We are sorry to have to announce that, due to illness, Susan Leigh Star will be unable to hold the keynote address on Saturday morning. However, Gordon Wells (University of California at Santa Cruz) was willing to deliver a keynote address at very short notice.

ACTION, TALK AND TEXT: LEARNING AND TEACHING THROUGH INQUIRY
Gordon Wells
University of California, Santa Cruz
Abstract
Briefly reviewing the research in which I have been involved over the last thirty years, I shall trace the growth of my conviction that what is needed in public education is not reform of administrative and auditing procedures but a transformation of the activity of learning and teaching at all levels - students, teachers and teacher educators. The object of this activity, I am convinced, should be the development of understanding of the social and material world in which we live - understanding that is both outcome and mediator of effective and responsible action. More specifically, I believe that this can best be achieved by approaching the curriculum through collaborative inquiry and exploratory and reflective dialogue. In this form of activity, diversity - far from being an impediment - is both a valuable resource and a desired outcome. In my presentation I shall report on how my colleagues and I have been investigating ways to bring about this transformation in policy as well as in practice.