Wisdom Of Practitioners Research Articles

A systematic review of volcanology learning and teaching in higher education

We present a systematic map of the volcanology higher education literature (1983–2020) consisting of 47 peer-reviewed full texts. The literature describes curricula in varied formats and settings, namely: simulated, in-person, and field-based learning. The phenomena that students are learning about commonly include volcanic processes and landforms, applicable to learning within various geoscience subdisciplines. Frequently published research includes volcano misconceptions and simulated eruptions. However, most texts focus on practitioner wisdom and lack research information, empirical evidence, and/or a research-oriented methodology. A lack of research orientation is a documented phenomenon within the broader field of geoscience education, which is young compared to other discipline-based education research fields. Based on our findings, we recommend future research in conceptual learning of volcanology, instructional strategies, volcanology and society interactions, volcanology education equity and inclusion, volcanology cognition, quantitative learning, affective learning, and institutional change in volcanology.

Chemistry Education Research at a Crossroads: Where Do We Need to Go Now?

At the Biennial Conference of Chemical Education in August 2022, a symposium was held entitled Chemistry Education Research at a Crossroads: Where Do We Need to Go Now? The impetus for this symposium was to reflect on how our field has changed and grown substantially in the last 60 years and to challenge the chemistry education research (CER) community to think about how we could most productively continue to progress. As Cooper and Stowe highlight in their 2018 review of the development of research in chemistry education, the field has moved from personal empiricism, where ideas about teaching and learning of chemistry were guided by practitioner wisdom, to a field grounded in theories of learning that seeks evidence to improve teaching and learning. More recently, the COVID pandemic has forced a global rethinking of chemistry education, providing opportunities for systemic change in how CER is conducted, disseminated, and put into practice rather than returning to prepandemic status quo. To catalyze discussion about how to best capitalize on these opportunities, symposium speakers and attendees shared many ideas, challenges, and questions regarding the role that the CER community can or should play moving forward. This commentary aims to both document the ideas generated in the symposium by the presenters and the participants for the broader community and lay out one potential future direction and set of goals for CER as a means to inspire thoughtful conversation.

Practitioner Wisdom: A Conceptual Approach

AbstractThis conceptual paper explores the role that wisdom plays in social work. In the literature, this topic is primarily discussed in terms of ‘Practice Wisdom’, a kind of implicit and intuitive-based body of knowledge that is acquired through practice experience. After reviewing some formulations of it, we argue that practice wisdom faces a number of difficulties and is a misguided approach. To replace it, we propose a novel framework called ‘Practitioner Wisdom’, which emphasises that the proper subject of wisdom is not some sub-personal construct like a body of knowledge or a set of skills but the social work practitioner. Drawing from virtue theory in philosophy, we theorise that being a wise practitioner is a matter of acquiring and cultivating a character that is constituted by the relevant social work virtues and values. We conclude by discussing some benefits of practitioner wisdom, including how it can be taught to social work students and entrants, and suggest some future areas of research.

Addressing Complex Challenges in Coupled Natural and Human Systems Through Principled Pragmatism: A Case Study From Bangladesh

Some of the most persistent challenges facing society and the environment arise from an intricate coupling of natural and human systems (CNHS). These challenges resist traditional expert-driven problem-solving approaches and require a careful synthesis of both “explanation” and “understanding” to achieve equity and sustainability. Whereas, explanations tend to be the domain of scientific experts who seek generalizable solutions through theory building, modeling, and testing, understandings represent the wisdom of practitioners that enables real-world problem solving to proceed by accounting for contextual values, capacities, and constraints. Using a case study from Bangladesh as an illustrative case of CNHS, we take an explanatory approach in using the extended case study method to show why and how an expert-led response to remediation of arsenic-contaminated wells led to unintended outcomes, which could have been accounted for if a complexity science informed framework of the problem was in place. The complexity frame keeps one alert to emergent patterns that otherwise remain unanticipated, and thereby, form the basis of adaptive actions. For a path forward in addressing complex CNHS problems, we introduce a novel problem-solving approach that combines pragmatic explanations and interpretive understandings with attention to emergent patterns. We argue that this problem-solving approach – which we term principled pragmatism – can effectively synthesize and apply scientific knowledge and local practical knowledge to develop and implement adaptive, actionable, and sustainable interventions.

"The Noblest Roman of them all?" Professional versus Popular Views of America's Country Doctors.

This essay studies the images, perceptions, and values of the professional medical journals, as well as popular sources such as magazine and films, to show that the country doctor was a contested figure in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The country doctor's image embodied competing ideals of a racialized professional and masculine identity that included both place as well as visions of science. Medical professionals pressed an image in their journals and professional advice books that mapped a celebration of science and its predictive value onto urban places that were enshrined in hospitals and laboratory facilities. The public, while embracing this image, also embraced a second one shown in popular media that glorified the self-sacrificing rural solo practitioner. This practitioner's wisdom came from long contact with patients, he was dedicated to seeing patients in their homes, and his identity was based in the larger needs of the entire community.

Web-based Learning In Periods of Crisis: Reflections on the Impact of Covid-19

Education systems and its actors are generally responding to quarantine and large-scale shutdown (partial) of cities with a sudden shift to Web-Based Learning. However, given that a pandemic of this nature and scale is novel, there is a knowledge gap as to how teachers and learners should respond to the shift, and what the likely impact and the key considerations should be. This study aims to extrapolate and theorize from the existing knowledgebase about the use of Web-Based Learning, as well as from an expert and practitioner wisdom and experience, to offer high-level guidance for policymakers and education system actors that are forced to make decisions in fast-moving and very challenging circumstances with little guidance or relevant experience. It is an early attempt at theorizing the impact of the pandemic on two key actors (Learners and Teachers) and one interface (Content), all across eight dimensions of learning. The analysis is based on Khan’s (2001) dimension of Web-Based Learning and Anderson’s (2011) Model of Online Learning. Overall, we posit based on experience and practice, that the pandemic has delivered severe shocks to both the demand and supply side of Web-Based Learning, with Leaners, Teachers, and Content all significantly affected. While we hypothesize a general drop in the quality of teaching and learning in the short run, we expect the opposite to be the case in the long run, when the demand and supply side self-correct, albeit guided by strong government and market institutions.

A View from Within: Lessons Learned from Partnering for Continuous Improvement

Background Traditional methods of implementing educational innovations face a number of critical challenges that have problematized efforts to improve practice, particularly at scale. Recently, continuous improvement approaches have gained attention, offering structured, iterative processes for developing innovations that incorporate the wisdom of practitioners, are responsive to individual school contexts, and promote organizational learning over time. Purpose The National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools (NCSU) is one purveyor of such an approach, working to enact partnership-based continuous improvement processes in two large urban school districts in the U.S. This study presents a systematic, empirical investigation of the NCSU's work in order to offer recommendations for future efforts to study and implement such approaches in the complex environment of public schools. Research Design and Methods Drawing from an analysis of over 400 hours of recorded meetings, feedback forms, and cognitive interviews with participants, this study represents a detailed case study of the NCSU's implementation of its improvement process in a large urban school district in the U.S. Conclusions Analysis of these data reveal 3 key lessons learned by the NCSU partners. First, engaging in collaborative, partnership-based continuous improvement demands that partners construct and adopt a new culture of improvement. Second, the evolutionary nature of continuous improvement work requires partners to respond to emergent and often difficult to predict demands for new capacities and resources. Finally, efforts to implement, adapt, and expand innovations are often interwoven, competing with one another and requiring an interlocking network of supports and structures to succeed.

Chemistry Education Research-From Personal Empiricism to Evidence, Theory, and Informed Practice.

This Review of Chemistry Education Research (CER) provides an overview of the development of research in chemistry education from the early days, when ideas about how to teach chemistry and help students learn were guided by practitioner wisdom, to current research that is based on theories of learning and provides evidence from which to make arguments about improving teaching and learning. We introduce the dominant learning theories that have guided CER over the years and attempt to show how they have been integrated into modern research in chemistry education. We also provide examples of how this research can be used to inform the development and use of educational materials. Because CER literature is vast, we chose to limit the research we reviewed to those studies that help us answer three driving questions: (1) What should students know and be able to do with that knowledge? (2) How will we know that students have developed a coherent and useful understanding of chemistry? (3) What evidence do we have about how to help students develop a deep and robust understanding of chemistry?

The value of sharing practitioner wisdom in a learning and teaching context for training contemporary dancers in a conservatoire

Abstract This article sets out to interpret the experience of three practitioners who are engaged with higher education contemporary dance training. It outlines an investigation into how the sharing of their teaching practices and approaches has allowed them to gain further insight into concerns they share between them. They will advocate the value of sharing practitioner wisdom and will explain how their teaching practices are supported by a non-hierarchical, dialogical student–teacher environment. The three practitioner voices will be heard as they move through the binary decisions that present themselves as they engage in a framework of sharing and renewing.

Practice Wisdom Meets Evidence-Based Practice: Building Capacity in Agencies

ABSTRACTAgencies have a need to develop and evaluate therapeutic practices that show efficacy in treating specific client problems. University-agency collaborations combine the wisdom of practitioners with research skills that appraise evidence of efficacy, operationalize concepts and skills, and identify and implement evaluation methods. This article discusses the processes involved as practitioners and administrators collaborated with university researchers to transform a well-established mutual aid (MA) model of group work into an evidence-based model that showed efficacy in preventing substance use with adolescent populations. A case study will include the phases of the collaboration including relationship building, reviews of similar programs, identification of appropriate evaluation measures, development of a curricular-based manual and analysis and interpretation of the data for use in applying for funding. Implications for agency practice that respond to current demands in social services will be discussed.

Rediscovering Philosophia

With the excessive emphasis that modern PhD training places on the epistemological contribution of the thesis, a question that arises is: do PhD programmes help PhD students achieve philosophia – “love of wisdom”, or do the programmes just facilitate deepening and developing students’ knowledge? This paper challenges the modern approach to PhD training and by extension all academic research, and considers phronesiology, a wisdom-based approach to research design, to add value to traditional epistemic methodologies. In illustration, we use phronesiology and social practice wisdom principles to reflect on the merits of a recently completed empirical study of wise managerial decision-making. Through a reflective analysis, this paper demonstrates that phronesiology not only allows for contributions to knowledge, but can, as a matter of principle and choice, also increase research practitioner wisdom. In doing so, this may enable researchers to implement better and more comprehensive intellectual and practical outcomes that deal effectively with the economic, social, political, and environmental complexities of the contemporary world. Further, we argue that such a wisdom approach is more “practical” than further instrumentalizing PhD training. The paper offers a series of phronetic reflective questions for PhD researchers in social sciences, especially in organizational and management fields, to consider when designing and carrying out research.

Empowering Human Services Organizations to Embrace Evidence-Informed Practice: International Best Practices

Human services organizations are increasingly using knowledge as a mechanism for implementing change. Knowledge emerging from many sources that may include academic publications, gray literature, and service user and practitioner wisdom contributes toward informing best practice. The question is how do we harness this knowledge to make practice more effective? This article synthesizes the lessons learned from eight international organizations that have made a commitment to knowledge mobilization as an important priority in their mission and operation. The article provides a conceptual model, tools, and resources to help human services organizations create strategies for building, enhancing, or sustaining their knowledge mobilization efforts. The article describes a flexible blueprint for human services organizations to leverage knowledge mobilization efforts at all levels of service delivery.

Practitioner insights on obesity prevention: the voice of South Australian OPAL workers.

Knowledge based on science has been central to implementing community-based childhood obesity prevention interventions. The art of practitioner wisdom is equally critical to ensure locally relevant responses. In South Australia (SA), the OPAL (Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle) program has been implemented to reduce childhood obesity across 20 communities reaching nearly one quarter of the state's population. Staff from across the State come together at regular intervals to share practice challenges and insights and refine the model of practice. Over a 3-year period 12 reflective practice workshops were held with OPAL staff (n = 46). OPAL staff were guided by an external facilitator using inquiring questions to reflect on their health promotion practice within local government. Three themes were identified as central within the reflections. The first theme is shared clarity through the OPAL obesity prevention model highlighting the importance of working to a clearly articulated, holistic obesity prevention model. The second theme is practitioner skill and sensitivity required to implement the model and deal with the 'politics' of obesity prevention. The final theme is the power of relationships as intrinsic to effective community based health promotion. Insights into the daily practices and reflections from obesity prevention practitioners are shared to shed light on the skills required to contribute to individual and social change. OPAL staff co-authored this paper.

Supporting Inclusion Through Technology-Enhanced Knowledge Networks

Abstract This article shares social media strategies for using a particular approach–knowledge networks–to integrate the best available research with family and practitioner wisdom and values in order to develop socially valid, evidence-based products to support the inclusion of young children with disabilities. Three examples are provided to illustrate the application of specific social media tools for developing and supporting knowledge networks. Lessons learned from the examples and implications for how others may use social media to support knowledge networks are discussed.

Music-Based Intervention Reporting for Children with Autism: Implications for Music Therapy Publication Guidelines

The concept first appeared in the early 1990s and has since been applied in medical, behavioral, and alternative therapeutic treatment and research (Eddy, 1990; Evidence Based Medicine Working Group, 1992; Robb & Carpenter, 2009). Evidence-based practice combines practitioner wisdom with knowledge from rigorous clinical research to address the needs and desires of a client through effective treatment interventions (Detrich, 2008). It is currently considered a powerful force in today's health environment and has grown ... to prominence in the development of clinical standards and guidelines to improve quality of care (Davidson et al., 2003, p. 162).Researchers in both music therapy and in other fields have evaluated the level of evidence supporting music therapy practice for children with autism. Although some have suggested that music therapy is an appropriate treatment option for children with autism (e.g., Gold, Wigram, & Elefant, 2006; National Autism Center, 2009; Reschke-Hernandez, 2011b; Whipple, 2004), all have exposed a need to validate the efficacy of music therapy with this clinical population (Accordino, Comer, & Heller, 2007; Gold et al., 2006; National Autism Center, 2009; New York State Department of Health Early Intervention Program, 1999; Reschke-Hemandez, 2011b; Romanczyk & Gillis, 2005; Whipple, 2004; Wigram & Gold, 2006). A recent historical review of music therapy treatment interventions for children with autism has indicated that intervention techniques used in the past continue to be utilized despite an absence of sufficient research evidence (Reschke-Hernandez, 2011b). One of the potential causes of this continued recycling of interventions without sufficient supporting evidence could be the result of general insufficient reporting of music-based treatment interventions for children with autism in the literature.Intervention reporting provides a detailed account of the rationale for why an intervention was chosen, how it was executed and by whom, and how others can replicate the intervention for application in practice. Published clinical research provides a venue for explaining the details of these intervention techniques through qualitative and quantitative methods and thus informs music therapy clinical practice and future research. Without detailed intervention reporting in clinical literature, music therapy clinicians cannot adequately determine the quality of a treatment intervention or the research supporting it. It is also difficult to derive accurate and complete information to replicate the study, conduct systematic reviews, or apply the intervention in practice (Des Jariais, Lyles, Crepaz, & the TREND Group, 2004; Robb & Carpenter, 2009). Inadequate intervention reporting leaves music therapists unable to validate music therapy as an evidence-based treatment option for children with autism to other professionals, clients and their families, and third party providers. Guidelines for reporting the wide variety oi music-based intervention techniques for this population in the literature are needed.Guidelines for transparently reporting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been presented in the medical literature. The Consolidated Standards for Reporting Trials (CONSORT) Statement (CONSORT, 2010) is a free 25-item checklist to guide authors in supplying the detailed information that is necessary in a study in order for readers to adequately understand and evaluate the research. It specifies how authors should report information in all aspects of published research. Since its first publication in 1996, the CONSORT statement has had a significant positive impact on transparent research reporting, particularly in journals that have adopted the guidelines (Moher, Jones, & Lepage, 2001). Adherence to reporting guidelines . . . decreases honest reporting errors, helps to uncover bad research practice, and improves the reliability and usefulness of publications (Altman & Simera, 2010, p. …

Commentary on Websdale

As we go into the 21st century, we can look at the past 30 years of domestic violence advocacy and research and remark proudly on how far we have come. The accumulated scientific knowledge, practitioner wisdom, policy changes, and public opinion changes are all remarkable (Klein, Campbell, Soler, & Ghez, 1997). What is even more exciting is that it looks like all that work has achieved at least partially the goal of decreasing, if certainly not yet ending, domestic violence. At the very least, we have definitely decreased the number and rate of intimate partner (IP) homicide of both men and women since 1976. However, one of the ironies in the field is that the rates of IP homicide have decreased much more for men than for women. The studies that have examined the decrease have found that a significant proportion of the decrease is attributable to increases in domestic violence resources such as hotlines and shelters and improvement in domestic violence laws (Browne, Williams, & Dutton, 1998; Dugan, Nagin, & Rosenfeld, 1999, 2003). It is also important to note in this era of marriage promotion as a solution for domestic violence that divorce availability was also associated with the decline in IP homicide in the Dugan et al. (1999) multivariate analysis. Even with IP homicide decreasing and progress apparent, every life that is lost from domestic violence is far too many and haunts all of us. Fatality reviews have increased exponentially as one way to identify ways the system can be improved to prevent these deaths. Another strategy is the development of lethality risk assessment instruments and systems. Barbara Hart (1988) led the

Beyond the Liberal/Conservative Divide on Contraception: The Wisdom of Practitioners of Natural Family Planning and Artificial Birth Control

ABSTRACTThe article argues that contemporary dialogue on sexuality and contraception represents a new way of approaching Christian sexual ethics. Through an analysis of the experiential reflections of practitioners of natural family planning and artificial birth control, it shows that both sides seek the following goods: self-giving, relational intimacy, mutuality, sexual pleasure, and a strong connection between sexual and spiritual experience. It claims that while each side has distinctive insights, their shared concerns offer a way beyond the post-Humanae Vitaetension on sexual ethics. In this new dialogue, provingHVright or wrong will be much less important than helping Christian couples develop their sexual relationships in the context of their commitment to Christian discipleship.

Development of a Technology Readiness Assessment Measure: The Cloverleaf Model of Technology Transfer

Successful technology transfer begins with the identification of appropriate candidate technologies for transfer. Technology transfer managers have few reliable tools to guide the process of determining when and which technologies are likely to be successful in the commercialization process. This paper describes a multi-stage process which incorporated ideas from the literature, materials in use, pretesting of a model, and the collective wisdom of practitioners to devise a technology transfer readiness tool, dubbed the “Cloverleaf Model” Tool for Technology Transfer Assessment, because of its identification of the four requirements for success. The tool has been customized for different environments. It can be used over time to compare technologies and adapted to the unique situation of users.

Insider/partnership evaluation: Approach and concept development

This paper presents a model of evaluation developed over a period of some 8 years. The aim was to provide a method by which direct service agencies in the mental health and substance abuse areas could cost effectively and appropriately evaluate their programs. The process adopted was constructed in line with fourth generation ideals alongside an acknowledgement of practitioner wisdom. Our desire was to utilize evaluation not only for performance assessment but also to be an intervention method in itself. Our aim was to integrate evaluation practice in everyday professional activity and promote a solution to the problems of cross-sectoral service users.

From Practitioner Wisdom to Scholarly Knowledge and Back Again

The relationship between scholarly knowledge in public management and the conventional wisdom of capable practitioners needs to be clarified. If we accept that improving practical wisdom is the ultimate objective of scholarly studies in public management, practitioner experience can usefully serve as the starting point of such studies as well. This article uses the maxims about coping with “overhead agencies” supplied by one respected practitioner, Gordon Chase, as a source of ideas concerning the direction of scholarly work. It also conceptualizes three types of practitioner wisdom—rules, principles, and checklists—and advises academic researchers to concentrate on clarifying the conceptualization of the principles and checklists and empirically refining the rules. A focus on those rules that protect the practitioner against large downside risks is especially important.