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.
