Classroom Research

Classroom Research

1. Classroom research, definition

   • Classroom-based research is a teacher-driven activity that aims to find out what works best in our classrooms, so that we might improve our practice, and make learning more effective for the benefit of our students.

2. The research process

   • Finding a research topic: The first step is to decide the topic which you want to study depending on your professional development goals, and also, depending on your students' needs.
   • Defining a research questions: You need to formalize it into a research questions, that summarizing what you are interested in finding out and they need to be answerable and focused.
   • Thinking about pedagogical utility: It about the impact it might have on teaching practice. Do the list with all the people who might be affected and describe the goals that you expect about the project.
   • General data: Once the research questions for the project has been decided and approved, data collection will begin to help answer the question. To do this you need to decide on the source of information and the method of data collections( interviews, test,etc)
   • Analyzing data: The quantitative form can compare data from different groups more accurately and is represented by graphs, such as diagrams or pie charts.
   • Sharing findings: It is good practice to share results because they may be relevant to other teacher or students trought conferences, blogs,articles or professional journals.

3. Thinking about ethics

   • Classroom-based research projects are motivated by a desire to improve educational outcomes for learners. They are not burdened by many of the usual ethicla complications associated with classroom-based research.
   • Basic principles, Obtaining consent, Reciprocity and incentives, Anonymity and confidentiality

4. Benefits of doing classroom-based research

   • 1.We can use the findings of our research projects to inform our teaching decisions. 2. Help you find solutions to particular problems arising in your clasroom or school.
     • 3. Classroom-based research can help us to become better teachers on the long. 4. Classroom-based research can help to stregthen collaboration among teachers.
   • Challenging assumptions: 1.Grounding in the literature. 2.Making a contribution to knowledge. 3.Resources and time. 4.The research process

5. Types of classroom-based research

   • Actions research: It is aims to understand, improve, and reform practice. Some of the areas in which action research has been applied are: teaching methods, learning strategies, assessment produres, continuing professional development,etc.
   • Exploratory practice: Aform of classroom research that aims to develop the understanding and well-being of teachers and students by focusing on issues that are relevant to their teaching and learning.