Browsing by Subject "Action research"
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Item Art making practices for groups of individuals with Alzheimer's disease(2016-05) Coonrod, Ellen Claire-Murray; Adejumo, Christopher O., 1959-; Bolin, Paul EThrough the method of action research, this study reflects upon the individual practice of an art educator in facilitating visual art making experiences for a group of adults with dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease. The study’s qualitative data consists of interviews with class facilitators, photos of the class environment and resulting artwork, and written observations, which were analyzed for emergent themes supporting the participants’ cognitive and social engagement. In adopting Kitwood and Bredin’s (1992) approach of person-centered care, the study connected their twelve indicators of relative well-being to observations of engagement in the class. The discovered themes include personal objects and stories, collaboration, mood, repetition, stimulating materials, multiple steps, individualized assistance, minimized distractions, and limited options. These described attributes could provide a resource for those designing and facilitating similar experiences for adults with Alzheimer’s disease.Item Creative dramas in a social studies classroom: An action research(2012-12) Boley, Paul; McMillan, Sally; Halsey, PamelaThis eighteen week long action research study (spring 2012) focused on students from a local 8th grade social studies class to see the ways, in which creative drama informs their perceptions of the subject of history, their self-concepts as students; their willingness to engage with texts and their abilities / inclinations to think critically. The findings of the study indicate that active narratives, or creative drama strategies, promote student comprehension of and engagement with the content studied. Students perceived that creative drama activities made the content more meaningful and engaging due to the fact that these activities incorporated social supports. Active narratives also support their reading comprehension due to increased social supports, listening skills and visualization. In particular, readers theatre strengthened the literacy tool of visualization, which appeared to provide the most help for students struggling to comprehend nonfiction texts. In addition, it was observed that students who were merely able to list and define reading strategies prior to the consistent use of active narrative instructional strategies (storytelling, readers’ theater, poetry enactments) began to independently and consistently employ them after a semester of interacting with creative drama methods. Students perceived their improvement to be particularly associated with their own collaborative writing and enacting of curriculum-based readers theatre scripts.Item Discussing art in the early childhood classroom : an action research study in professional development(2014-05) Kacir, Lucinda Margaret; Mayer, Melinda M.This study uses an action research methodology to create, implement, evaluate, and improve a professional development workshop for early childhood educators. The purpose of the workshop was to provide training in art education for practicing teachers in a childcare center. The workshop was intended to enable teachers to lead art discussions in the early childhood classroom derived from museum education teaching strategies. As a museum educator and early childhood teacher, the researcher was compelled to develop the workshop based on her experience in the field. Realizing that professional development opportunities in art education topics other than art making are not readily available to educators, the researcher used the existing, state mandated annual training requirement to address this void in early childhood teacher education. The learning potential within art discussions is addressed to make a case for the inclusion of these teaching strategies in early childhood classrooms. The findings of this study identify successful elements of professional development workshops for early childhood educators and make suggestions for other teacher-educators designing and leading such workshops.Item Multiple aims and multiple measures associated with student success: theory of action and action research in a large suburban high school(2006) Labay, Wade Norwood; Thomas, Michael P.Item Teaching life cycle assessment using biofuels to develop process thinking and strengthen core science understanding(2011-08) Moyers, Audrea Haynes; Allen, David T.; Crawford, Richard H.This action research project focuses on teaching life cycle assessment to engineering students in high school, using biofuels as a relevant application. The study examined the effectiveness of teaching methods related to both the engineering content—life cycle assessment—and the science content—biofuel production. It also examined underlying conceptions that students have about the preferability of some common consumer products from an environmental perspective, as well as their knowledge of ethanol compared to gasoline. The participants in the study consisted of sixteen college students enrolled in an Engineering Energy Systems course while pursuing either an undergraduate or graduate degree related to teaching engineering and science at the secondary level. The students participated in lessons written for a high school engineering science course currently under development in the UTeach Engineering program at The University of Texas at Austin. Data were collected from a pre- and post-unit assessment, observation of student activities and behaviors, and a participant survey. The results of the study suggest that student understanding of the environmental implications of products or processes is deeper after completion of the unit. The study also shows a positive relationship between hands-on sense-building activities and student engagement. As an action research project, the primary goal is the immediate improvement of teaching to increase learning in the classroom. Modifications to the unit and lesson design have been made based on the results of the study in preparation for using the unit with high school students in the following school year.Item The effects on teachers of participation in an interactive research and development project(Texas Tech University, 1981-08) Huling-Austin, Leslie LTraditional educational research generally has not resulted in the effective use of research findings by classroom practitioners. Among the reasons for this nonuse of research by classroom practitioners are that teachers generally do not feel ownership of the research since they were in no way involved in the research, nor do they have skills to use effectively research findings and practices. Interactive research and development (IR&D) is a strategy that brings together classroom teachers, university researchers, and staff development personnel to research a question of concern to the teachers on the team and to plan collaboratively a means of disseminating their research findings. The IR&D strategy was developed and field tested by the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development in San Francisco. This study, which was an investigation of some of the changes teachers made as a result of participating in an IR&D project, employed a pretest-posttest control group design. The study was conducted during a 13-week period in the fall of 1980. The sample in the study consisted of 13 teachers in the treatment group and 18 teachers in the control group. Subjects in the treatment group were participants in an IR&D project sponsored by the local Teacher Corps project. Participants were provided with approximately 10 hours of initial training in general research practices and procedures and in the essential features of IR&D. The teachers were then divided into six teams based on their research interests and team member preferences. Each team consisted of one to three teachers, one university professor who served as the researcher, and one Teacher Corps staff member who served as the staff developer. Members on each team were charged with the responsibility of identifying a research question, conducting a research project using appropriate methodology and design, and collaboratively planning a means to disseminate their research findings. An analysis of covariance was performed on the data gathered through three questionnaires: the Stages of Concern About the Innovation Questionnaire, the Research-Teaching-Development Skills Questionnaire, and the Professional Development Questionnaire. In addition, open-ended statements of concern were analyzed using criteria outlined in A Manual for Assessing Open-Ended Statements of Concern About the Innovation; and informal interviews were conducted for the purpose of identifying teachers' attitudes about the use of research findings and practices in teaching. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. Teachers who participated in an IR&D project did demonstrate significantly greater changes in concerns about the use of research, findings and practices in teaching than those who did not participate in an IR&D project. 2. Teachers who participated in an IR&D project did demonstrate significantly higher research-teaching-development skills than those who did not participate in an IR&D project. 3. Teachers who participated in an IR&D project did not demonstrate significantly higher interest in professional development than those who did not participate in an IR&D project. 4. Teachers who participated in an IR&D project did demonstrate a positive attitude about the use of research findings and practices in teaching.