EDU406 Topics 211-215 by Dont Disturb Me

Edu406 · Topics 211 to 215 · Topic no 211

1: What are the reasons to do Action Research?

• Help you build a reflective practice based on proven ideas or techniques
• Allow you to try new ideas and reliably assess their effectiveness
• It will help you build confidence in your teaching
• It will contribute to the professional culture of teaching at your school
• It can create meaningful and lasting change in order to improve student achievement

2: What are the levels of Action Research?

• The individual practitioner for classroom
• Group of teachers for department
• Teachers, administrators, and other stakeholders to affect change in the larger school community

3: What are the sources of information?

Studies published in books Journals Periodicals Technical reports Academic theses and dissertation available either in print or online.

4: What are Conducting Action Research Steps?

• Identify the question, issue or problem
• Conduct a literature review
• Define a solution
• Apply the solution and collect the data
• Analyze your findings
• Report your findings
• Take Action

If anyone wants to detail Question no 4 the open your handouts pg no 759

Topic no 212

5: Differentiate between the Research is empirical and Research is systematic?

Research is empirical

The empirical nature of action research focuses our attention on evidence from real life experience from our Sense experience and it’s therefore very practical to us it draws information together for us as reflective practitioners which we can use to inform our practice it’s acquired knowledge in a sense and it can use any number of different instruments in terms of data collection questionnaires are very popular things like checklists taking notes.

Research is systematic

This process then is part of if you like a scientific method that we are applying to the social activity in the classroom in the sense that it’s based on a scientific process it is very much about identifying a problem reviewing the information and collecting data in relation to that particular problem and then analyzing the data and drawing conclusions which guide further actions.

6: Action Research can take a number of forms

• Basic and applied research
• The primary purpose of basic research is the extension of knowledge
• The primary purpose of applied research is the solution of an immediate, practical problem.

Topic no 213

7: What are Professional Learning Communities?

• Collaborative conversations will be a part of the regular school day for teachers.
• There will be a focus on results and staff will hold themselves accountable.
• Professional learning teams will function successfully on a variety of levels leading to Improved student achievement
• SMART goals will be understood and used meaningfully.
• Action research or teacher enquiry will inform practice.
• Students who are experiencing difficulty will be supported
• Learning is for all students and teachers

8: What are Action Research for Continuous Improvement?

• Successful schools will have learning rather than teaching as a focus. Teachers will work together to analyze student work and consider best practice.
• Instructional decisions will be based on data, emphasizing formative as well as summative data.

Topic no 214

9: What are Action Research and Gathering Data?

So action research is a process of thinking about practice and it’s about acting on problems and issues and therefore an important part of this iterative process is about gathering data and there are a number of options that the reflective practitioner can use in order to gather data to inform the reflective practice process and it’s important for us to realize that we need to choose the techniques not only which are appropriate for the aspect of our teaching which we are investigating but the techniques which we feel most comfortable with and which we feel are going to give us the most valuable data.

10: What are Techniques for Gathering Data?

• Reflective Journal
• Portfolio
• Observations
• Interviews
• Questionnaires
• Case studies
• Checklists

11: Differentiate between Guidelines for analyzing Data(Do) and Guidelines for analyzing Data(Don’t)? ➢ Guidelines for analyzing Data (Do)

• Design a system for analyzing your data
• Look for themes or pattern to emerge from the data
• Share your

➢ Guidelines for analyzing Data (Don’t)

• Let your previous assumptions guide your analysis • Censor the data you have recorded • Look through your data only once

12: What are the Process for Analyzing Qualitative Data?

• Write continuously…What are you seeing? What questions emerge? What is your learning?

• Look for themes, patterns, and big ideas
• Identify main points that appear most frequently and most powerfully
• Draw information together
• Include support for each of your themes