CET785-Assignment 1

(Chris Dede Lecture and Action Research)

Sandy Nightingale

As Chris Dede stated, “Research is only valuable if it has a practical use.”

Action Research provides a systematic method through which classroom

teachers can be brought into the research process by problem identification,

action planning, implementation, evaluation, and reflection. This

encourages teachers to be collaborators in revising curriculum, improving

their work environment, professionalizing teaching, and developing policy.

Action research has a very practical use in improving education by

introducing innovations in teaching and learning. Kolb (1984) described the

action research cycle as “a learning process, whereby people learn and create

knowledge by critically reflecting upon their own actions and experiences,

forming abstract concepts, and testing implications of these concepts in new

situations. Practitioners can create their own knowledge and understanding

of a situation and act upon it, thereby improving practice and advancing

knowledge in the field.”

According to John Elliott, “ Teacher action research is concerned with the

everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the

‘theoretical problems’ defined by pure researchers within a discipline of

knowledge.” (Elliott, cited in Nixon, 1987) “Research is designed,

conducted, and implemented by the teachers themselves to improve teaching

in their own classrooms, sometimes becoming a staff development project in

which teachers establish expertise in curriculum and reflective teaching.”

Action research can be used as an evaluative tool to aid in school

restructuring. School are held accountable for policies and practices they

implement, and action research provides documentation and evaluation of

these policies and practices. Action research helps to make teachers more

aware of the options and possibilities for change.