Practical Action Research

Richard Schmuck demonstrates how educators can use personal reflection and action research to convert frustrations into solvable problems and improved professional practice.

'Practical Action Research' is a compilation of critical commentaries that offer practical steps for understanding and implementing action research. The contributors demonstrate how educators can reflect, collect data, and create alternative ways to improve their practice in the classroom and schoolwide.

You don't need a tweed jacket to be a researcher—in thousands of schools across North America, practising teachers conduct studies on best practices, alternative approaches, and effective learning strategies. Classroom teachers have experiences and opportunities unavailable to researchers in a university setting, and action research—site-based, teacher-conducted research—can have a valuable impact on the educational community. Yet many teachers don't see their work as real research, and many other teachers have great ideas for research projects but don't know where to begin. For these teachers, Engaging in Action Research demystifies the world of educational research and provides support, guidance, and encouragement. From creating a research plan to reporting findings, this book provides step-by-step instructions to help teachers conduct research projects in the classroom, using strategies that work. Get ready to investigate, analyze, and share!

Practical and down-to-earth, the second edition of Action Research in Teaching and Learning is an ideal introduction to the subject, offering a distinctive blend of the theoretical and the practical, grounded firmly in the global higher education landscape. Written in an accessible style to build confidence, it provides easily adaptable, practical frameworks, guidelines and advice on research practice within a higher education context. The reader is guided through each stage of the action research process, from engaging with the critical theory, to the practical applications with the ultimate goal of providing a research study which is publishable. Supplemented by useful pedagogical research tools and exemplars of both qualitative and quantitative action research studies, this new edition features chapters engaging with teaching excellence and analysing qualitative and quantitative research, additions to the resources section and a new preface focusing more explicitly on the ever-growing number of part-time academics. Action Research in Teaching and Learning combines a theoretical understanding of the scholarly literature with practical applications and is an essential, critical read for any individual teaching or undertaking action research.

Technical problems require technical solutions that are innovative, simple, cheap, robust and easy to maintain. This book lists 100 winning inventions in the first International Inventors Award competition, organized in Stockholm.

This accessible guide will be an invaluable resource for early years practitioners looking to make a positive difference in their settings by using action research or teacher enquiry. Guiding readers through the practical steps, issues, and potentials of conducting research in a variety of early childhood settings, the book will increase practitioners’ confidence, enabling them to bridge the gap between recognising room for improvements and instigating necessary changes. Divided into easy-to-follow sections, A Practical Guide to Action Research and Teacher Enquiry: Making a Difference in the Early Years offers clear definitions and explanations of action research along with explanations of how it can be applied in early years settings to effectively and efficiently improve outcomes for children. Chapters outline a clear rationale for engaging in action research, highlight purposes and potentials of various approaches, and provide a helpful step-by-step discussion of the different stages of enquiry. Ten examples of practice are used to clearly illustrate the action research cycle in a variety of settings, and in relation to a range of topics and ages, thereby providing readers with a wealth of tried-and-tested ideas for application in their own settings and projects. These are supported by a range of downloadable resources which can be used as tools to support the planning, reflecting, and evaluation of practitioners’ research activities. Informative, inspiring, and highly relevant to practice, A Practical Guide to Action Research and Teacher Enquiry will support and scaffold the research activities of early years practitioners, managers, and students.

"This book is a practical guide for English language teachers and teacher educators seeking to carry out and promote teacher action research within their institutional context. Based on contemporary theory and a reflexive and social approach to teacher professional development and learning, it offers readers structured methodologies and concepts, wide-ranging hands-on activity sets, and focused suggestions for appropriate and sustainable ways to implement action research across an institution. Experts Anne Burns, Emily Edwards, and Neville John Ellis close the book by presenting ideas for conducting teacher research through reflective practice, exploratory practice, and action research"--