Implementing Practical Action Research: A Model for Teacher-Researchers and Collaborative Improvement
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Implementing Practical Action Research
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A Model for Teacher-Researchers and Collaborative Improvement
Educators want to research issues in their local classrooms so that they can improve their students’ learning or their own professional practice. Educators can also team with students, counsellors and administrators to conduct action research on issues of common concern, such as rising school violence. In the case of action research, educators attempt to improve educational practice through the study of a particular local problem. This kind of action research is referred to as practical action research, and its purpose it to research a particular school context with the intention of improving practice (Schmuck, 1997). Practical action research is done on a small scale, specifically as a response to an identified problem or issue, conducted by individual teachers or teams within a school or school district. these:
◆ An elementary teacher studies the disruptive behaviour of a child in her classroom.
◆ A team composed of students, teachers, and parents studies the results of implementing a new math program in junior high.
◆ A community college instructor studies his professional development using technology in teaching.
In all of these instances, action research targets the identification of improvements of specific issues in context. It argues for educators to engage teachers in research around topics of concern in their own schools or classrooms, and to include councils or committees at the site level that result in an enhancement of research as a key component of a daily class or education. In this vein, educators can trial their own theories and explanations regarding learning while exploring the impact of their practice on students and the effect of the mathematics instruction on parents, colleagues, and administrators in their school.
One limitation of this approach is that while teachers are interested in improving their instructional practices, they are often limited in time to effectively engage in their own research. Even a competent teacher who fully embraces teaching students may not have to create themselves as researchers. Graduate classes do offer teachers an opportunity to develop or refresh this inquiry skills needed in an action research project.
To comprehend practical action research, it is beneficial to reflect on its key ideas or principles. In Mills’ (2011) reference, a cluster of principles which reference teachers’ assumptions as learners, reflective practitioners, and potentially small-scale researchers:
◆ Teachers as researchers have the authority as decision-makers to use their inquiry into an educational practice as part of their own ongoing professional learning;
◆ Teacher-researchers are committed to continued professional learning and learning about school development, which is a fundamental assumption for any teacher who decides to participate in action research.
◆ Teacher-researchers are willing to engage in practices of reflection. They reflect so they can improve their practices and do so either as individuals or within context, particularly school-based teams, with students, teachers, and administrators.
◆ Teacher-researchers use a systematic approach for reflection in their actions, meaning they use identifiable procedures to study their own problems of practice and do not randomly observe or study practice.
◆ Teacher-researchers will select areas of focus, select data collection techniques, analyse and interpret data, and develop action plans, which speaks to the nature of research.
In the literature on action research, there are practical books that stipulate the steps a teacher or educator might take to undertake a study. Mills (2011), for example, describes several of these models and then puts forward his own, which acts as the common thread throughout the chapters of his book. He calls this model the dialectic action research spiral.
What steps are involved in the dialectic action research spiral model proposed by Mills?
Mills clarifies that it is a model for teachers to study themselves and not a process of undertaking research with teachers. It is called a “spiral” because it includes four phases where investigators can go back and forth between data collection and the focus, and data collection, analysis, and interpretation. In this procedure, the teacher-researcher identifies an area of focus, and this process entails clarifying the area of focus, conducting reconnaissance (the self-reflection and description), reading the literature, and writing an action research plan to guide the research.
Then, the teacher/researcher collects data from multiple data sources (quantitative and qualitative) and multiple inquiry tools (e.g., interviews, questionnaires, attitude scales). Data collection also includes validity, reliability, and ethical considerations (i.e., provisions for informed consent from participants). The action-researcher follows data collection with analysis and interpretation, including determining themes, coding surveys, interviews, and questionnaires, formulating key questions, examining organisational structure, engaging in concept mapping (i.e., visualize relationships of ideas), exploring antecedents and consequences, and displaying findings. Interpretation extends analysis, includes generating questions, connecting findings to personal experiences, collaborating with critical friends, and discussing literature and theory.
In the final phase, the teacher–researcher completes an action plan, which includes a summary of findings, recommendations for action, and who is responsible for taking the action, who is to be consulted, and who is to be informed. The plan also identifies who will monitor and collect data, the time frame for data collection, and what resources will be required to implement the action.
In sum, this process embodies a practical action research process that values studying a local problem, inquiry by either an individual teacher (teacher-as-researcher) or a collaborative team, and teacher development. We can turn to the example of a real study to clarify this practical action research process.
How was practical action research implemented in the real-life example of Hughes’ study?
Hughes (1999) was a fourth-grade instructor in a small, rural suburb K-8 8 school district. She began by explaining her classroom and described how there was no in-class support for high-ability students in her classroom. The gifted students were pulled out of her classroom every day during math instruction to work on a special science project. Considering this fact, Hughes wondered if she was truly meeting the needs of the high-ability students and began an action research project. Below are the steps she followed in her research: First, she reviewed the literature that had been published on her topic (i.e., pull-out gifted programs, inclusion of gifted students in the classroom, needs of the gifted, etc.). Second, she interviewed colleagues from her own school and neighbouring elementary schools for their insights.
The team first rapidly reviewed the data so that they would have a clear idea of the data, and then categorised all of the data into four themes about how to integrate gifted children into the class (in-class flexible groups, differentiated instruction, enrichment, and acceleration). She then developed these themes into four main activities for the teacher to implement in the classroom. She then took her findings and created an action plan, which consisted of specific activities (e.g., continue to self-evaluate and find ways to include differentiated instruction and assessment in the classroom). She discussed her findings with others, to “make a difference on a larger scale” (Hughes, 1999, p. 295). This included discussing her study with other fourth-grade teachers, her principal, and a district committee.
The team first rapidly reviewed the data so that they would have a clear idea of the data, and then categorised all of the data into four themes about how to integrate gifted children into the class (in-class flexible groups, differentiated instruction, enrichment, and acceleration). She then developed these themes into four main activities for the teacher to implement in the classroom. She then took her findings and created an action plan, which consisted of specific activities (e.g., continue to self-evaluate and find ways to include differentiated instruction and assessment in the classroom). She discussed her findings with others, to “make a difference on a larger scale” (Hughes, 1999, p. 295). This included discussing her study with other fourth-grade teachers, her principal, and a distinct committee.
References
- Schmuck, R. A. (1997). Practical action research for change. Arlington
Heights, IL: IRI/SkyLight Training and Publishing.
- Mills, G. E. (2011). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher(with MyEducationLab). (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/ Allyn & Bacon.
- Hughes, L. (1999). Action research and practical inquiry: How can I meet the needs of the high-ability student within my regular educational classroom? Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 22, 282–297.