Abstract:

This communication is part of a research project developed by a team of researchers from CESC - Child's Studies Centre, University of Minho (Portugal), under the title: "Contexts and collaborative practices of curricular research in elementary education".
This project evolves around two central research questions:
1. How can we make the curriculum of elementary education integrated and relevant, offering all students, regarding their diversity, the best learning opportunities to ensure their educational success?
2. What is the potential of organising this project, focused on knowledge communities in order to create a "sharing culture", to improve both the processes of curricular development and professional development of teachers and researchers by constructing knowledge about curriculum integration?
This paper will present the goals and results of the first task of this project, which focuses on a community of young researchers – teachers from pre-school and primary education – students of the Master in Curricular Integration and Educational Innovation at University of Minho. We will analyse the forms used to build this community that brings together academic and practical researchers trying to study and solve problems concerning strategies to make the curriculum more integrated and relevant for all students.
In summary, this project pretends to develop reflective skills and attitudes about collaborative action-research, typical for processes of educational change and professional development.
We also expect to explore the possibilities of knowledge communities to bridge the gap between educational research and practice.

Keywords:

Knowledge community, collaborative research project, innovation, curriculum integration.