This document provides an introduction to action research for teachers. It discusses key concepts of action research including that it is focused on improving practice, owned by teachers, involves systematically examining evidence to produce knowledge about what works in a particular context. It also notes action research is collaborative and aims to problem-pose rather than problem-solve. The document provides some examples of action research questions and models, including describing a problem, intervention, data collection and understanding if the intervention is successful. It aims to give teachers an overview of action research and how it can be applied to improve teaching practices.

1. INTRODUCTION
TO
ACTION
RESEARCH
Robert Hattam
University of South Australia

2. What’s action
research?
What’s a good
research
question?
What data?

3. Preamble

4. • gap between the intended, enacted and real curriculum
• the significant issues need problem-posing not problem-
solving

5. • gap between the intended, enacted and real curriculum
• the significant issues need problem-posing not problem-
solving
• school change is messy: requires an integration of
restructuring, reculturing, changing pedagogy
• schools are very pragmatic and mostly interested in
improving practice

6. • gap between the intended, enacted and real curriculum
• the significant issues need problem-posing not problem-
solving
• school change is messy: requires an integration of
restructuring, reculturing, changing pedagogy
• schools are very pragmatic and mostly interested in
improving practice
• being reflective requires effort and conducive conditions
• we’re all theorists
• life in schools involves difficult to resolve dilemmas
• schools do have some autonomy

7. • gap between the intended, enacted and real curriculum
• the significant issues need problem-posing not problem-
solving
• school change is messy: requires an integration of
restructuring, reculturing, changing pedagogy
• schools are very pragmatic and mostly interested in
improving practice
• being reflective requires effort and conducive conditions
• we’re all theorists
• life in schools involves difficult to resolve dilemmas
• schools do have some autonomy
• teachers are the key to reform efforts
• leadership is essential in all of the above

8. • gap between the intended, enacted and real curriculum
• the significant issues need problem-posing not problem-
solving
• school change is messy: requires an integration of
restructuring, reculturing, changing pedagogy
• schools are very pragmatic and mostly interested in
improving practice
• being reflective requires effort and conducive conditions
• we’re all theorists
• life in schools involves difficult to resolve dilemmas
• schools do have some autonomy
• teachers are the key to reform efforts
• leadership is essential in all of the above

9. Definition

10. • focused on improving practice
• owned by teachers / the school

11. • focused on improving practice
• owned by teachers / the school
• systematic examination involving
collection and analysis of evidence/data
• producing your own knowledge about
what works in your context

12. • focused on improving practice
• owned by teachers / the school
• systematic examination involving
collection and analysis of evidence/data
• producing your own knowledge about
what works in your context
• collaborative & professional community
building
• problem-posing not problem solving

13. • focused on improving practice
• owned by teachers / the school
• systematic examination involving
collection and analysis of evidence/data
• producing your own knowledge about
what works in your context
• collaborative & professional community
building
• problem-posing not problem solving
• making the ordinary ‘extra-ordinary’
• committed to making the situation more
just

14. • focused on improving practice
• owned by teachers / the school
• systematic examination involving
collection and analysis of evidence/data
• producing your own knowledge about
what works in your context
• collaborative & professional community
building
• problem-posing not problem solving
• making the ordinary ‘extra-ordinary’
• committed to making the situation more
just

15. SOME
MODELS

19. PROBLEM INTERVENTION
Something’s not working for
some kids’ learning
What’s going on here?
(description)
How do we know there’s a
problem/issue? (evidence)
How do we understand the
situation? (theory)
What’s being accomplished?
(evidence)
How do we know things are
improving?
What will I look for in classroom
life to see success for this
intervention?

20. What’s a good research question?
• defined the ‘problem’
• you don’t know the answer
• linked to improving practice
• leads to a richer description
• focuses on what’s being
accomplished

21. • How do I maintain positive relationships
and demand high intellectual challenge?
• How can connect up the content that I
need to cover with the lifeworlds of my
students (ie make it relevant)?
• What’s the hook that will engage my
students in worthwhile learning?
• How can I design challenging learning
tasks that would enable ‘authentic’
learning/assessment (eg roundtables, etc)
• How do I work with the student who causes
me the most ‘trouble’?

23. What data?
What happens in teaching/learning events
• Student understandings
• Teacher understandings
• Student artefacts
• What happens in teaching/learning
events
• Curriculum and assessment plans

27. Key Idea
State the pedagogical challenge that you are working with in your
teaching and have a go at stating an idea that has the potential to
improve things.
The challenge
Struggling with getting students engaging fully
They resist it when I set challenging tasks?
Lots of my students aren’t being successful in my class?
Idea with potential
Problem-based learning .. Please elaborate on this …
Need to set harder tasks …
Strong connectedness …

28. From diet to global food production:
Developing critical thinking
Many in our wider community are overweight. Many of
our young people have diets that are neither wholesome
nor healthy. Many students are not engaged in their
learning. By connecting students’ learning to their life-
worlds, I aimed to change this.
For a trans-disciplinary Science unit based on the film
"Super Size Me", I developed student-centred learning
activities around dietary habits and global food issues to
encourage students to become more critical about their
diet and as citizens.
The students worked independently and collaboratively,
undertaking roles as researchers, interviewers and data
collectors. Students took control of their learning and
enhanced their organisational skills.

29. Clay animations as a method of engaging students in
literacy rich tasks in Art and exploring student
lifeworld issues
As an Art teacher I struggle with how to make theory and
practical work more relevant to students and their
community, as well as improve their literacy levels. I
designed a unit of work to encompass literacy rich tasks
essential to the production of practical products. The
students were asked to identify lifeworld issues and
produce clay animations (Wallace and Grommet style)
using web cameras and computers. I set up a group
work environment with multi-layered essential literacy
embedded in a ‘hands on’ task. I intend to present both
quantitative and qualitative data based on the analysis of
my journal, student journals and surveys.

30. Connecting student family histories to
the history of Australia
Teaching history in the middle years means having to
confront a lot of student resistance. Many students have
little historical knowledge, a general lack of interest or
curiosity, and/or lots of resistance to writing. It can be a
real struggle to get students to engage in rigorous
learning in the subject. My Year 9 History unit on ‘Eras in
Australian History’ involved: a challenging learning task;
an opportunity for students to learn about Australian
history having first investigated their own family history;
and an expectation that students would perform aspects
of their learning for a wider audience. Teaching this unit
required providing clear instructions about the set
learning tasks, some negotiation with students about
their interests, conferencing student writing, and being
clear about the criteria for success

31. Engaging students in meaningful work using
Buffy as a starting point
Buffy, wrestling, the classics, the Prime Minister…
I have been amazed at the articulate conversations I
have had with students about TV, movies and DVDs;
often much more sophisticated in content and ideas than
the work they do in class. So how do I engage students
in meaningful work using popular culture as a starting
point? How do I make it rigorous and still maintain
engagement?
Students were asked to choose a topic from a list of
popular cultural pastimes. They then developed and
negotiated questions to research that topic. A rigorous
rubric was used in the assessment process. Data was
collected from work samples, teacher observation, video
interviews, digital photos and student feedback.

32. Community issues and middle school
Maths: An exciting marriage
In Maths I have often heard students ask; Why are we
doing this?, Whenever am I going to use this after
school? Investigating a community issue in Maths that
directly affected these students, I did not hear that
question once for a whole term. The students
understood why they were doing the topic, and how it
helped them after school.
The topic looked into what recreational areas are
available for students and families to use after school
and on weekends. Students were asked to survey; write
up budgets; draw scale diagrams; build scale models;
utilise their own funds of knowledge; employ Power point
and Excel; and even use some basic algebra! The
students enjoyed the topic, and produced some thorough
and outstanding work.

33. ‘Questions – they’re easy!’ Exploring
the art of student research in
English
Many middle school students lack confidence when
asked to investigate and report on a topic in English.
This leads to disengagement and inhibits skill
development. I will be reporting on a Year 9 classroom
action research project that investigated approaches in
supporting students to construct effective questions and
present findings clearly and creatively.
Students negotiated a topic of high interest and sought
out an interviewee in the community to help answer their
questions. They developed newspaper articles, short
stories and poems to present their findings. Student
reflections, unexpected outcomes and teacher
observation about process and points of high and low
engagement will be discussed, using examples of
student work.

34. Mobile phone use: Connecting students’ life
worlds with understanding of statistics
What does the mobile phone mean to people and how
widely is it used in the community?
Through the study of statistics within a project, students
were able to consider a demographic analysis of mobile
phone use.

35. strong connectedness
• diet / fast food
• issues from lifeworld that need solving (claymations)
• biography of older family member
• popular culture; body piercing & self mutilation; punk & anarchy; goths/emo
• local community (place and library and person) for research
• design and budget for recreation areas
• peer tutoring to form a band and play rock song
• interview of expert in high interest area
• science in the local wetlands
• mobile phone data
• youth culture identity research and presentation
• photostory literacy work based on personal/cultural stories
• problem solving issues in the local area
• local/school groups and legal studies
• exploring local safety through maths
• history of local buildings (esp. pubs!)
• class newspaper on all sorts of issues