Student, teacher and researcher perspectives on self-Study and knowledge building

Abstract

An interpretative style was employed in reporting teacher and students’ action in a context of teaching and learning in an urban high school in Canada, with a teacher of 30 years of experience, in a grade 11 Physics class. Student and teacher interviews, student discussions in the database, videotapes of special events and artefacts of the poster presentation were the main data sources. Two narratives were constructed for the perspectives of an average student and a high school physics teacher within the project that took place. These narratives were used to provide a detailed description of what happened in the class; it describes the beliefs of students and the teacher about the role of a learner, the role of a teacher and their learning/teaching goals. These findings are discussed in terms of (1) the difficulties of initiating and sustaining new knowledge building strategies when students are satisfied with the existing practices and other sociocultural factors that tend to preserve the existing pattern. (2) the importance of the researcher’s role in helping the teacher to make sense of what is happening in his/her own class which facilitate sustainability and continuation of the innovation.