Research Template

Action Research Inquiry: In what way(s) would the implementation of student derived illustrations and models, based on the objectives outlined by the biology curriculum, enhance student achievement and how would such an initiative affect the academic advancement of economically disadvantaged students.
Goals :
To increase the comprehension and academic success of economically disadvantaged students within the biology curriculum.
Objectives:
To determine whether or not the implementation student created illustrations and models into the biology curriculum increases student comprehension of state mandated objectives.
Activities:
1. Students will take a pre-course assessment to establish a baseline in which to evaluate student knowledge of subject matter.
2. Students will create illustrations / models that relate directly to units/objectives predetermined by the state/school district curriculum.
3. Students will take a post-course assessment (identical to the pre-course assessment) to evaluate progress
Resources and Research Tools:
1. District/State Biology course objectives
2. TAKS results to determine student prior achievement levels
3. Demographic information to determine student that are characterized as economically disadvantaged
Draft Timeline:
1. Aug. 23 – 27, 2010 (First week of school) – administer pre-course assessment
2. Aug – Dec 2010 – administer illustration/models assignments to experimental group
3. Dec. 14-17, 2010 – (Last week of fall semester) – administer post-course assessment
4. Jan. 2011 – collect and analyze data from pre-test / post-test scores
5. Feb. 2011 – Finalize research findings and determine effectiveness of research inquiry
Persons Responsible:
Kevin Pitts – Science Department Chair/Biology Teacher – China Spring High School
Process for Monitoring Progress:
I will compare pre-test data to that of the post-test scores to determine whether or not those exposed to the initiative had an increase in comprehension and knowledge of the biology objectives. I will also, throughout the semester, compare and contrast the academic achievement (6 wks grades) of those students involved in the research to see if there has been any significant change.
Assessment Instrument to Evaluate Effectiveness:
The post-test assessment will be the primary instrument used to evaluate the effectiveness of this inquiry. Giving the students the same assessment should determine whether or not there has been effective learning and by isolating a control group, I should be able to determine whether the implementation of the new initiative is effective.

Action Research - Week 2

The second week of the research class has been very informative. During the readings and viewing of the videos, I began to see the importance of action research in the education process. The fact that teachers and administrators can research and solve problems they may be experiencing is necessary for schools to grow. The old way of waiting for research to come from university studies is no longer effective. Each school and its problems are unique and a theory of how to fix a certain problem might not fit that school's situation. The process of "questioning" what your doing and finding better ways to serve your faculty and students should be required by all administrators. Sitting back and waiting for other researchers to bring you the answers is not a responsible way for an effective principal to operate. The discussion board has been awesome because you get to see the topics that other educators find important to "their" situation and how they plan on investigating ways to help their school. I look forward to reading about how others find answers to their problems - you never know, at sometime in you career you might be challenged by the same issues.

Action Research

The assignment for the first week of the research class has introduced me to the concept of action reseach. I have found this very interesting because it shows you how to grow as an administrator and learner by constantly questioning the practices or methods you have used in the past. This questioning allows you to determine whether or not your what you've been doing is actually effective. I also learned about how this type of research differs from what is usually termed as "traditional" research. Traditional research is conducted by university studies and by people that don't have actual experience with the implementation of these practices. Action research provides data from hands on experience, collected while actually "doing" the job - not from reading spreadsheets, charts and graphs and making assumptions of what if right for every situation. Traditional research is great for advancement in studies for teachers and administrators, but action research is more beneficial at the campus level. There are a multitude of circumstances that can't be taken into account when implementing a practice or model that is completly based on university studies. Not every school or learning environment is the same. I feel that the action research concept allows for administrators/teachers to use information from traditional research and develop their own practices after evalutating the effectiveness of those actions within their own schools.

I have also been introduced to blogging. I can definitely see the advantages of this as a way for educators to collaborate on many topics. Blogging can also be used as a type of journal, in which one could post thoughts and later use those postings as a way to reflect on what practices you may have used in the past. Blogging allows you to post your thoughts and concerns about many different issues. This can be greatly beneficial because you might gain insight from others with prior experiences in the areas in which you have concerns. .