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
Date
In publication
Pages
913-929
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
Published Text
Scholarship genre
Methodological
Reflection/Retrospective
Keywords
Open access/full-text available
No
Peer reviewed
No
ISBN
978-1-4020-9041-7
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
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