Fostering Collaboration in a School District–University Partnership: The Teachers Researching Inquiry‐Based Science project

Abstract

This paper describes how collaboration emerged in a school district–university partnership designed to foster teacher development in the context of elementary science education. The Teachers Researching Inquiry‐Based Science project involved four elementary teachers, a school district science mentoring teacher, a school district science coordinator and a university researcher. In this qualitative action research project, a variety of research methods and sources were adopted including participant observation, interviews, documents and journals. Research outcomes describe strategies adopted to foster collaboration and teacher learning.