ASU MNS degree: policy & procedure for action research
2006-2008
Written by M. Colleen Megowan-Romanowicz, Ph.D. (Leadership
Workshop instructor), Jane Jackson, Ph.D. (MNS co-director), and Robert
Culbertson, Ph.D. (MNS degree program director), with suggestions and web
resources by John Crookston and other teachers in the MNS degree program.
Updated in April 2008
Action
research in one's classroom is systematic, reflective research aimed at moving
one's teaching practice in the direction of one's educational values. The MNS
degree requirement of an action research project for PHS 593: Applied
Project promotes this goal, which
complements the primary goals of the MNS program of improving teacher
competency in content and pedagogy.
Action
Research (AR) teams consist of 2 to 4 members. (All AR team members who are not enrolled in the ASU MNS
degree program must be approved by the director of the MNS program.)
Action
Research projects earn a maximum of 3 graduate credits. The Arizona Board of
Regents policy is that a student complete a minimum of 45 hours of work for
each semester hour of credit.
At minimum, a
teacher enrolls in the 1-credit Leadership Workshop, does his/her action
research in the academic year, earns 2 or 3 credits the following summer, and
presents in that summer.
MNS
action research projects have focused on designing and field-testing
model-based curriculum, improving classroom management skills, and improving
practices used in the modeling approach.
AR should use results of physics education research (PER), particularly
as applied to modeling instruction; consult the MNS program director and/or PER
faculty for help.
The ASU
Graduate College requires that a student be enrolled in at least one ASU credit
in the summer session in which he/she does the oral presentation/colloquium.
For
teachers who are doing quantitative research, the ASU online course COE 502:
Intro to Data Analysis (3 credits) is recommended, before doing statistics. It
is held only in first summer session, as of 2008.
-----------------------
An
alternative course of action, suggested only for teachers who have strong
physics content background and intend to pursue a doctorate, is for teachers to
follow a two-year cycle; this allows for more meaningful AR that will prepare
them for self-initiated classroom action research to improve their teaching
practice during their entire teaching career. Teachers enroll in the one-credit
Leadership Workshop in the first year of their degree program, take a
recommended online graduate course on action research during the next academic
year (and do a pilot project as required by that course), take the Leadership
Workshop again in their second summer, and then do their action research,
following the procedure below. (Credits earned for the online course are
included in the maximum of six semester hours from another institution that the
ASU Graduate College allows to transfer to the MNS degree program, along with
three ASU credits taken as a nondegree graduate student.) A two-year project
highlights the cyclic nature of AR and exposes teachers to the value of doing
multiyear research cycles to improve instruction.
The
following two links might be possible for students who elect to engage in
online AR courses. The NTEN course is normally open only to teachers in the
NTEN master's degree program; seek permission from NTEN on a 'space available'
basis. We have no experience with the other course.
Action Research in the Classroom
National Teachers Enhancement Network: Course Description
Before
taking either course, please download the syllabus and e-mail it to the ASU MNS
degree program coordinator or your MNS committee chairman, and ask to have a
written guarantee from the ASU Graduate College that it will be accepted as a
transfer course for your MNS degree.
---------------------
Action research procedure
1.
Submission of AR proposal:
During
the summer, while taking the Leadership Workshop, AR Teams submit a research
proposal for approval to the Leadership Workshop instructor, who in turn
submits these proposals for approval to the MNS degree program director. AR teams are notified within two weeks
of submission whether or not the proposed research project has been approved.
An AR
proposal must include the following information:
Rationale
Research question
Review of relevant literature
Research plan (method, proposed timeline)
Data analysis plan
Supervisory committee names
Completed Human Subjects Approval Application with
appendices
An AR
proposal may be approved as is, approved with minor revisions, returned with
recommendations for changes prior to resubmission, or rejected.
2.
Submission of Human Subjects application.
For
most research projects, the team is required to submit an application to the
ASU Institutional Review Board for human subjects research. The Leadership
Workshop instructor advises on this.
3. Academic year responsibilities:
After
their AR proposal is approved, each member of the AR team must send a monthly
progress report to their MNS committee chairperson(s). These reports should include a summary
of the progress of the team and an indication of hours logged during the
previous month. (A sample log spreadsheet is available from the Leadership
Workshop instructor.) This progress report should be acknowledged promptly by
the committee chairperson.
(Remember that
when logging research hours, teaching time typically does not count; nor do
proposal preparation hours that occurred during the Leadership Workshop
course.)
4.
Registering for 2 or 3 credits of PHS 593: Applied Project, for summer session:
AR team
members are asked to have their time logs approved by the MNS degree program
director (or his designee) before members of the team register for credit.
Since ASU spring semester ends by May 15 (and faculty leave), members of AR
teams are asked to seek approval by mid-April, for courtesy to busy ASU
faculty.
5. Writing the final report:
When
the research project is complete, the AR team must prepare a comprehensive
written final report for the AR team members’ committee(s). The report should include (but is not
limited to) the following:
Abstract
Introduction and Research Question
Literature Review and Theoretical Perspective
Method
Data
Analysis
Conclusions
Implications for instruction
Implications for further research
Bibliography
Appendices
Documentation of time spent on project by each member of
the team
Samples
of completed action research reports are on the password-protected
"Participants Resources" and the “Resources for the modeling
classroom” pages of http://modeling.asu.edu.
6.Preparing
for the oral presentation/colloquium:
The
team are asked to schedule the colloquium at which they will present their
findings at least two weeks prior to the date the colloquium is
scheduled. Unless otherwise directed, schedule it with the Leadership
Workshop instructor.
The
completed AR report must be in the hands of each of the three committee members
at least seven days prior to the date of the colloquium. It is
recommended that team members meet with their MNS committee chair to verify
their readiness to proceed before scheduling a colloquium.
Prepare
the form from the ASU Graduate College. Bring it to the colloquium. Invite the
committee members to the colloquium.
Prepare
flyers several days in advance and distribute to teachers in the summer
program, to the MNS degree program director and co-director, for advertisement
in the Department of Physics and on the statewide listserv for physics and
chemistry instructors.
7.
Giving the oral presentation/colloquium:
A team
gives a PowerPoint presentation lasting one hour. All team members
participate, as equally as possible.
After
the talk, committee members consult on whether to accept the presentation or
require additional work, etc., and what grade to give each team member for PHS
593. If the presentation is
accepted, they will sign the form from the ASU Graduate College.
The
team is asked to e-mail their PowerPoint presentation and written report to the
MNS program director (or his designee) for possible posting on the Modeling
Instruction website.
Checklist for AR team
_____AR
team of 2-4 members is formed (July)
_____if
AR team has members who are not enrolled in ASU’s MNS degree program, the
MNS program director has approved their membership
_____completed
AR proposal submitted to Leadership Workshop instructor (July)
_____AR
proposal approved by MNS degree program director (July)
_____
Human Subjects Application submitted to ASU Institutional Review Board
_____
Human Subjects Approval received from ASU Institutional Review Board
_____monthly
progress reports submitted to committee chair with time logs (You may not
include teaching hours or proposal preparation hours that occurred during your
Leadership Workshop course except in exceptional circumstances and with prior
written approval of your committee chair and the MNS degree program director.)
_____time logs submitted to MNS degree program director (or his designee) (by April 15)
_____time logs approved by MNS degree program director (or his designee)
_____register for 2 or 3 graduate credits, normally for first summer session (by Memorial Day)
_____permission to present findings secured from MNS committee chair
_____colloquium scheduled with Leadership Workshop instructor (2 weeks prior)
_____AR report submitted to committee members (7 days prior)
_____Graduate College form completed
_____colloquium complete
Resources on action research
The following list of links provides an overview and primer on classroom action research.
Classroom Action Research Home Page
Final Report to Spencer Foundation
An Introduction to Action Research
Improving Teaching through Classroom Action Research
Teacher Research: Action research
http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/themes_ed/act_research.pdf
AR Expeditions - Action Research Journal
http://www.usc.edu/programs/cst/tls/private/curricular_grants/CARaction_research.pdf
Action Research - Introduction
Teacher Research (Action Research Resources)
http://www.casas.org/22R&D/OAR Reflections 1998.pdf
PBL Insight, Vol. 5 No. 2., Samford University
JITE Volume 40, Number 1 - Klaus Schmidt
Examples of action research courses at colleges are these.
http://www.tcnj.edu/~graduate/documents/RTCOverviewApr3.pdf
Doing Teacher-Research: A Handbook for Perplexed Practitioners
W.M. Roth, Applied Cognitive
Science, University of Victoria, Canada
There are many teachers who think about doing research in their own classes and schools but who are perplexed by what appears to be involved. This book is intended for these perplexed practitioners, to provide them with an easily understandable narrative about the concrete praxis of doing research in their classrooms or in those of their teacher peers teaching next door or in the same school. The fundamental idea underlying this book is to provide an easily accessible but nevertheless intellectually honest text that allows teachers to increase their agency with respect to better understanding their praxis and the events in their classrooms by means of research.