pluralism, methodological experimentation and ‘reaching out’, but for embracing the cosmopolitan implications of wider ontological referents of environmental concerns in environmental education research. The paper argues that research in environmental education ought to become ontologically defensible at both local and global scales.     

Animals in environmental education research

Over the past few decades, the increase in public and scholarly attention to human-animal relations has inspired an animal turn in a number of academic disciplines including environmental education research. This paper reviews the literature on animals in environmental education with respect to its theoretical foundations in critical pedagogy, ecofeminism and posthumanism, considers empirical work on formal, nonformal and informal learning spaces and discusses the implications of an animal-focused paradigm for teaching and research. In the conclusion the author suggests some areas for further inquiries from her own research and teaching experience.     

Virtuous mess and wicked clarity: struggle in higher education research

This article considers the value of clarity – of theory, method and purposes – in educational research. It draws upon the work of early critical theorist, Theodor Adorno, and particularly his notion of negative dialectics and his challenge to the traditional dichotomy of theory and practice. Using the notions of virtuous mess and wicked clarity, I argue that we need to accept the messy, contingent nature of the social world we research. I further suggest that it then follows that such research can and should influence and change that world. The researcher is necessarily part of the world she researches and, once one accepts that, it is hard to sustain ethical or political isolation; it is hard to ignore the struggle.     

教育研究三种范式的比较

教育研究范式包括教育思辨研究范式、教育定量研究范式与教育定性研究范式,尽管三种研究范式是先后出现的,但由于教育研究对象的丰富性及各种研究范式的局限性,并未导致一种研究范式完全取代另一研究范式的情况,而是呈现三种范式在教育研究领域并存、整合的局面。     

Validity in mixed methods research in education: the application of Habermas' critical theory

Mixed methods approach has developed into the third methodological movement in educational research. Validity in mixed methods research as an important issue, however, has not been examined as extensively as that of quantitative and qualitative research. Additionally, the previous discussions of validity in mixed methods research focus on research design and procedure, rather than validity per se. This paper presents another perspective by using philosophical and methodological insights generated from Habermas’ critical theory, especially his Theory of Communicative Action and validity claims. Theoretical assumptions and how they are consistent with principles of mixed methods research are introduced. Three types of validity claims are explained with an example and how they are applied to understanding validity in mixed methods research is further discussed. This paper concludes with implications for educational research and future directions.     

Re-valuing research in theological education*

ABSTRACT

This article explores where and how to re-value research in theological education. Robert Banks, an Australian biblical scholar and practical theologian, appealed for a re-envisioning of theological education including refocusing research with ‘missional’ application, not primarily serving academia, but also church and society. Excellent theological research values engagement and impact with local and global issues. This is consistent with a Practical Theology preference for application, and also a broader Mode 2 or triple helix impetus for academia to address government priorities and industry concerns, let alone the common good. To develop excellence in research that has value for society requires institutions and researchers to allocate time and resources, beginning with conceptualising research as important. It requires re-valuing of training and exercise of critical thinking and clear writing. Finally, it benefits from re-valuing of research collaboration, especially through academic networks and research centres.     

The diversity project: an ethnography of social justice experiential education programming

Whilst adventure-based experiential education traditions have long-standing claims of progressive, democratic learning potential, little research has examined practice from within democratic theories of participation and learning. Focusing on a complex network making up a disturbing interaction in an outdoor education programme, I posit forms of structural management privileging institutional design blockaded democratic forms of interaction when bids arose, while simultaneously identifying the peripheral ‘un-structured’ symbolic spaces beyond the care-gaze of educators as necessary sites of creative emergence. Drawing on the work of Lather [Lather, Patti. 1996. “Troubling Clarity: The Politics of Accessible Language.”Harvard Educational Review 66 (3): 525–546], I explore the peripheral boundaries of traditional ethnographic writing, decentering norms of finality and conclusivity, and invite the reader into a critical interaction with ‘a shifting text’ [Babich, Babette. 1994. Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science: Reflecting Science on the Ground of Art and Life. Albany: State University of New York Press, p. 27] and a chaotic moment in the programme.     

An exploration of future trends in environmental education research

This article describes future trends in environmental education (EE) research based on a mixed-methods study where data were collected through a content analysis of peer-reviewed articles published in EE journals between 2005 and 2010; interviews with experts engaged in EE research and sustainability-related fields; surveys with current EE researchers; and convenings with EE researchers and practitioners. We discuss four core thematic findings: (1) EE researchers are highlighting the importance of collective and community learning and action; (2) EE researchers are placing increased emphasis on the intersection of learning within the context of social–ecological communities (e.g. links between environmental quality and human well-being); (3) a pressing need exists for research conducted with urban and diverse populations; and (4) research around social media and other information technologies is of great interest, yet currently is sparse.     

Activity theory in empirical higher education research: choices,uses and values

This paper contributes to discussion of theory application in higher education research. We examine 59 empirical research papers from specialist journals that use a particular theory: activity theory. We scrutinise stated reasons for choosing the theory, functions played by the theory, and how the theory is valorised. We find that the theory is usually chosen for its direct empirical applicability; used for abstraction, explanation and contextualisation; and valorised for apprehending complex situational dynamics. It is rarely chosen to challenge conceptualisation of the research object; used to establish investigative paradigms; or valorised in ways that implicate wider bodies of knowledge or potential theory development. We argue that higher education researchers should reconsider how their application of activity theory is interwoven with interpretative processes, how the theory might frame research design rather than simply data analysis, and how they account for the range of roles that the theory actually plays across research endeavours.     

多媒体课件在高校德育教学中的有效运用

针对高校德育教学惯用灌输的教学方法进行德育教学,作为认知主体的学生在德育过程中自始至终处于被动的地位和状态,往往是事倍功半的德育效果,为此,在建构主义学习的理论基础上,改变教学方法和手段,运用多媒体课件进行德育教学,充分结合和运用多媒体课件的特性,精心创设教学情境,使学生主动吸收德育内容,德育目标达到有效的实践。     

建构主义扎根理论及其对教育技术研究的价值初探

20世纪后期兴起和发展起来的建构主义思潮,对具有＂质的风格＂的扎根理论方法产生了较大影响。建构主义扎根理论,将建构主义者所提出的很多方法和问题融入进来,成为＂一种在实证主义和后现代主义之间取中间路线的方法＂,以发展一个可以解释某个特定现象的概念和理论为目的。扎根理论方法也适应于教育技术研究,有助于提高研究者的教育技术理论水平,弥合理论与实践的脱节。     

Inquiry as stance: practitioner research for the next generation

This paper is a reflexive account of the use of critical social theory within my practice as an action researcher. It is set within the ongoing debates between pragmatist and critical tendencies within action research. The paper discusses how a selective deployment of key constructs from the work of Jurgen Habermas has supported my work as a second-order action researcher. It demonstrates how these constructs can help deal with the practical and theoretical tensions faced when supporting groups of action researchers. It focuses on one of the key issues faced by any external agent trying to work within such groups: how to avoid imposing their own agendas and interpretations. It does this by discussing three foundational points within the process of action research – the nature of practitioners’ practical reasoning and the bases of critical self-reflection and collective action.     

Action learning and constructivist grounded theory: powerfully overlapping fields of practice

This paper considers the shared characteristics between action learning (AL) and the research methodology constructivist grounded theory (CGT). Mirroring Edmonstone's [2011. “Action Learning and Organisation Development: Overlapping Fields of Practice.” Action Learning: Research and Practice 8 (2): 93–102] article, which explored the relationship(s) between AL and organisation development, a case is made that AL and CGT are powerfully overlapping fields of practice. An account of practice is included to provide a contextual explanation of the ‘overlap’, and a new methodological praxeology is proposed to the field of practice/practitioner-focused research.     

Religious education as a research discipline: an activity theoretical perspective

This article raises the question of how to conceive of religious education as a research discipline. The theory of activity systems is used in an analysis of the relationship between theory and practice, the systems of research and the systems of school. The author argues for a dialectical relationship between research and school practice, where understandings of school practice may enable theoretical expansion and where the language used in the field of research may give renewed understanding to the field of practice.     

The roots and routes of environmental and sustainability education policy research

Environmental Education Research has developed a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) (http://explore.tandfonline.com/content/ed/ceer-vsi) focusing on studies of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) policy. The VSI draws on key examples of research on this topic published in the Journal from the past two decades, for three reasons. First, to provide readers with a series of snapshots into the genealogy of ESE policy research in this field. Second, to encourage renewed attention to previously published work. And third, to offer commentary on the evolution of research trends, approaches and findings.     

Pedagogy in Common: Democratic education in the global era

In the context of the increasingly transnational organization of society, culture, and communication, this article develops a conceptualization of the global common as a basic condition of interrelation and shared experience, and describes contemporary political efforts to fully democratize this condition. The article demonstrates the implications for curriculum and teaching of this project, describing in particular the importance of fundamentally challenging the interpellation of students as subjects of the nation, and the necessity for new and radically collaborative forms of political and pedagogical authority that can more powerfully realize the imaginative potential of educators and students alike as global democratic actors. In this effort, familiar progressive educational ideas (e.g. the importance of the continuity of the curriculum, and the meaning and purpose of experimentalism) are interrogated and rearticulated. The article concludes with a discussion of the unique ways in which education can contribute to constructing a democratic society in the global era, and how the central aspects of such a pedagogy in common can also suggest essential principles for the organization of social movements in this context.     

Theory development and application in higher education research: the case of academic drift

This article examines the case of academic drift, as an example of a theory developed and applied within higher education research. It traces the origins and meaning of the term, reviews its application by higher education researchers, and discusses the issues it raises and the critiques it has attracted. It concludes that academic drift is at the heart of the long-standing liberal/vocational education debate, so is likely to continue to attract attention. The contemporary application of this theoretical framework also illustrates both the tendency for researchers to re-invent similar ideas in different times and places, and to ignore or overlook the work of some researchers whilst acknowledging that of others.