Linking your Literature Review to your Teacher Inquiry Project
In your Literature Review you explored the sources about your selected topic area, and formed some research questions. The resources that you selected that were relevant to your research question will have (hopefully) provided useful information about the scope and boundaries of your topic area. Next for Assessment 2 we are going to support you to develop your Teacher Inquiry Project plan in which you apply information you have found about your topic area* to your Teacher Inquiry. *Your topic area for your Teacher Inquiry is usually the same area that you investigated for Assessment 1. It is possible to change the topic area but we recommend checking with the Postgrad team if you do so.
Teacher Inquiry
For the past three weeks (week 21 - 23) we have been looking at how you can use research in order to develop evidence-informed practice. For the next five weeks the focus shifts from using research to being a researcher in your own classroom or school setting.
In your practice you are constantly deciding what to do and how to act. You are evaluating and reflecting (either consciously or unconsciously, and often both) on your teaching practice and making judgments on what you should do next. Adopting the stance of teacher-researcher formalises these evaluative and reflective processes. As Wilson (2013) explains:
"Researching our practice presents the opportunity to problem-solve more intelligently, through drawing on existing research findings and by using rigorous methods to collect evidence which helps clarify our thinking. Experiences of participating in an informed way, and acting freshly, offer the teacher for whom teaching has become a routine a sense of freedom, of meaning, of worthiness and consequently increased self-esteem." (Wilson, 2013, p.5)
Concept of teacher as researcher
The concept of the teacher as researcher has long been discussed in academic literature. Schon (1983) developed the concept of the reflective practitioner, while Stenhouse popularised the idea of teachers acting as researchers, believing that ‘educational knowledge exists in, and is verified or falsified in, its performance’ (Stenhouse, 1984, p.110).
Lytle and Cochran-Smith (1992) built upon and extended Schon’s (1983) theory of the reflective practitioner to suggest that teachers also learn and create new knowledge by assuming an inquiry stance within their practice. Teachers conduct inquiry projects into their practice to create knowledge that is applicable and relevant to their teaching context.
The importance of teacher research/inquiry
There are two main themes that dominate discussions of why teacher research is important. The first relates to the importance of teacher-created knowledge for improvement in teaching and learning, and in particular student outcomes. The second centres on the idea of teacher professionalism.
An example of an inquiry project (using quantitative research with pre-tests and post-tests) is shown in the required video Literacy Inquiry Project Presentation . The supplementary video from Christ Wire, Curiosity fuels Creativity, shows an expert opinion on enhancing children’s curiosity with technologies.
Two models of Teacher Inquiry
Teacher inquiry is when teachers inquire into their own practice and use evidence to make decisions about ways to change that practice for the benefit of the student. You may recall we discussed the following two models of Teacher Inquiry in Leadership course (week 15).
Teaching as Inquiry
In Teaching as Inquiry educators investigate the impact of their decisions and practice on students. The Teaching as Inquiry cycle has three iterative stages shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The process of teaching as inquiry (Ministry of Education, 2009)
Teachers describe their experiences implementing Teaching as Inquiry in this video Teaching as inquiry through a blended e-learning lens (required). Another example is the video by Claire Amos on Using teaching as inquiry to guide an eLearning action plan (supplementary).
For more information about Teaching as Inquiry, read the background paper by Aitken (n.d.) (Download from the web page of Ministry of Education) (supplementary) or watch thevideos Graeme Aitken has made on teaching as inquiry.(supplementary). NB his interpretation of Teaching as Inquiry is not quite the same as the model outlined above, and on the rest of the TKI website.
The Spiral of Inquiry
On TKI The Spiral of Inquiry is described as “a fresh rethink on the structure of teaching as inquiry.” (Ministry of Education, 2015). It emphasises involvement of learners, their families and communities and developing learner agency. It states that engaging in inquiry is a process of developing collective professional agency either within a school or across a cluster of schools. The approach is described in Timperley, Kaser & Halbert (2014). Figure 2 shows the stages of spiral of inquiry.
Figure 2: Spiral of inquiry (Ministry of Education, 2015)
"What’s going on for our learners?" and "How do we know?" are key questions that the spiral of inquiry addresses. By observing students (scanning) and finding an area to change (focusing), teachers can use intuition to consider the reasons for the current situation (developing a hunch), then refer to research (learning) to help determine changes needed (taking action). Checking is done during and after any changes have been made: "Have we made enough of a difference?" (Ministry of Education, 2005).
In the video “Narrowing the Gap through Collaborative Inquiry: The Spirals of Enquiry” (required), Judy Halbert provides a brief overview of how the Spiral of Inquiry approach to teacher inquiry into student learning, can provide additional information about this inquiry model. For more information about the spiral of inquiry, read the paper by Timperley, Kaser & Halbert (2014) (supplementary).
Preparing for your second assessment (Teacher Inquiry project plan)
For Assessment 2 you design your own teacher inquiry project. The assessment focuses on your plan for your teacher inquiry project plan, rather than the actual implementation of the plan. (Although we hope some of you might choose to implement your plan later).
In last week’s content we focused on the literature review. This week we outline the steps and stages you will need to go through when developing your own inquiry project.
Steps and stages for developing your inquiry project
Topic area
The first thing you need to do is to decide on your topic area. This will ideally be the topic, or a subset of the topic, that you focused on in your literature review.
You will need to create the research question(s) that will guide your inquiry project. Think about what it is that you want to find out about. Try to be as specific as you can.
You will need to assess the relevance of your project and justify your decision for focusing on this topic. This should include:
- How the literature on your topic supports your area of focus
- Why your topic is particularly relevant to your school setting
- How your topic will support your community
The supplementary video An Introduction to Technology Integration contains nothing you haven't seen (or even done) already, but acts as a reminder that the project plan should still be focused on digital and collaborative learning.
- How might blogging
Topic: How might blogging be used to enhance collaboration/skilled communication?
Define your communities
You need to clearly identify the communities that you will be engaging with in your inquiry. Communities could include students, other teachers and school staff, and/or whanau. You will need to discuss the communities i.e. who are the members and why you have chosen to engage with them. What is the context for the communities?
A key element of your assignment is deciding how you will involve your community (this could be students, other teachers in your school, whanau etc.) in the planning and implementation of your project. Community engagement can include informing your community about your project, seeking feedback about your project during the planning stages as well as throughout its implementation, and sharing the findings of your project with them.
Exemplars
The required materials this week are the assignment exemplars from previous students (which we have shared with their permission). As well as being examples of high quality work, we have chosen these contrasting exemplars to remind you that the format of this assignment is up to you.
Please note that the assignment specification has changed a little since these were submitted, so your own emphasis may be somewhat different.
References
Aitken, G. (n.d.).The inquiring teacher: Clarifying the concept of teaching effectiveness.
Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/content/download/4823/38977/file/background-paper-the-inquiring-teacher.pdf
Aitken, G. & Sinnema, C. (2008). Effective Pedagogy in Social Sciences: Tikanga ā Iwi: BES. Wellington: Ministry of Education.
Barker, L., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (2016). Research Methods in Clinical Psychology An Introduction for Students and Practitioners. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
Lytle, S. & Cochran-Smith, M. (1992). Teacher Research as a Way of Knowing. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 447-474.
Ministry of Education. (2009). Teachers as learners: Improving outcomes for Māori and Pasifika students through inquiry.
Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Case-studies/Teachers-as-learners-Inquiry
Peters, T. & Irish, J. (n.d.). Introduction to Survey Research Methods. Retrieved from http://hms.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/assets/...
Ministry of Education. (2015). Before You Start.
Schon, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishers.
Stenhouse, L. (1984). Artistry and Teaching: the Teachers as Focus of Research and Development. In D. Hopkins and M. Wideen (Eds.), Alternative Perspectives on School Improvement (pp. 67-76). Lewes and Philadelphia: Falmer Press.
Wilson, E. (2013). School-based Research: A guide for education students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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