Action WHAT?

The educational world is full of new buzz words and phrases. Often it is just a new look on an old practice. The new buzz…. ACTION RESEARCH.  My first response was “Action WHAT?”

After a little practical research about action research, I’ve come to the realization that action research is a process done to improve practices of teachers and leaders. Action research isn’t just limited to the educational world. It is a practice that all professionals could use as a method of reflection and development of best practices.

So what is action research? According to Dana (2009), action research is the process of reflecting on your own practices, posing questions based on reflection, researching and implementing change, then collecting data and analyzing effects of change. True action research would continue this process over and over.

In reality, action research is a process that we often do without being told to do so. For instance, in college I struggled to understand Calculus 2. After doing poorly on the first quiz, I quickly realized that my current method of note-taking and sparse practicing of concepts was not successful. I then decided to actively seek help and joined a study group to practice problems and use as a sounding board to clarify my thought process. The next quiz grade improved drastically. As a result, I sought out study groups in more classes.

What does Calculus have to do with action research? I followed the same steps as Elliot describes (as cited in Dana, 2009)

            (1) Identified an area of growth – my study habits.

            (2) Formulated strategy or action to resolve problem – maybe join a study group, take better notes, and practice more.

            (3) Implement strategy and evaluate effectiveness – joined group and evaluated next quiz grades.

            (4) Clarify situation and identify new areas of improvement- realized that study groups could be applied in other classes for increased learning.

Action research is a tool to enhance growth of educational leaders and even students. It follows a natural flow of analysis and reflection of what we do in our classrooms and schools. The more we reflect and act, the more likely we are to have continued growth.