Metaphor and Theory for Scale-up Research: Eagles in the Anacostia and Activity Systems

Item

Title: Metaphor and Theory for Scale-up Research: Eagles in the Anacostia and Activity Systems
Abstract/Description: This chapter proceeds from two very different views on scale-up theory. Cynthia Coburn (2003) provides a retrospective query into normative dimensions of scale-up (depth, spread, transfer of ownership and sustainability) and argues that scale-up is ‘not about numbers’. In contrast, McDonald and colleagues (2006) take a methodological approach to understanding scale-up research in two stages, intervention effectiveness and intervention scaling in multiple contexts, with the focus primarily about the numbers. This chapter builds scale-up theory further by offering four preconditions for scale-up based on a 6-year study of the scale-up of middle school science units. Preconditions include: a close partnership between the university and the school district; recognition that the success of any intervention is determined by the pervasive policy climate of the school system; scale-up decisions being driven by the quality of assessment feedback and other information; and an organised research agenda for systematically introducing the intervention. This leads to an ecological metaphor on scale-up, with the insight that it is ‘information’ that scales up. Further, scale-up is a socio-cultural phenomenon explained by activity theory because it allows overlapping levels of complexity for explanations.
Author/creator: Lynch, Sharon J.
Date: 2012
In publication: Second International Handbook of Science Education
Editor: Fraser, Barry J.; Tobin, Kenneth; McRobbie, Campbell J.
Series: Springer International Handbooks of Education
Pages: 913-929
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Resource type: en Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form: en Published Text
Scholarship genre: en Methodological; en Reflection/Retrospective
Keywords: Curriculum; Equity; Evaluation; Reform; Research methods
Language: en
Open access/full-text available: en No
Peer reviewed: en No
ISBN: 978-1-4020-9041-7
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-9041-7_61
Citation: Lynch, S. J. (2012). Metaphor and Theory for Scale-up Research: Eagles in the Anacostia and Activity Systems. In B. J. Fraser, K. Tobin, & C. J. McRobbie (Eds.), Second International Handbook of Science Education (pp. 913–929). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9041-7_61
Cited in: Scale and Sustainability of Education Innovation and Improvement
Place: Dordrecht

Item sets: OB Citations - Scale and Sustainability of Education Innovation and Improvement

Annotations

There are no annotations for this resource.