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Task 1. Text, Video & Quiz on Action Research

Task 1. Text, Video & Quiz on Action Research

Aim

Getting to know the approach of Action Research

Tasks for Student Teachers

  • Read the background information on Action Research (AR). 
  • Watch the video "Introduction to Action Research". 
  • Then complete the quiz.

Read the background information on AR

Learning to teach is a continuous process that requires reflection on one's own practice, dialogue and collaboration with colleagues, and the acquisition and production of new knowledge concerning the multidimensional process of teaching. 

Key Elements of Teacher Learning

In the past two decades, a consensus has emerged around the crucial components of teacher professional development (e.g. Darling-Hammond & Richardson 2009, Timperley et al. 2007). The key components can be summarized in five key principles (Leftstein & Snell 2014):

Teacher learning should be dialogic 

Teachers learn better when their voices are heard, when they adopt a critical stance toward knowledge, when they think together, when they enjoy supportive and caring relationships and when power is shared with them.

Teacher learning thrives in a collaborative and supportive professional community

Community involves shared vision, shared language, shared ownership and shared problems. Teachers learn from one another through working collaboratively to address everyday tasks, such as choosing curricular materials, lesson planning, assessment design and responding to specific pupils and problems.

Teacher learning should be driven by evidence in the classroom

Grounding teacher learning in classroom evidence helps keep the discussion relevant, and addresses the chronic gap between professional talk and practice in teaching.

Teachers should be actively involved in interpreting and constructing knowledge

...rather than expected to accept and enact ideas dictated to them by others: However, external expertise is often essential for gaining critical perspective, imagining alternative possibilities and becoming acquainted with others’ practices. Professional learning should be based upon a balanced, dialogic relationship between external and internal sources of expertise, and between external consultation and internal leadership.

Teacher learning should be continuous and integrated into teacher's work

Some of the most important learning occurs informally, as a natural outcome of teacher interaction around the work itself.

However, what is required is the methodology that would prioritise a more reflective, questioning and dialogic approach to teaching and teacher learning. Action research is the reflective and inquiry mind-set. It requires that student teachers reflect on and analyse the collected data to guide their future practice, and promotes engagement in richly contextualised discussions about pedagogy.

Unless teachers engage in critical reflection and ongoing discovery they stay trapped in unexamined judgments, interpretations, assumptions, and expectations

Larrivee, 2000

Watch the video on Action Research (AR)

Complete the short Quiz on Action Research

Action Research.... Choose True or False.

Question 1

Is about improving your teaching practice.

Question 2

Is practical and applied.

Question 3

Is about reflecting on your practice in order to improve it.

Question 4

Focuses on the problems in your classroom.

Question 5

Requires reflection and observation.

Question 6

Is better done in isolation.

Question 7

Is about trying out new methods.

Question 8

Is about making changes to your teaching practice.