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ON-LINE
ISSUES
V.5
N.1, August 1999
ARTICLE
ABSTRACTS
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Participatory
Action Research for Curriculum Change: Can Full Participation Be Achieved?
by Faith
Maina
fmaina@interchange.ubc.ca
Centre
for the Study of Curriculum & Instruction
University
of British Columbia
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Abstract
In
January 1997, I returned to the community where I was born and raised
to do research. Using participatory action research methodology, I
carried out a study, placing culture at the center of the Kenyan curriculum.
This study that sought to explore the possibilities of tapping local
resources to enrich curriculum invited collaboration from five teachers
in a local secondary school. Despite positive results that helped
us to move beyond understanding what we know (i.e. providing data)
to theorizing about what we know (i.e. creating meaning) and to transform
our reality for social change (i.e. taking action), I felt in retrospect
that participation was not fully achieved. However, even without full
participation, what we gained using this approach far outweighs the
loss. I conclude that the field of education needs to embrace non-traditional
research methodologies and support them in tangible ways if it is
to remain a leader in edge-cutting research.
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| Ethical
Considerations of Conversation as a Research Methodology: Seeking Just
Ways to Study Personal Experience
by Lynn
Thomas
thomla@interchange.ubc.ca
Centre
for the Study of Curriculum & Instruction
University
of British Columbia
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Abstract
This
paper describes how, as a researcher, I came to a greater understanding
of using conversation as a research methodology to study the personal
lived experience of bilingual parents of young children. I describe
the process I followed in my attempt to find ethical ways of conducting
research, and include references to literature I found influential,
as well as reflections on my own experience of researching the lived
experience of others.
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| The
Ethics of Justice and Care in the Respect for Persons Principle: Implications
for Education
by Miriam
Mwada Orkar
mmorkar@interchange.ubc.ca
Centre
for the Study of Curriculum & Instruction
University
of British Columbia
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Abstract
Some
theoretical moralists have argued that the attitude of respect for
persons is the paramount moral attitude, and that all other moral
principles are to be explained in terms of it. Although bringing children
to have respect for others is generally regarded as a central task
of moral and social education, not much is found in educational literature
on what it means to have respect for persons. In this paper, I outline
the basic philosophical assumptions that underlie the concept of respect
for persons in the light of its relationship to the ethics of justice
and care. I have drawn from a variety of philosophical considerations
to demonstrate that the ethics of care and justice are jointly necessary,
and mutually complementary, to the propriety of the respect-for-persons
principle.
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The
da Vinci Program: A narrative study of an alternative learning approach
for life
by Blane
R. Després
bdespres@interchange.ubc.ca
Centre
for the Study of Curriculum & Instruction
University of British Columbia
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Abstract
The
da Vinci Program is about an alternative learning practice attempted
in the public school system. I contend that schooling is not complete
but tends to neglect the learner as an experiential and interactive
being in the realm of daily existence (see Gibbons, 1990; Goodson,
1992; Levin, 1991). This paper examines some of the issues related
to the implementation of the program in one public school setting,
such as the nature of schooling and implementation problems.
Ideally in the da Vinci Program each student
undertakes six passages over the course of the final three years of
secondary school in conjunction with course work. The six passage
categories of the Program are philosophical inquiry, physical challenge,
practical skill, creative endeavour, career exploration, and community/global
awareness. For each passage, students present a written proposal to,
and negotiate it with, an advisor (a teacher). Each student must maintain
a journal to document the experiences during the passage process from
which they will conclude the experience in a “wrap-up,” or summary
and conclusion. The culmination of the event is a public celebration
after completion of the passage during which time the learning experience
is shared with an audience.
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How
Do we Know (Y)our Health after Hiroshima? Ethics in Writing Cases -
A Reflexive Thesis
by Ken
Schramm
schramm@interchange.ubc.ca
Centre
for the Study of Curriculum & Instruction
University of British Columbia
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Abstract(ly)
You do not yet know
you are looking at my face
making a case of me for which
you are responsible when you begin
reading "How do we know (y)our health
after Hiroshima? Ethics in writing cases.
A reflexive thesis," a report of research, I
supplement U.B.C. Faculty of Medicine
who imagine cases to teach health sciences
with special attention to aboriginal health,
alternative, and complementary medicines. I
imagine a writing seminar of health professionals,
researchers, students, and teachers who write their
health cases of individuals, families, communities,
lands, or species. A self reflexive thesis, I display
on my familied body, my face in this case,
my pedagogy: imagining authors who write
(y)our personal and professional memories,
experiences, understandings, judgments,
decisions, responsibilities and actions
for making (y)our case of
health in writing.
I am written in three columns of father, child, and mother
voices
given life and meanings by the courage and hopes of (y)our readings
reflecting on my portrait by Ken Schramm, M.D., Ph.D. student in CSCI.
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