Key findings From Action Research Project. Action Research Project.
Action Research
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Transcript of Action Research
Action Researc
h
What is Action Research?
Action Research is a process
in which participants examine
their own educational practice
systematically and carefully,
using the techniques of research.
(Watts, 1985, p.118)
Action Research is based on the following assumptions:
Teachers and principals work best on problems they have identified for themselves;
Teachers and principals become more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working differently;
Teachers and principals help each other by working collaboratively; and
Working with colleagues helps teachers and principals in their professional development.
(Watts, 1985, p.118)
Although there are many types of research that may be undertaken, action research specifically refers to a disciplined inquiry done by a teacher with the intent that the research will inform and change his or her practices in the future.
Implicit to the term action research is the idea that teachers will begin a cycle of posing questions, gathering data, reflection and deciding a course of action.
What is Not Action Research?
Action research is not usually comes to mind when we hear the word “research.”
Action research is not a library project where we learn more about a topic that interests us.
It is not problem-solving in the sense of trying to find out what is wrong, but rather a quest for knowledge about how to improve.
What is Not Action Research?
Action research is not about doing research on or about people, or finding all available information on a topic looking for the correct answers. It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies.
Action research is not about learning why we do certain things, but rather how we can do things better. It is about how we can change our instruction to impact students.
Similarities and
Differences between
Action Research and
Formal Quantitative
and
Qualitative Research
Action Research Formal ResearchSystematic inquiry.
Systematic inquiry.
Goal is to solve problems of local concern.
Goal is to develop and test theories and to produce knowledge generalizable to wide population.
Little formal training required to conduct such studies.
Considerable training required to conduct such studies.
Action Research Formal ResearchIntent is to identify and correct problems of local concern.
Intent is to investigate larger issues.
Carried out by teacher or other local education professional.
Carried out by researcher who is not usually involved in local situation.
Uses primarily teacher-developed instruments.
Uses primarily professionally developed instruments.
Action Research Formal ResearchLess rigorous. More rigorous.Usually value-based.
Frequently value-neutral.
Purposive samples selected.
Random samples (if possible) preferred.
Selective opinions of researcher often considered as data.
Selective opinions of researcher never considered as data.
Generalizability is very limited.
Generalizability often appropriate.
Types of Action Research
Individual Teacher Research – usually focuses on a single issue in the classroom.
Collaborative Action Research – may include as few as two teachers or a group of several teachers and others interested in addressing in a classroom or department issue.
School-wide Research – focuses on issue common to all.
Types of Action Research
District-wide Research – far more complex and utilizes more resources, but the rewards can be great. Issues can be organizational, community-based, performance-based or processes for decision making.
History of Action Research
1940: The idea of using research in a “natural” setting to change the way that the researcher interacts with that setting was traced back to Kurt Lewin.
Kurt Lewin – credited for coining the term “action research” to describe work that did not separate the investigation from the action needed to solve the problem.
History of Action Research
Stephen Corey - the first to use action research in the field of education.
1950: Action research was attacked as unscientific, little more than a common sense and the work of amateurs (McFarland & Stansell, p. 15).
1970: Saw again the emergence of action research.
Steps in Action Research
Within all the definitions of action research, there are four basic themes: empowerment of participants, collaboration through participation, acquisition of knowledge, and social change. In conducting action research, we structure routines for continuous confrontation with data on the health of a school community.
Steps in Action Research
These routines are loosely guided by movement through five phases of inquiry:
1. Identification of problem area
2. Collection and organization of data
3. Interpretation of data
4. Action based on data
5. Reflection
Identify the
Problem
Gather Data
Interpret Data
Act on Evidence
Evaluate Results
Next Steps
Action Research
Cycle
Identify a Problem Area
Teachers often have several
questions they wish to investigate;
however, it is important to limit the
question to one that is meaningful and
doable in the confines of their daily
work. Careful planning at this first
stage will limit false starts and
frustrations.
Identify a Problem AreaThere are several criteria to
consider before investing the time and effort in “researching” a problem. The question should:
be a higher-order question- not a yes/no
be stated in common language, avoiding jargon
be concise
be meaningful
not already have an answer
Gather Data
The collection of data is an
important step in deciding what action
needs to be taken. Multiple sources of
data are used to better understand the
scope of happenings in the classroom
or school.
Gather Data
There are many vehicles for
collection of data:
Interviews Portfolios
Journals
Diaries Videotapes Audio Tapes
Photos Memos Case Studies
SurveysField Notes Checklist
Questionnaires Logs of Meetings
Individual Files Self-assessment
Records – tests, report cards,
attendance
Interpret Data
Analyze and identify major
themes. Depending upon the question,
teachers may wish to use classroom
data, individual data or subgroup data.
Some of the data are quantifiable and
can be analyzed without the use of
statistics or technical assistance.
Act on Evidence
Using the information from the
data collection and review of current
literature, design a plan of action that
will allow you to make a change and to
study that change. It is important that
only one variable be altered.
Evaluate Results
Assess the effects of the
intervention to determine if
improvement has occurred. Is there is
improvement, do the data clearly
provide the supporting evidence? If no,
what changes can be made to the
actions to elicit better reults?
Next Steps
As a result of the action research
project, identify additional questions
raised by the data and plan for
additional improvements, revisions
and next steps.
Guide Questions
1. What was my concern?
2. Why was I concerned?
3. What could I do?
4. What could help me?
5. What did I do?
6. How can I evaluate my work?
Benefits of Action Research
1. Focus on school issue, problem or
area of collective interest.
2. Form of teacher professional
development.
3. Collegial interactions.
4. Potential to impact school change.
5. Reflect on own practice.
6. Improved communications.
Sample #1
Ms. Wong, a third-grade teacher, finds
her class continually interrupted by a student
who can’t seem to keep quiet. Distressed, she
asks herself what she can do to control this
student and wonders if some kind of time out
activity might work. Accordingly, she asks:
Studying the Effects of Time-Out on
a Student’s Disruptive Behavior
by Means of a Single-Subject
Experiment
Would brief periods of removal from the
class decrease the frequency of this student’s
disruptive behavior?
What might Ms. Wong do to get an
answer to her question?
This sort of question can best be
answered by means of a single-subject A-B-A-
B design. First, Ms. Wong needs to establish a
baseline of the student’s disruptive behavior.
Hence, she should observe the student
carefully over a period of several days,
charting the frequency of the disruptive
behavior.
Once she has established a stable
pattern of the student's behavior, she should
introduce the treatment – in this instance,
time-out, or placing the student outside the
classroom for a brief period of time –for
several days and observe the frequency of the
student’s disruptive behavior after the
treatment periods. She then should repeat the
cycle.
Ideally, the student’s disruptive
behavior will decrease and Ms. Wong will no
longer need to use a time-out period with
this student.
The main problem for Ms. Wong is being
able to observe and chart the student’s
behavior during the time-out period and yet
still teach the other students in her class. She
may also have difficulty making sure the
treatment (time-out) works as intended (e.g.,
that the student is not wandering the halls).
Both of these problems would be greatly
diminished if she had a teacher's aide to
assist with these concerns.
Sample #2
I am a teacher of English in China, I
have been teaching for two years. I undertook
my professional learning within a traditional
context, which emphasized that teachers
should help their students learn correct
answers and achieve a high standard of
language proficiency.
How Can I Improve My Students to
Improve in English?
By Ma Hong
This involved using pedagogies that
put the responsibility for success on the
teacher’s teaching, rather than on the
student’s learning. Using this approach also
meant that my students and I were
exhausted at the end of each day. I
wondered what I could do about the
situation.
In 2003, I heard from my colleague, Tao
Rui about the action research approaches she
was developing under the guidance of Moira
Laidlaw at the Guyuan Teacher’s College,
so I asked Moira to help me develop new
pedagogies. Under Moira’s guidance I began
my formal action inquiry within the context
of my class 40 English major students aged
15-18, of which 98% had failed the entrance
examination for senior middle school. I met
them for a two-hour class three times a
week.
This report sets out the action-
reflection steps I took to develop my inquiry.
What was my concern?
The level of proficiency of 80% of the
students in spoken and written English was
unsatisfactory. They had limited vocabulary,
could not pronounce even simple words,
understood little when I used English as my
teaching medium, and could not use the basic
grammar they had learned in junior middle
school. I wanted to help them develop
confidence, show more initiative and become
more motivated to learn English.
What was my concern?
I decided to monitor the progress of the
whole class, focusing especially on three
students. Ma Jie, Ma Fei, and Yu Jinghu, whose
level of proficiency was representative of the
low achievers. I felt that if I could help them, I
could help others also.
Why was I concerned?
Three reasons drove my inquiry. The
first was my desire to help the whole class to
concentrate more on their learning, rather
than spend time chatting and wasting time.
The second reason was to improve my own
teaching methods. The students were still in a
traditional mode of learning passively, waiting
to be told what to do, and were unwilling to
answer questions in public for fear of losing
face if they made a mistake.
Why was I concerned?
I seemed to be doing the work for
them, rather than enabling them to practice
and think themselves. Third, I could
empathize with the experience of being a less
able student because I had also had that
experience at school and had achieved my
current position through sheer hard work and
determination. I knew how important it was
for all students to feel cared for by their
teacher.
What could I do?
I wanted to:
Create a friendly, well-disciplined, united
class spirit;
Help students develop confidence in
themselves; and
Encourage them to take more
responsibility for their learning.
What could help me?
I could observe lessons given by Moira,
and colleagues Li Peidiong, Tao Rui, and
others. I could ask them to observe my
lessons and offer critical feedback.
What did I do?
1. To overcome students’ anxieties about
speaking in front of the class, I divided the
whole class into eight groups. Each group
nominated a leader who was proficient
and confident and proactive. One found
that many students became more
confident and proactive. One of my
special participants, Ma Jie, one day
volunteered to answer a question for the
fist time.
What did I do?
2. I developed strategies to encourage
students to take the initiative about their
learning, and to ask questions as well as
offer answers.
3. I paid particular attention encouraging
effort. I praised them publicly and wrote
encouraging comments in their books.
When less able students answered
correctly I got the whole class applaud
them.
What did I do?
3. I also encouraged them to regard
mistakes as opportunities for learning. It
took a long time to persuade them that I
was genuine about this, because our
culture regards making mistakes as loss
of face. This one of the most difficult
aspects of my new pedagogies, but
students responded well.
What did I do?
4. I also encouraged my students by taking
interest in their family stories. Many less
able students come from rural
environments, where opportunities for
schooling are rare. We talked about how
hard their parents and families worked to
make them come to college, and how
important it was for them to succeed. I
showed that I was prepared to work as
they were.
What did I do?
4. We developed good relationships, and soon
the spirit of the class became one of
collaborative working through a respectful
atmosphere.
5. I aimed to make my teaching more
interesting. Rather than teaching the rules
in action. Students were asked to listen to
the stories, and work out the rule for
themselves.
What did I do?
5. I set them short exercises, and organized
them into groups to share their learning.
Because of these were new methodologies
for me, I asked them for feedback, and
they said that they found this way of
learning interesting and enjoyable. I shifted
the emphasis from learning rules to
practicing language. I varied the exercises
according to student’s ability.
What did I do?
6. I expressed my pleasure and gratitude to
my students. I thanked the group leaders
for helping others. They in turn took their
duties seriously, and checked with their
peers whether they had understood that
the task and volunteered extra help when
appropriate. I valued this aspect
particularly, because it met my own values
of the need for moral teaching and the
value of hard work and care for others.
How can I evaluate my work?
I used the following strategies to get
feedback on the effectiveness of my work.
I kept field notes about when students
volunteered to speak. I noted much increased
activity and confidence among all the
students.
I invited group leaders to keep journals, and
asked their permission to access their journals
for evidence about my influence. The journals
contain comments such as:
“ I made progress in dictation this time.”
How can I evaluate my work?
I have more time to reflect on the
record what happens in class and make an
instant evaluation of my teaching. Though I
now do less speaking in class. I spend more
time preparing, and I ask myself questions
such as, “What do I want my students to
learn?” “Which way would be better for them
to learn? How can I help them learn?”.
How can I evaluate my work?
Interestingly, out of this research a new
problem has arisen. Students who were more
proficient in English seem less motivated than
before. I am wondering whether it is because
of the attention I have paid to the lower-
achieving students. So my next research
question will be about developing
differentiated teaching methodologies that
enable all to learn according to their individual
learning strengths.
Thank You^.^
WorkshopMake an action research
individually. Use the following guide
questions.
1. What was my concern?
2. Why was I concerned?
3. What could I do?
4. What could help me?
5. What did I do?
6. How can I evaluate my work?
happy working
^.^