![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
Recent policy documents from the Ontario Ministry of Education have announced a shift towards greater decentralization of the curriculum. Coincident with this announcement is the call for science teachers to present a more authentic view of scientific practice. This article describes how two grade 7 teachers in an Ontario (Canada) school collaborated with a researcher/teacher educator to meet these challenges. The ways in which the teachers changed their views about science and scientific inquiry, the anxieties they experienced and the institutional constraints that impacted on their classroom practice are discussed. Some common pitfalls of action research are identified and some tentative guidelines are advanced for the adoption of action research strategies by central educational authorities wishing to implement new curricula during recessionary times.