What is Intrinsic Case Studies

This account of a research project explores postgraduate in-service teachers’ understanding and facilitation of active learning in primary, secondary and higher education in the United Kingdom. Qualitative data were elicited from six teachers during 2003-2004 using video-stimulated reflective dialogues of classroom practices illustrative of active learning. Outcomes of 18 dialogues have been taped, transcribed and analysed. The dialogues have begun to reveal teachers’ thinking, feelings and actions as facilitators of active learning. Findings, which are presented as case studies, indicate that teachers associate active learning, among other things, with learner autonomy, empowerment, developing higher order thinking skills and cooperative group activities. Increasingly, teachers devolve the locus of control of learning to their learners with appropriate guidance, monitoring and interventions. Classroom practices reflect an emphasis on discourse between learners and with teachers, guided discovery learning and learning as an essentially social process. The evidence suggests that video-stimulated reflective dialogues are an effective method for revealing teachers’ tacit knowledge about their pedagogy. Video-stimulated reflective dialogues emerge as a highly effective professional development tool which can enhance teachers’ career progression as they acquire and apply sophisticated higher order thinking skills in relation to their pedagogies.