Co-Constructed Research Design: Lessons on Equivalency and Teacher Participation in a US-Italian Professional Development Study

The chapter presents reflective experiences and empirical data from an in depth experience of cross cultural research on a day in the life of toddler-teacher practices in two university laboratory schools in US and Italian sites. The parallel research design – based on the use of video recording as a way to make teacher practice visible - was co-created between sites by the joint research team in an effort to ensure equivalency and decrease ethnocentric tendencies. The result was the implementation of a cross-cultural participatory research design with a significant impact in term of teachers’ professional development. The multi- modal, multi-vocal methodology incorporated an interplay of spoken and visual languages (i.e. video, written reflections, teachers’ rating of video recording, teacher-to-teacher dialogues, and photographs). Video recording of teacher practice moved beyond a simple representation of classroom moments toward the use of video as a reflective and epistemological tool of teacher collaborative inquiry. Examples of researchers negotiations and consensus are highlighted and illustrated co-constructed research protocols, timeframes and teachers participation.