Collaborative Action Research in the Context of Developmental Work Research: A Methodological Approach for Science Teachers’ Professional Development

Abstract

The paper refers to the theoretical establishment and brief presentation of collaborative action research with thecharacteristics of “developmental work research” as an effective methodological approach so that science teachersdevelop themselves professionally. A specific case study is presented, in which we aimed to transform the basicallymonologic discourse of teacher-pupil interactions to a more collaborative, investigative one by engagingteachers-researchers in the analysis of their own discourse practices. The engagement of teachers-researchers incollaborative action research and, more specifically, in the analysis of their own discourse and the way they workedwith, collaborated with and guided their pupils in science lessons proved to be an educationally creative, effectiveprocess in their training. The study and analysis of the data, which took place after the active participation of theteachers-researchers, showed that that teachers and pupils can develop desired, collaborative, dialogic skills andmeta-skills on the basis of utilizing certain strategies. The most significant strategy, which was utilized duringcollaborative action research, was discourse analysis not only as a study tool of social school reality but also as atraining, reflective, meta-didactic tool.