Introduction: Still the Same But Different Clare Kosnik Professor, Ontario Institute of Child Study/University of Toronto Over the last two years I have worked with our second cohort of Eureka! Scholars. I was part of the initial cohort of Eureka! Scholars, which was one of the most fulfilling activities of my professional career. When Rosemary Evans, principal of the University of Toronto Schools, invited me to coordinate the second group, I immediately accepted. This second cohort built on the work of the first cohort because we had solid examples of teacher research and I had a much better understanding of the process for educators to study their practice. This second cohort embraced the challenges of teacher research; their commitment to deepen their understanding of teaching and to improve the learning environment for their students was inspiring. The second cohort was slightly different from the first in that we included an elementary school teacher from the Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study. This crossover between institutions was important because it expanded our group, mixed elementary and secondary school teachers, and included a different perspective. Our group of Scholars “gelled” instantly – from the first meeting there was a wonderful dynamic among all participants. We became a research community characterized by support for each other while providing intellectual critique. It was interesting that all of the participants came to the group with a fairly solid goal for their research. I feel that part of the reason for their clear
focus was that the first group of Eureka! Scholars had presented their work to the UTS community. Through informal conversations with UTS colleagues, formal presentations at faculty meetings, and professional development sessions, they showed that teachers can conduct rigorous research that improves teaching. They demonstrated that their research is of interest to others – beyond their own classroom. We used a format similar to our first group of Eureka! Scholars: • Each meeting had an official agenda with a specific focus. • All meetings began with us going around the group with each person providing an update of his or her work. • We systematically worked through the research process. Teacher learning has attracted a great deal of attention. What do beginning teachers need to know? How do teachers learn once they are on the job? How can they continue to learn over their