Katha 2014: Science Track-Facilitating Change through Action Research

Minutes of the Workshop Transcribed. Speaker Dr. Maricar Prudente

KATHA 2014 Batch 2: Day 10

Science Track: Facilitating Change through Action Research

Dr. Maricar Prudente

Science Education Department

De La Salle University-Manila

October 4, 2014

Minutes of the Workshop

1. Introduction. The speaker first introduced the importance of action research not just for the sake of doing it but for the sake of making a difference in their students’ learning. She also emphasized about facilitating change that leads to new knowledge, which will also eventually lead to change in teaching the course for the students. It is a research that attempts to embed action and change in the actual research process.

 

2. Action Research. Research generates knowledge to 1) build broader knowledge, which entails a basic or pure research 2) pave way for change through applied or evaluative research 3) action change within a system 4) emancipate through action and 5) expose and change the dominate system through critical or radical ethnography. The speaker also discussed about the credibility of one’s work of action research which should be change oriented. She further explained that action research paves way for change and is often linked to policy or program development, which includes studies that 1) investigate a problem situation 2) assess potential interventions and 3) evaluate change initiatives. Action research is not limited to teaching, rather to other professions because it is a practical approach that is of particular relevance. It covers a variety of strategies that is dedicated to integrated production of knowledge. It is also cyclical where the teacher should not stop in one action, but rather keep abreast of the changes in the environment and with the influx of new information for learning. Action research should be the essential tool for basic education, the speaker added. She also said that action research is to improve a teacher’s practice of teaching and reflecting on their current methods. The teacher’s concern should be on teaching practices and the student’s learning processes. The ultimate goal for action research of the teacher is the student’s learning, where high scores in NAT, greater participation of students and mastery of the skills would eventually follow. This entails good teaching, the speaker emphasized. She said that the teachers themselves know best the nature of their students if they are effective and good teachers. This entails that the teachers would change their techniques and create new approaches that would engage their students to learning.

3. How does this qualify to Research. Action research requires the same rigor, systematic research process, and reflects a professional development. This also qualifies as a research because it is an act that would make the teachers understand their methods of teaching better. It is also the act of finding the teachers’ solution makes them understand their practice better. Practice in this case means the way the teachers teach and carry out their professional action. It is an avenue to the teachers’ reflection with their own practices and professional actions to improve student learning. The speaker then asked the teachers to reflect on their own teaching practices if they have improved on their professional actions and emphasized that it should be a way of looking at their role in the world that would drive them to do better in their profession.

4. Professional Knowledge Makers. The speaker also discussed that teachers, through action research enhance their professional development, where they understand their own practice, how to make them better, how to accommodate outside change in their practice and how to change the outside to make their practice better that would affect their students’ learning. It is about enacting a practice that the teacher should understand based on their students’ needs. She emphasized that the teacher should not follow the cookbook style of teaching lessons to students but rather catering to the students’ learning needs.

5. Action Research at Work. Action research involves four acts: 1) observe 2) reflect 3) plan and 4) act. It can also be worked out through the following process: 1) identifying a classroom problem 2) developing and implementing an action research plan by conducting a strategy to address the classroom problem 3) collecting and analyzing data and while conducting the strategy 4) using and sharing the results, where dissemination is an essential part of the research. The speaker gave a specific example of an action research plan about how a science teacher changes her strategy to engage her students more to ask questions and explore on the lesson in the classroom.

6. Limitations of Action Research. The speaker asked the teachers what may be the problems that would arise with the use of action research. One teacher raised that the consistency of the action research may be a problem but the speaker said constant examination of the strategy should be required. Another teacher raised the familiarity and the knowledge of action research. The problem is that superintendents don’t exactly know how to do action research and so do not encourage such action plan to their teachers. She emphasized that action research is classroom-based and encouraged the teachers to do action research and pointed out that the teachers often do not go out of their comfort zone of teaching and not changing their strategies in teaching to engage their students more. They should focus more on how to teach and how to make their students learn. A teacher shared his problem on discussing the most difficult topic in his subject and the speaker suggested a process of action research that would make the students more engaging on the topic. The teacher should conduct the action plan and document it so that they can see the development of their action research.

7. Individual or Collaborative Work. Use of different strategies through individual or collaborative works may be used, more on collaborative strategies, the speaker emphasized, so that there would be sharing of results and discussions to formulate conclusions based on their data. Collaborative work also leads to the teachers’ reflection and comparison of their own work with other teachers’ works. Factors that may help collaboration include the teachers’ professional desire to improve on their teaching strategies instead of competing with other teachers. However time management may also be a problem but this may be given a solution if the teachers know what to do, the speaker added.

8. Methods in Action Research. There is a need to employ triangulation in action research, which includes 1) observation of interactions of the students’ work in the classroom 2) analysis of children’s work and 3) interview with the children. The question now is how to employ these action plan, where considerations include questions such as 1) does the method give a form of data which relates to my question? 2) is it feasible in the available time? 3) have the teacher made himself aware of its strengths and limitations of the methodology? 4) will it be an acceptable method for the other people involved? and 5) will it disrupt normal routines?

Barret and Whitehead (1985) proposed six questions on the methods of action research, which includes 1) what is the teacher’s concern? 2) why is he concerned? 3) what does he think he could do about it? 4) what kind of evidence could he collect to help him make some judgment about what is happening? 5) how does he collect such evidence? and 6) how would he check that his judgment about what has happened is reasonable, fair and accurate?

 

9. Beginning of Action Research Process. The speaker gave the teachers an activity about investigating and identifying classroom concerns, their method of collecting information and sources of data and how to focus their instruction method in teaching. The speaker emphasized that the teacher should focus only a classroom problem and should be feasible and should not disrupt normal routines. The speaker called on three volunteers to discuss their answers and their co-participants and the speaker commented on their works. One teacher shared that one of his classroom concerns is how to motivate his students to ask questions. The speaker said that the teacher’s problem is on student inquiry and suggested action plan solutions for his dilemma. Another shared the low and passive participation of the students in his class. Effective strategies that should be employed include identifying indicators on how students participate in class, the speaker suggested. Finally another teacher shared a similar concern on the active participation of her students in the classroom. The speaker suggested classroom observation and making a checklist, a corresponding tool for evaluating strategies on how to make the students more active in participating in class.

10. Identifying the Classroom Problem. The teachers must first observe their class and identify their problem statement. The speaker then gave a second activity on identifying classroom problem by specifically describing who is affected, supported causes of the problem, the goal for improvement and what might be done about the problem.