Action Research for Kids: Units That Help Kids Create Change in Their Community (Grades 5-8)

Action Research for Kids provides teachers with comprehensive, creative, and hands-on units to engage students in action research. Students will benefit from learning about quantitative and qualitative research practices that can make a real difference in their lives and those within their communities. Within this text, teachers can select a lesson or use whole units as students explore research methods such as survey research, experimental research, life history, and photovoice in fun lessons that ask them to create a library wish list, interview people in their communities, lobby for cookies in the cafeteria, and experiment with preservatives. Each lesson comes with detailed instructions and ideas for differentiation.

Grades 5-8

Dr. Amanda O. Latz is an Assistant Professor of Adult, Higher, and Community Education in the department of Educational Studies at Ball State University where she teaches a variety of graduate-level courses. She holds a BS in sociology with a minor in human resource development from James Madison University (2001), an MA in higher education administration from Appalachian State University (2006), and an Ed.D. in Adult, Higher, and Community Education (2011) as well as a Certificate in College and University Teaching (2009) from Ball State University. Her dissertation, titled Understanding the Educational Lives of Community college Students through Photovoice, was funded in part by the Myra Sadker Dissertation Award.
Her research interests reside in the following areas: the lived experiences of individuals involved within the community college setting, particularly students and faculty; qualitative research methods; the scholarship of teaching and learning, especially innovative pedagogies; college and university faculty development; collegiate athletics; gender, social class, popular culture and education; and gifted education. She has presented her research and theoretical papers at a number of national and international conferences. In addition, her work has appeared in a variety of peer-reviewed journals such as Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, Journal for the Study of Sports & Athletes in Education, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and Academic Exchange Quarterly.

Cheryll M. Adams is director of the Center for Gifted Studies and Talent Development at Ball State University. She teaches graduate courses for the license in gifted education. For the past 25 years, she has served in the field of gifted education as a teacher of gifted students at all grade levels, Director of Academic Life at the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities, and as the principal teacher in the Ball State Institute for the Gifted in Mathematics program. Additionally, she has been the founder and director of various other programs for gifted students. Dr. Adams has authored or coauthored numerous publications in professional journals, as well as several book chapters. She serves on the editorial review board for Roeper Review, Gifted Child Quarterly, Journal for the Education of the Gifted, and The Teacher Educator. She has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Gifted Children, has been president of the Indiana Association for the Gifted, and currently serves on the board of The Association for the Gifted, Council for Exceptional Children. In 2002, she received the NAGC Early Leader Award.