Jenny Donovan is Lecturer in Science Education and in Writing Doctoral Literature Reviews in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on the motivation and capacity primary children have to explore and learn about the 'big ideas' of science such as atomic-molecular theory, and genes and DNA.Karen A. Trimmer is Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her research interests include decision-making by school principals, policy and governance, social justice impacts of policy, Indigenous participation in higher education and political pressures on rigorous and ethical research.Nick Flegg was Lecturer in Mathematics Education at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. His research interests include exploring the concept of Mathematics Anxiety in school children.

• Foreword: Reflections about conducting research in teachers’ science classrooms; Professor David Treagust.- Chapter 1. Educational innovation: Challenges of conducting and applying research in schools; Professor Karen Trimmer, Dr Jennifer Donovan and Dr Nicholas Flegg.- Chapter 2. The long march towards school improvement in France: paradoxes, tensions and adjustments between bottom-up innovations and top-down policies; Professor Romuald Normand.- Chapter 3. The unintended impact of regulatory compliance: The case of pre-service teacher preparation to teach integrated math-science education under No Child Left Behind; A/Professor Fernando F. Padró, Marlene M. Hurley & Karen Trimmer.- Chapter 4. An Educated Nation: Governmental Policy and Early Childhood Education in America; Dr Jannah Nerren.- Chapter 5. Innovation and research in the Danish public school; Emeritus Professor Palle Rasmussen & Dr Karen E. Andreasen.- Chapter 6. Teacher Perceptions of Daily Physical Activity and Perceived Contextual Barriers to the Implementation of Daily Physical Activity; Natasha Williams, Dr Harsha N. Perera.- Chapter 7. Children versus curriculum: Who wins?; Dr Carole Haeusler, Dr Jennifer Donovan & Professor Grady Venville.- Chapter 8. HPE– navigating the chasm of policy, practices and management to enact the intended curriculum and meet the needs of 21st century learners; Susan Wilson-Gahan.- Chapter 9. A critique of positivist research and an argument for critical theory research as a meeting point for teacher researchers and academic researchers interested in authentic school improvement; A/Professor Michael Christie and Clayton Barry.- Chapter 10. Developing Dialogue between a School Subject Department Head and a University Education Researcher: Convergences and Divergences in Experiencing Educational Change and Complexity; Don Harris & Professor Patrick A. Danaher.- Chapter 11. The “Wicked Problem” of implementing Evidence based Practice in Specialand Inclusive Education: A Sociocultural Analysis; A/Professor Roselyn M. Dixon and A/Professor Irina Verenikina.- Chapter 12. Afterword: Innovating and researching in schools; Associate Professor Judith MacCallum.