Exploring pedagogies to elevate inquiry: teaching action research in the third space

ABSTRACT

This study chronicles a semester long inquiry focused on the impacts of pedagogical strategies informed by the tenets of third space theory on my own practices and understanding of students’ learning outcomes in an action research course. As I applied new instructional strategies to promote discourse and critical inquiry, I reflexively explored how these approaches enhanced my impacts on students’ learning and praxis of action research. This paper first provides a brief introduction to third space theory and then describes how I infused this framework into my course approach, the different types of data collected and analyzed to gauge the impacts of new pedagogies, and findings that emerged. These are summarized in relation to the conditions that both undergirded and elevated students’ engagement, and directions for further research to advance the praxis of action research across teacher education contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Third space theory
• action research
• teacher education
• action research praxis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The inclusion of the phrase site-based in the AR course description is intended to convey the program’s overarching belief that professional learning must be directly connected to and informed by the needs and priorities of the communities within which students regularly interact and work.

2. In consideration of the forms of collaborative learning and engagement that I was focused on fostering, I would have preferred to convert the course grading to a pass-fail format. This would have more closely aligned with my goals and the strategies I employed. However, I did not have institutional authority to do so.