Week A: Teacher As Researcher - INDIVIDUAL

Classroom Action Research Goal & Rubric (Weeks 4,7,10,13)

Goal: To conduct action research as a way to identify how classroom activities can help students develop science concepts.

Assignment: You are one of the best sources of information about what is happening in your classroom. Far from being “tainted” by your involvement, the new action research paradigm recognizes the unique and valuable perspective of the practitioner who can thoughtfully reflect on classroom events.

In Week A: Teacher As Researcher, you will observe what you and your students do during an activity. To watch or hear yourself and your students consider videotaping or audio recording the class or record the class. Jot down notes about what is happening. If possible, ask a colleague to observe the class. Use the key questions below to help you reflect on how, what, and why students are learning.

  • How does the activity draw out what students already know and are able to do?
  • How does the activity help students rethink and reexamine what they think they know?
  • How is evidence of student learning generated during and after the activity?

Learning by doing is enhanced by reflecting on the experience. When you think about thinking, sometimes called metacognition, you consolidate what you have learned. You have seen this process often enough with your students. When they have to teach other students or present to an audience, they take on the role of “the other,” considering the needs, interests, and background of who they are trying to teach. That role helps them to objectify their knowledge—to get it outside of themselves and examine it from the point of view of learner. In the process, they clarify what they know, discover what they do not know and question some of what they thought they knew.

As long as knowledge is unexamined, people think it is accurate because it is part of them. However, when they scrutinize knowledge, they begin to think about its validity, reliability, and value. This reflection leads to knowing what they do not know and wanting to know more.

Remember to post what you observe in your classroom to the Teacher as Researcher Discussion space.

Submit your description of your classroom research to your Portfolio in the Classroom and rate it using the rubric below.

Rubric
 You and your facilitator will use the rubric below to gauge your success in doing action research.

Observations: Report on your students’ actions during the sphere activity you conducted.
4 Rating:
Describes students’ actions and conversations in relationship to the parts of the activity. 		3 Rating:
Describes students’ actions and conversations. 		2 Rating:
Describes the activity and what students did. 		1 Rating:
Conducts an activity with students.
Reflections: Post your reflections to the three key questions.
4 Rating:
Makes inferences and asks additional questions based on observations. 		3 Rating:
Relates to other experiences and activities as well as observations. 		2 Rating:
Makes inferences based on observations. 		1 Rating:
Answers the reflection questions.
Analysis: Suggest criteria for effective concept-building activities.
4 Rating:
Suggests criteria based on personal experience or logic about the evidence from the observations.		 3 Rating:
Suggests criteria based on personal experience or logic. 		2 Rating:
Suggests criteria with a brief explanation. 		1 Rating:
Suggests criteria.

 

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