IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/idsxxx/v43y2012i5p61-67.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Seeing ‘With my Own Eyes’: Strengthening Interactions between Researchers and Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Alun Davies
  • Bibi Mbete
  • Greg Fegan
  • Sassy Molyneux
  • Sam Kinyanjui

Abstract

We describe a participatory action research (PAR) project aimed at initiating a schools project as a component of the wider Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)–Wellcome Trust Research Programme's (KWTRP) community engagement strategy in Kilifi. Students and teachers from three nearby secondary schools, and scientists from KWTRP, were involved in designing and implementing a set of interventions aimed at promoting school awareness of locally conducted research, and positive attitudes towards school science and health research. The project was evaluated using a mixture of pre‐ and post‐intervention surveys and discussions with teachers, students, researchers and other stakeholders throughout the duration of the project. The project did appear to fill some knowledge gaps about research and contribute to enhancing students' educational experiences, as intended. However, the project also provided a forum where teachers and students could express their concerns and question research practices, and unexpectedly promoted learning among researchers themselves. Further work is needed to learn more about the potential of school engagement to provide benefits for research institutes, individual researchers and local schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Alun Davies & Bibi Mbete & Greg Fegan & Sassy Molyneux & Sam Kinyanjui, 2012. "Seeing ‘With my Own Eyes’: Strengthening Interactions between Researchers and Schools," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(5), pages 61-67, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:idsxxx:v:43:y:2012:i:5:p:61-67
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/idsb.2012.43.issue-5
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:idsxxx:v:43:y:2012:i:5:p:61-67. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0265-5012 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.