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Education 505. July 23, 2012 Day 1 of 5 Dr. Laura-Lee Kearns. Agenda. Introductory activities Course outline Educators as Researchers Poster Board Resource Centre (go at lunch) OPEN HOUSE Problem-based methodology World views Choice of research topic. BINGO. A Little About You.
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Education 505 July 23, 2012 Day 1 of 5 Dr. Laura-Lee Kearns
Agenda • Introductory activities • Course outline • Educators as Researchers • Poster Board Resource Centre (go at lunch) • OPEN HOUSE • Problem-based methodology • World views • Choice of research topic
A Little About You • Please fill out the questionnaire so I can get to know you a little better…
Introduction to Educational Research • What is educational research? • Brainstorm “research” words for each letter of the alphabet. Select five of those words which you feel are most representative of what research is. • OR • BRAINSTORM 10 WORDS you associate with research and choose your top 5
EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH IS… • Educational research: is an attempt to understand and improve the process of teaching and learning. It may involve many different methods, and include participants such as pupils, teachers, administrators and others involved in schools and schooling. • Research:systematic, critical and self-criticalenquirywhichaims to contributetoward the advancement of knowledge and wisdom . • Educationalresearch: Criticalinquiryaimedatinformingeducationaljudgements and decisions in order to improveeducationalaction (Bussey, 1999, cited in Morrison, 2002)
OPEN HOUSE • A. Read your segment silently. • B. You have 10 minutes to “meet and greet” as many “guests” in the room as possible. The idea is to create an open house atmosphere in which you spend 1-2 min. with other students and share the information from your “quote.” You may agree, disagree, make a connection, ask a question, comment, etc… • What did you learn?
Practitioner Research for Educators –Chapter 1, Robinson & Lai • Why conduct research? • Who conducts research? • In what ways do teachers serve as researchers? • What is the value of teacher research? • 1)improves outcomes for students; • 2)develops context-specific solutions to problems; • 3)provides effective professional development; and • 4)helps to sustain improvements in teaching and learning
What are the conditions that support teacher research? • 1)availability of high quality professional development where research skills can be learned; • 2)people available who can provide high-quality feedback on your research; • 3)a school or district where there is a culture of inquiry
If research is so important to improve outcomes for students, why isn’t there more support given from school boards, governments, etc. for teachers to carry out research? • How do teachers get the support needed to do research in their schools?
Problem-Based Methodology • PBM is a methodological framework that can accommodate many methods such as questionnaires, interviews, observations, etc. • The main goal of PBM is to explain, evaluate and improve teaching practices.
Chapter 2 • The PBM framework: • 1)What is a practical problem? • 2)How is the problem solved? • The problem is solved by developing a theory of action (how a teacher solves a problem) which is comprised of a set of constraints, actions and consequences
How is the adequacy of the solution judged? • The theory of action is evaluated against four criteria: • Accuracy • Effectiveness (theory delivers what was intended) • Coherence • Improvability
What type of research relationship fosters improved solutions to problems?
Three Main Research Paradigms • 1)Positivist • Quantitative, scientific, objective research • 2)Interpretive • Qualitative research in which the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and understanding human relations is the goal • 3)Critical/Postmodern • Critique knowledge used and produced, participants and researchers may (sometimes) work together to find emancipatory knowledge
Strategies of Inquiry • 1)Qualitative • 2)Quantitative • 3)Mixed Methods • Do you find yourself most drawn to qualitative or quantitative research? Why?
Cresswell’s worldviews • Where does PBM fall in the world views table? • Consider Tracking Example • Where do you think you might be? can you choose one? Do many describe your position??
Your research question • « Pebble in yourshoe » • « One night stand »
For Next Class • READ Chapters3, 10, 4 (highlyrecommend 5) • DO Q cards 1 and 2 • Chapters 1 & 2; chapters 3 & 10 Consideryourresearchtopic • Note: APA Session Schwartz Auditorium 8:30, and Library session 1:00