Design-Centric Research-Practice Partnerships: Three Key Lenses for Building Productive Bridges Between Theory and Practice

The last decade has witnessed a strong increase in research that moves toward mutually beneficial collaboration between researchers and practitioners. This chapter focuses on such collaborations that aim to design resources for use in schools while also advancing theoretical understanding of the dynamics within such partnership. We refer to such endeavors as design-centric research-practice partnerships (DC-RPPs). To guide the development of productive DC-RPPs, we synthesize insights from three theoretical lenses: (1) scholarship of teaching and practitioner research, (2) change laboratory formative interventions, and (3) multilevel boundary crossing. These lenses, together with a framework that characterizes DC-RPPs based on the practical constructs of (1) processes, (2) roles, and (3) habits-of-mind, are used in a 3 × 3 theory-practice matrix to elicit and articulate nine design principles that can support productive DC-RPPs. We describe two cases that illustrate how the design principles come to life in authentic DC-RPPs (one with 3 middle schools, focusing on interdisciplinary learning, and the other with 22 high schools, focusing on physics) and conclude with a discussion of emerging work that could support DC-RPPs and recommendations for future research.

[1]  Yael Kali,et al.  The role of design-principles in designing courses that promote collaborative learning in higher-education , 2009, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[2]  Jon Wagner,et al.  The Unavoidable Intervention of Educational Research: A Framework for Reconsidering Researcher-Practitioner Cooperation , 1997 .

[3]  Sanne Akkerman,et al.  The complexity of educational design research , 2013 .

[4]  H. Davies,et al.  Using Evidence: How research can inform public services , 2007 .

[5]  Yrjö Engeström,et al.  Formative Interventions for Expansive Learning and Transformative Agency , 2016, Cultural-Historical Activity Theory Approaches to Design-Based Research.

[6]  Sanne Akkerman,et al.  Multilevel Boundary Crossing in a Professional Development School Partnership , 2016 .

[7]  William R. Penuel,et al.  Research–Practice Partnerships in Education , 2016 .

[8]  Tcm Theo Bergen,et al.  Het leren van leraren in de contex van onderwijsvernieuwing: waarom is het zo moeilijk? , 2004 .

[9]  W. Penuel,et al.  Organizing Research and Development at the Intersection of Learning, Implementation, and Design , 2011 .

[10]  J. Lavis,et al.  How can research organizations more effectively transfer research knowledge to decision makers? , 2003, The Milbank quarterly.

[11]  Frank Fischer,et al.  The Educational Research-Practice Interface Revisited: A scripting perspective , 2007 .

[12]  Adi Kidron,et al.  Extending the applicability of design-based research through research-practice partnerships , 2017 .

[13]  R. Sternberg.  What Is an “Expert Student?” , 2003 .

[14]  L. Shulman.  Feature Essays: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Personal Account and Reflection , 2011 .

[15]  P. Cobb,et al.  A better research-practice partnership , 2016 .

[16]  Yael Kali,et al.  The Design Principles Database as a Means for Promoting Design-Based Research , 2008 .

[17]  Caitlin C. Farrell,et al.  Conceptualizing Research–Practice Partnerships as Joint Work at Boundaries , 2015 .

[18]  Yrjö Engeström,et al.  From design experiments to formative interventions , 2008, ICLS.

[19]  L. Shulman,et al.  The Scholarship of Teaching: New Elaborations, New Developments. , 1999 .

[20]  Yrjö Engeström,et al.  Putting Vygotsky to Work: The Change Laboratory as an Application of Double Stimulation , 2007 .

[21]  J. Braak,et al.  The Gap between Educational Research and Practice: Views of Teachers, School Leaders, Intermediaries and Researchers. , 2010 .

[22]  Jaakko Virkkunen,et al.  The Change Laboratory: A Tool for Collaborative Development of Work and Education , 2013 .

[23]  Hein Broekkamp,et al.  The gap between educational research and practice: A literature review, symposium, and questionnaire , 2007 .

[24]  Susan Leigh Star,et al.  Institutional Ecology, `Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39 , 1989 .

[25]  Shirley Simon,et al.  Evidence‐Based Professional Development of Science Teachers in Two Countries , 2008 .

[26]  Yael Kali,et al.  Boundary breaking for interdisciplinary learning , 2015 .

[27]  W. Penuel,et al.  Erratum to: Enhancing use of learning sciences research in planning for and supporting educational change: Leveraging and building social networks , 2016 .

[28]  Diane Jass Ketelhut,et al.  Teachers and game-based learning: Improving understanding of how to increase efficacy of adoption , 2011, Comput. Educ..

[29]  Susan McKenney,et al.  Researcher–Practitioner Collaboration in Educational Design Research: Processes, Roles, Values, and Expectations , 2016 .

[30]  Marilyn Cochran-Smith,et al.  Inquiry as Stance: Practitioner Research for the Next Generation. Practitioners Inquiry. , 2009 .

[31]  A. Bakker,et al.  Boundary Crossing and Boundary Objects , 2011 .

[32]  Susan McKenney,et al.  Conducting Educational Design Research , 2012 .

[33]  Bregje De Vries,et al.  Exploring the Role of Communities in Education , 2007 .

[34]  W. Penuel,et al.  Research-Practice Partnerships: A Strategy for Leveraging Research for Educational Improvement in School Districts. , 2013 .

[35]  K. Trigwell,et al.  Scholarship of Teaching: A model , 2000 .

[36]  C. Snow,et al.  The SERP Approach to Problem-Solving Research, Development, and Implementation , 2013 .

[37]  J. Voogt,et al.  Teachers as co-designers of technology-rich learning activities for early literacy , 2015 .

[38]  Bat-Sheva Eylon,et al.  Research-Design Model for Professional Development of Teachers: Designing Lessons with Physics Education Research. , 2006 .

[39]  S. McKenney,et al.  Connecting Research and Practice: Teacher Inquiry and Design-Based Research , 2018 .

[40]  Jaakko Virkkunen,et al.  The Change Laboratory , 2013 .

[41]  Y. Engeström,et al.  The change laboratory as a tool for transforming work , 1996 .

[42]  Yael Kali,et al.  Collaborative knowledge building using the Design Principles Database , 2006, Int. J. Comput. Support. Collab. Learn..

[43]  Gilly Salmon,et al.  The space for social media in structured online learning , 2015 .