DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 444 871 SE 064 095

AUTHOR McDonald, Jane B., Ed.; Gilmer, Penny J., Ed.TITLE Science in the Elementary School Classroom: Portraits of

Action Research.INSTITUTION Southeastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE),

Tallahassee, FL.SPONS AGENCY Eisenhower Program for Mathematics and Science Education

(ED), Washington, DC.PUB DATE 1997-00-00NOTE 88p.; Foreword by Francena Cummings. "This material is based

upon work supported by the National Science Foundation underGrant No. ESI9253170 and the Florida State University."

CONTRACT R168R50024AVAILABLE FROM SERVE, 1203 Governor's Square Blvd., Suite 400, Tallahassee,

FL 32301; phone: 850-671-6000 or 800-352-6001; FAX:850-671-6020.

PUB TYPE Collected Works - General (020)EDRS PRICE MF01/PC04 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *Action Research; *Early Adolescents; Elementary Education;

*Elementary School Teachers; Experiential Learning; ScienceEducation; Teacher Role

IDENTIFIERS SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education

ABSTRACTTeacher knowledge and skills are critical elements in the

student learning process. Action research serves as an increasingly populartechnique to engage teachers in educational change in classrooms. Thisdocument focuses on action research reports of elementary school teachers.Chapters include: (1) "First' Graders' Beliefs and Perceptions of 'What IsScience?' and 'Who Is a Scientist?'" (Laura G. Joanos); (2) "Implementing anAuthentic Science Learning Experience" (Jennifer W. Yelverton); (3) "Changinga Teacher's Role To Evoke Meaningful Learning Behaviors" (Paul M. Veldman);(4) "Does Student Responsibility for Learning Increase When Students Ask andAnswer Their Own Problem-Solving Questions?" (Toni B. Haydon); and (5) "SoYou Want To Do Action Research?" (Angelo Collins and Samuel A. Spiegel). Eachchapter contains references. (YDS)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

ience

Portraits. o

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

lifeheecument has been reproduced aseived from the person or organization

originating it.

Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

° Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

Science TEAT s_c_ence For Earlii Adolescence Teackers

4

ciencein the

ementarySchoolClassroomPortraits of Act inn RiPsegYrch,

edited byJane B. McDonald

Penny J. Gilmer

with a Foreword byDr. Francena Cummings

1997

Book and Cover DesignKelly Dryden, Senior Design Specialist, SERVE

Program SupportCharles Ahearn, Director of Publications/Senior Editor, SERVEMichael Vigliano, Research Associate, SERVE

The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of theOffice of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, nor doesmention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by theU.S. Government.

This document was produced with funding from the Dwight D. Eisenhower NationalPrograms for Mathematics and Science Regional Consortiums Program, Office of Educa-tional Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, under contract no.R168R50024.

4

7

This is dedicated in memory of

Victon' Hodge

a science educator and Science FEAT graduate who died of sickle-cellanemia in November 1995.

Tfegll ©iff apaRtmatp

About the SERVE Organization vi

Foreword ix

Editorial Acknowledgments

Science FEAT Participants xii

Introducing the Monograph 1

Penny.]: Gilmer and Jane B. McDonald

CHAPTER ONE: First Graders' Beliefs and Perceptions of"What is Science?" and "Who is a Scientist?" 9

Laura G. Joanos

CHAPTER TWO: Implementing an Authentic Science LearningExperience 21Jennifer W Yelverton

CHAPTER THREE: Changing a Teacher's Role to EvokeMeaningful Learning Behaviors 33Paul M. Veldman

CHAPTER FOUR: Does Student Responsibility for LearningIncrease When Students Ask and Answer Their Own Problem-Solving Questions? 45Toni B. Haydon

CHAPTER FIVE: So You Want to Do Action Research? 61Angelo Collins and Samuel A. Spiegel

7(3@mat RIMAYMTegmfimAfilom

ERVE, the South Eastern Regional Vision for Education, is a consortium of educationalorganizations whose mission is to promote and support the continuous improvement ofeducational opportunities for all learners in the Southeast. Formed by a coalition of

business leaders, governors, policymakers, and educators seeking systemic, lasting improve-ment in education, the organization is governed and guided by a Board of Directors thatincludes the chief state school officers, governors, and legislative representatives from Ala-bama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Committed to creat-ing a shared vision of the future of education in the Southeast, the consortium impacts educa-tional change by addressing critical educational issues in the region, acting as a catalyst forpositive change, and serving as a resource to individuals and groups striving for comprehen-sive school improvement.

SERVE's core component is a regional educational laboratory funded since 1990 by the Officeof Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education. Buildingfrom this core, SERVE has developed a system of programs and initiatives that provides a.spectrum of resources, services, and products for responding effectively to national, regional,state, and local needs. SERVE is a dynamic force, transforming national education reformstrategies into progressive policies and viable initiatives at all levels. SERVE Laboratory pro-grams and key activities are centered around:

+ Applying research and development related to improving teaching, learning, and organiza-tional management

+ Serving the educational needs of young children and their families more effectively

+ Providing field and information services to promote and assist local implementation ofresearch-based practices and programs

Offering policy services, information, and assistance to decision makers concerned withdeveloping progressive educational policy

Connecting educators to a regional computerized communication system so that they maysearch for and share information, and network

tI Developing and disseminating publications and products designed to give educators practi-cal information and the latest research on common issues and problems

The Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at SERVE is part of thenational infrastructure for the improvement of mathematics and science education sponsored

vi7

by OERI. The consortium coordinates resources, disseminates exemplary instructional materi-als, and provides technical assistance for implementing teaching methods and assessment tools.

The South East and Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium (SEIRTEC)serves 14 states and territories. A seven-member partnership led by SERVE, the consortiumoffers a variety of services to foster the infusion of technology into K-12 classrooms. TheRegion IV Comprehensive Assistance Center provides a coordinated, comprehensive approachto technical assistance through its partnership with SERVE.

A set of special purpose institutes completes the system of SERVE resources. These institutesprovide education stakeholders extended site-based access to high quality professional develop-ment programs, evaluation and assessment services, training and policy development to im-prove school safety, and subject area or project-specific planning and implementation assis-tance to support clients' school improvement goals.

Following the distributive approach to responding and providing services to its customers,SERVE has ten offices in the region. The North Carolina office at the University of NorthCarolina at Greensboro is headquarters for the Laboratory's executive services and operations.Policy offices are located in the departments of education in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missis-sippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

SERVEAlabamaPolicgOffice forthcoming

SERVE-FloridaTP --A 1,1- al 11 t1:Atl Childhood,Publications, Lab, FieldServices345 South Magnolia DriveSuite D-23Tallahassee, FL 32301904-671-6000800-352-6001Fax 904-671-6020

Database InformationServices Clearinghouse345 South Magnolia DriveSuite E-21Tallahassee, FL 32301904-671-6012800-352-3747Fax 904-671-6010SERVE-Line (modem only)800-487-7605

Eisenhower Consortium forMathematics and ScienceEducation at SERVE345 South Magnolia DriveSuite E-22Tallahassee, FL 32301(IAA (2'71 121-10,)OlP-X-ti _L-UVUJ

800-854-0476Fax 904-671-6010

Policg345 South Magnolia DriveSuite D-23Tallahassee, FL 32301904-671-6029Fax 904-671-6020

Office of the CommissionerThe CapitolLL 24Tallahassee, FT, 32399904-488-9513Fax 904-488-1492

8

SERVE-GeorgiaTechnology41 Marietta Street, NWSuite 1000Atlanta, GA 30303404-893-0100800-659-3204Fax 404-577-7812SERVE-Line (modem only)800-487-7605

PolicgState Department ofEducation2054 Twin Towers EastAtlanta, GA 30334404-657-0148Fax 404-651-5231

SERVE-Mississippi SERVESouth Carolina Evaluation andDelta Project Po licy Assessment ServicesDelta State University 1429 Senate Street P.O. Box 5367P.O. Box 3183 1005 Rutledge Building Greensboro, NC 27435Cleveland, MS 38733 Columbia, SC 29201 910-334-3211601-846-4384 803-734-8496 800-755-3277800-326-4548 Fax 803-734-3389 Fax 910-334-3268Fax 601-846-4402 E-mail:

cjackson@sde.state.sc.us Professional DevelopmentPo /icy Institute (PDI)State Department of P.O. Box 5406Education SERVE, Inc.North Greensboro, NC 27435P.O. Box 771 Carolina 910-334-4667Jackson, MS 39205 Business Office 800-545-7075601-359-3501 P.O. Box 5406 Fax 910-334-4671Fax 601-359-3667 Greensboro, NC 27435 E-mail: pdi@serve.orgE-mail: wmoore @serve.org 910-334-4669

910-334-4670 Southeastern Regional800-545-7075 Safe Schools Institute

SERVENorth Fax 910-334-4671 P.O. Box 5406

Carolina * Greensboro, NC 27435

Executive Services, South East and Islands 910-334-4664

Operations, Research and Regional Technologg in 910-334-4665

DevelopmentP.O. Box 5367

Education Consortium41 Marietta Street, NW

800-545-7075Fax 910-334-4671

Greensboro, NC 27435 Suite 1000910-334-3211800-755-3277

Atlanta, GA 30303404-893-0100 * Main Office Address

Fax 910-334-3268 800-659-3204Fax 404-577-7812

Po licy E-mail: seirtec@serve.org http://www.serve.org

Department of PublicInstruction The Region IV e-mail info@serve.org

Education Building Comprehensive Center301 North Wilmington P.O. Box 5406 Roy H. Forbes, Ed.D.

Street Greensboro, NC 27435 Executive Director

Raleigh, NC 27601-2825 910-334-4667919-715-1245 800-545-7075Fax 919-715-1278 Fax 910-334-4671

E-mail: regivcc@serve.org

ooaVII'

iTEDMW7CMD

On the whole, the school reform movement has ignored the obvious: what teachersknow and can do makes the crucial difference in what children learn.(Linda Darling-Hammond, 1996)

The preceding quote from What Matters Most: Teaching for America's Future supportsthe premise that teacher knowledge and skills are critical factors in student learning.This should not be a surprise to the education community; however, to some extent,

educational settings are often void of conditions that enable teachers to teach in ways thatpush the boundaries of traditions to link learning and teaching to meaningful situations.Moreover, conditions are void of high expectations for teachers to generate knowledge andunderstanding about their own work.

In recent years, action research has become one of the more increasingly popular and innova-tive techniques for engaging teachers in shaping change in the classroom. Throughoutacademia it is being endorsed as an effective means to change classroom practice. The NationalScience Teachers Association (NSTA) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics(NCTM) both acknowledge the role of "teacher as researcher" as an effective means to pro-mote professional development and professionalism in teaching. Moreover, it serves as a bridgeto link research and practice.

This second volume of Action Research Science in the Elemenarg School Clasroom: Portraits ofAction Research focuses on elementary teachers. While the first volume focused on middleschool teachers, both report results that offer teachers opportunities to better understand theirclassroom contexts, their practices, and their students. Also, they offer practitioners theopportunity to use and value research by being "knowledge generators."

The Consortium is proud to support the development, publication, and dissemination of thisvaluable product. We value teachers and we offer this product as yet another tool that may behelpful in making a difference in teaching science. For what they know and are able to domake the most difference in what students learn.

Francena D. Cummings, DirectorEisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education at SERVE

1Q

MicnoreEll

Acknowlladgmarate

This monograph would not have been possible without the effort of many people otherthan the authors and editors. We want to acknowledge and to express sincere gratitudeto those who worked so hard to bring this project to fruition:

Susan Mattson, a doctoral student at Florida State University on leave at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to work with Video Case Studies in Science EducationProject , and Franklin Brown, a Chemistry instructor at Tallahassee Community College,kindly reviewed the papers and provided invaluable suggestions and insight.

Elizabeth Viggiano, a Science FEAT program assistant and currently a science teacher at RaaMiddle School, helped select and edit various versions of the papers. She also served as amentor during the action research projects.

Angelo Collins, presently at Vanderbilt University, was a Co-Principal Investigator of ScienceFEAT while a faculty member in Curriculum and Instruction at Florida State Universityduring the program. Dr. Collins had the vision of how teachers could utilize action research totransform their teaching and the learning of their students and helped in the final stages of themonograph by reviewing final versions of the papers.

Jim Lappert, currently a biology teacher at Leon High School and an editor for the firstmonograph from Science FEAT, helped in the planning stages of this monograph.

We want to thank Michael McDonald, W. Chris Muire, and Kenneth Tobin who offeredtheir various perspectives, comments, or help in bringing this monograph into a final product.

Thanks are also due to the classes that were disrupted for photographs at the following el-ementary schools: Ft. Braden and Kate Sullivan of Leon County, Florida; Wright of OkaloosaCounty, Florida; and Sulphur Springs of Hillsborough County, Florida.

We especially appreciate the support of the SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education(SERVE) and the SERVE Eisenhower Consortium for Mathematics and Science Education forproviding financial resources to publish this monograph from Science FEAT. Graphic designand editing services were provided by the SERVE Publications Unit.

X

The Science FEAT program was also due to the combined effort of so many people:

Bridget Hillyer, an undergraduate student in Philosophy and Religion at Florida State Uni-versity, and Robin Marshall, a Science FEAT staff member and teacher at Caroline BrevardElementary School in Tallahassee, Florida, deserve special recognition for all of their workduring the Science FEAT project.

Cindy Doherty and Bradford Lewis, Science FEAT program assistants and graduate stu-dents in Science Education at Florida State University, served as mentors during the datacollection, analysis, and writing phases of the action research.

Samuel Spiegel, Project Director of Science FEAT, devoted himself to the Science FEATteachers, staff, and program during the three year project. He is currently completing hisdoctoral dissertation on the evaluation of the Science FEAT program.

We also enjoyed the participation and support of the rest of the Science Education program atFlorida State University, including Kenneth Tobin, Nancy Davis, George Dawson, andAlejandro Gallard.

We express our gratitude to the entire group of Science FEAT teachers, the administrators andother faculty members at the participant's schools, and the parents of the researchers' stu-dents.

JBMPJG

Sem= MAT)cDpazdesp czato

Paul Abbatinozzi Gwen JohnsonAnn Adams Kim LivingstonWallace Allen Roosevelt LowtherPamela Ayers John MaddenJacqua Ballas Donald MancoshJerri Benton Gail MosherGreg Biance Margaret NourLinda Biance Janice OuimetKevin Bingham Andrew PalmerDeb Bobroskie Glenda PaulLynda Bock Sandra PorrasRobert Brock Sally PurdyTeresa Callahan Carol RandellPatricia Dixon Claudia RoweMichael DuBois Terry RoweRebecca Durdle Lynne SappJan Dykes Terry SmithKammy Edwards Alice SnyderSuzanne Edwards Frank SultzerSusan Fernandez Stephen ThompsonKathleen Foley Charles Van HallPamela Gignac Paul VeldmanBarbara Godwin Pamela WaldronElizabeth Graham Shirley WeldonPhyllis Green William WeldonVelda Griffin Angie WilliamsRoger Guilfoyle Jennifer YelvertonLori HahnSara HallSteve Harmon Science FEAT Faculty and Staff,Mary Hartsfield Florida State UniversityToni HaydonVictoria Hodge Angelo Collins, Principal InvestigatorJane HollisSusan Hunter Penny J. Gilmer, Principal InvestigatorSue HutchinsJacquie Hutson Samuel A. Spiegel, Program DirectorLaura Joanos

Xgi t.

13

Cindy Doherty, Program Assistant

Dwight Burrows, Instructor

Jim Lappert, Program Assistant

Nancy Davis, Science Education

Bradford Lewis, Program Assistant

Alejandro Gal lard, Science Education

Robin Marshall, Program Assistant

Ken Goldsby, Chemistry

Elizabeth Viggiano, Program Assistant

David Gruender, Philosophy

Bridget Hi Ryer, Program Staff

William Herrnkind, Biology

Misty Heath, Program Staff

Kevin Kloesel, Meteorology

Karen Perry, Program Staff

Woody Wise, Geology

Doug Zahn, Statistics

For additional information regardingthe Science FEAT program, contact:

Penny J. Gilmer, Ph. D.Professor of ChemistryFlorida State UniversityTallahassee, Florida 32306-3006Email: gilmer@irisl.sb.fsu.edu

This material is based upon work supportedby the National Science Foundation underGrant No. ESI 925 3170 and the FloridaState University. Any opinions, findings,conclusions, or recommendations expressedin this material are those of the authors anddo not necessarily reflect the views of theNational Science Foundation or the FloridaState University.

This is available in alternative format uponrequest.

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\"Who indeed can afford to ignore stience--today? At everg-turn_we_ hieve,t0eek itsaid. The future belangs to science and to

those who nzake friends with science.aJawahrlal Nehru.(, /

I

iIhe past fewdecades have seen tre-mendous ferment in the ethicational

tcommunity. The\ \Sputnik ea\of the1960's exposed our nation as unable tocompete globally in science and mathematics,and in 1983, A Nation at Risk (United States-'National Commission on Excellence in \Education) called for considerable reform of\the educational system. Nehru spoke elo-quently of science and the future. PresidentBush made, Nehra's staterneht applicable toour nation in his 1990 State of Unionaddress when he gave our schools the mis-sion: "By the year 2000, U.S. stns dents willbe first in the world in science andmath-__,ematics achievement" (National EducationGoals Panel, 1991, p.5). In reaction, profes-sional associations have produced innovativecurricula and evaluation and instructionalstandards to improve the quality of scienceeducation and move our country toward ascientifically literate society.

dJaneU3. McDonaldI \ i I /

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1

,,r '\ /II 17--1992 average science scores are higher than

"--,in 1977 for 9- and1\13-yearolds, but are lOwerfor 17-year-olds" (National Science Board,16,96, p. 1.2; see table/2:1 of Campbell, et al.,1996, p. 53, for complete data). Also, initialfihdings of the Third International Math-/e

/ imatics & Science Study show that thestanding of U.S. eighth graders in science isat or above the international average (Peak,1996, p.68).\

\ ./The reason, however, for the-improvement isunclear. "No single fier6f-can be consideredto influence student performance in isolationfrom other factors" (Peak, 1996, p.68). Thedevelopment of standards and curriculumand mu active involvement of Leachei eiluea-tors and state and local authorities have been

)crucial, but according to the Science andEngineering Indicators-1996, "these factorsare not quite the whole story [because] whilemany teachers are familiar with reformproposals, most are not" (p. 1.34). All thewhile, the recurring theme of reform propos-als, regardless of the various philosophicalstances of the authors, is that the teacher isthe focal point of all reform. Reform succeedsor fails at the teacher-level. It is the teacherwho translates ideals and dreams into reality.At the elementary school level, where theclassroom teacher is typically responsible fnrthe bulk of the education of 20 to 30 childrenfor an entire school year, the importance ofthe teacher is profound.

Some progress has been made. According tothe Science Sc. Engineering Indicators-1996,the general pattern for science achievementscores had been "one of decline or stagnationduring the 1970's, followed by steady in-crease throughout the 1980's" but now "the

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So the question is, then, how to change us,the teachers. J. I. Goodlad comments, "Whatfuture teachers experience in schools andclassrooms during their years as studentsprofoundly shapes their later beliefs andpractices. As teachers, they follow closely themodels they have observed" (p. Doesthis mean that one is destined to be moldedby the "ghosts of teachers past"? Does thismean that all of the exciting goals set in suchpublications as Project 2061: Science for allAmericans (American Association for theAdvancement of Science, 1989) and in theNational Science Education Standards (Na-tional Academy of Sciences, 1996) (NSES)will remain in the theoretical and never thepractical realm, that reform can never fullyoccur while existing teachers live? Must weall die to spawn a new breed? Of course not!We can change, and we must. But how?

Like all professionals, teachers need a varietyof opportunities to develop: seminars, collegecourses, teacher networks, workshops forpracticing teachers, journals, science centers,and so on. But we also need to learn sciencepedagogy in the context of actual students,real student work, and outstanding curricu-lum materialsthat is, in our own class-rooms (NSES, p.57)! This need forms thebasis of: action research. We need to learn toteach science as we want our students tolearn science. The NSES assert that "Teacherlearning is analogous to student learning:Learning to teach science requires that theteacher articulate questions, pursue answersto those questions, interpret informationgathered, propose applications, and fit thenew learning into the larger picture ofscience teaching" (p. 68). Thus we can buildupon our "ghosts," we can make connectionsto our experiences, and deliberately andpermanently change.

Action research is simply research that isconducted by the teacher in his or her ownclassroom in order to improve. "...classroom-based research is a powerful means to im-

2

prove practice," state the NSES (p. 70). Butdoes the term "research" scare you? Does itsound infinitely boring? Consider this: In1992, A. White, the Director of the NationalCenter for Science Teaching and Learning,testified before Congress, "We find in actionresearch programs that the confidence, thefeeling of worth, and the professional behav-ior of teachers changes immensely when yougive them a chance, the time and skills andresources to reflect on what it is they'redoing, how it's working, and what they cando to change it so it works better" (p. 17).This is an excellent recommendation foraction research. A more complete definitionand description of action research is found inthe last chapter "So You Want to Do ActionResearch?"

One of the goals of this monograph is todemonstrate that action research can be doneby any teacher in any classroomby anyoneinterested in change and improvement. Thismonograph portrays the action research offour elementary school teachers conducted asa partial requirement for the fulfillment ofthe Master's of Science Education degreewhile participating in the Science For EarlyAdolescence Teachers Program (ScienceFEAT).

Science FEATcience FEAT was a teacher enhancementprogram based at the Florida State Uni-

versity. The program was designed andimplemented by Angelo Collins and Penny J.Gilmer and supported by a grant from theNational Science Foundation'. SamuelSpiegel was the Program Director. Spiegel,Collins, and Gilmer of the Science FEATprogram received the 1995 national awardfrom the Association for the Education ofTeachers in Science for Innovation in Teach-ing Science Teachers.

Science FEAT encompassed three intensesummer experiences and, during the twointervening academic years, work done inthe classrooms of the teachers. Of 72 teach-ers who started the program, 59 earned amaster's degree in science education, threeearned a specialist degree in science educa-tion, and two completed the program butwere not degree seeking.

The goal of Science FEAT was to improvemiddle school science education. The pro-gram was designed for practicing teachers ofgrades 5 through 9. Most of the programparticipants were middle school teachers ofgrades 6 through 8. However, some of theteachers were from elementary schools(generally grades K-5) and high schools. Thisprogram design allowed articulation through-out the K-12 system. Some teachers trans-ferred to lower grades during the ScienceFEAT program. The research reported in thismonograph was conducted by teachers ofgrades K-6. (See Spiegel, Collins, & Gilmer,1995, for more information on the ScienceFEAT program).

How the papersCame About

rrhe papers that are presented in this1 monograph are the culmination of a

process that started early in the ScienceFEAT program. The process began when theteachers videotaped themselves teaching intheir own classrooms during the first aca-demic year. The following summer theyviewed these videotapes in an educationalresearch class designed to prepare them toconduct action research. Many were shockedto watch themselves teach and to see whatthe students actually did during class. Natu-rally, the videotaped lessons raised questionsin each teacher's mind concerning theirpedagogical beliefs and about how they couldimprove their own teaching. This question-

ing provided the basis for a research ques-tion. The teachers developed a foundation oftheir topic from the literature, planned acourse of action, and conducted the researchduring the second academic year.

During the research, the teachers met regu-larly in groups. Science FEAT staff alsoparticipated in the meetings when invited.The teachers conversed frequently with amentor who was either a faculty member ora graduate student. A toll-free help line wasprovided for research questions.

Drafts of each action research paper weresubmitted to the Science FEAT staff forreview at designated intervals. Each teacherread and provided feedback on two otherteachers' drafts. Final drafts were submittedearly in the third summer. Each teacher thenpresented his or her action research incolloquium.

SERVE published and distributed anothermonograph, Action Research: Perspectives fromTeachers' Classrooms (Spiegel, Collins, &Lappert, 1995), comprised of papers on the

rocon-rrl, 1-1Ar nines (IF I-11PCAA! V

middle school teachers. These nine teacherswere identified early in the second academicyear and their research projects were closelymonitored so that the monograph was readyfor publication just as the Science FEATprogram concluded. This monograph hasbeen used around the world by teachers andgraduate programs focusing on scienceeducation.

Because of the interest generated by the firstmonograph, we decided to publish the actionresearch papers of four of the eleven elemen-tary teachers in the program. These papersare the core of this monograph. We com-menced editing these manuscripts ninemonths after the conclusion of the ScienceFEAT program. We interviewed each of thefour authors and photographed the teachers

L18

3

with their students. With each paper we haveincluded an "Epilogue" derived from theseinterviews which describes the impact of theprogram and of action research upon eachauthor.

The research exemplified in these papers isillustrative of the research conducted duringthe Science FEAT program rather thancomprehensive. We selected papers for thismonograph with which we felt other teach-ers could identify and empathize.

The Reseamh

Tr aura Joanos' study, "First Graders'Beliefs and Perceptions of 'What is

Science?' and 'Who is a Scientist?": dealswith issues at the forefront of science educa-tion, such as why many children seem toshow no interest in science. Working withfirst graders, Ms. Joanos puts forth the verybasic questions "What is science?" and "Whois a scientist?" and then assesses their an-swers. She discovers an effective method tonurture a love of science in her students andto help them envision themselves as scien-tists. Ms. Joanos' research is an example ofperseverance as she shares how she plowsthrough discouragement in the face of appar-ent failure. Ms. Joanos also provides a greatexample of the power of communication forteachers who so often, in isolation in theirclassrooms, wither due to lack of encourage-ment or communication within the educa-tional community.

Jennifer Yelverton, an experienced andtraditional teacher, leaps into the unknownwith "Implementing an Authentic ScienceLearning Experience." She honestly de-scribes the deep feelings of so many teachersthat keep them operating in the "safe zone."She relates her struggles and victories as sherelinquished control to allow her students to

have a real life experience as they invento-ried the plants and animals in a soon-to-benature trail. Ms. Yelverton's experience is aninspiration to those who want to break freefrom the traditional method of teaching andtesting facts in order to promote scientificinquiry, and to those who want to ignitetheir students' desire for knowledge.

Paul Veldman's research, "Changing aTeacher's Role to Evoke Meaningful Learn-ing Behaviors," began from a reaction to hisdirector teaching style that he observed invideotapes of his class. He deliberatelychanges his style to that of a facilitator andanalyzes the effect this change has upon hisstudents' learning behavior. Mr. Veldman'sresearch, a learning process in itself, remark-ably resembles the facilitator-stimulatedlearning initiated in his class. Equipped withideas and information taught in his researchmethods course and the general assignmentto videotape himself and come up with aquestion he would like to answer or a prob-lem to solve, Mr. Veldman began his research.His research stands as an example of howteachers can study themselves, define aproblem, systematically institute a likelysolution, and observe and analyze the results.It also provides an example of more tradi-tional research and the evolution of learningand method that occurs during action re-search.

Few teachers have the courage to do whatToni Haydon did as she describes in herpaper, "Does Student Responsibility forLearning Increase when Students Ask andAnswer Their Own Problem Solving Ques-tions?" Ms. Haydon lays out very detailedplans to promote responsibility in her stu-dents for their own learning. To the chagrinof her students, Ms. Haydon will not tellthem what to do! Instead, she repeatedlypresents them with materials and bare-bonesinstructions to think of a question that canbe answered by their own experimentation.

19

An anxious semester is spent by both thestudents and the teacher as the studentsgradually learn to take responsibility for theirown learning. Evidence of success, however,is not forthcoming until much later in theyear, after the action research has beencompleted. Ms. Haydon's research is anexample of detailed experimental design andperseverance.

How to Do ilcdonR.eseirch

The last chapter of this monograph is "SoYou Want to Do Action Research?", a

reprint from Action Research: Perspectivesfrom Teachers' Classrooms (Spiegel, Collins, &Lappert, 1995). It offers a practical descrip-tion of action research and advice fromScience FEAT teachers and administrators.This chapter is useful not only to the class-room teacher but to school and countyadministrators, to university and collegefaculty, and to anyone interested in conduct-ing or encouraging aedun

The papers selected for this monographprovide portraits of action research . Theydemonstrate the challenges and rewardsinvolved in action research as each teacherfocuses on a goal, relates his or her thoughtsand reactions, and critically analyzes theresults obtained. Hopefully they will alsostimulate ideas for improving your ownteaching. These research projects serve as anexample of how action research is a viable,effective method of change for the typicalclassroom teacher.

ReferencesAmerican Association for the Advancement

of Science. (1989). Project 2061: Sciencefor all Americans. Washington, DC:AAAS.

Campbell, J. R., Reese, C. M., O'Sullivan, C.,and Dossey, J. A. (1996). NAEP 1994Trends in Academic Progress: Achievementof U.S. Students in Science, 1969 to 1994;Mathematics, 1973 to 1994. (EducationalTesting Service under contract with theNational Center for Education Statistics).Washington, DC: U.S. Department ofEducation. (ERIC Document Reproduc-tion Service No. ED 378 237)

Goodlad, J. I. (1991). Teachers for OurNation's Schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

National Academy of Sciences. (1996).National Science Education Standards.Washington, DC: National AcademyPress.

National Education Goals Panel. (1991).Executive summary. The national educa-tion goals report: building a nation oflearners. Washington, DC: U.S. Govern-ment Printing Office.

National Science Board. (1996). Science ex.Engineering Indicators-1996. Washing-ton, DC: U.S. Government PrintingOffice. (NSB 96-21)

Peak, L. (1996). Pursuing Excellence: A studyof U.S. eighth grade mathematics andscience teaching, learning, curriculum, andachievement in international context.(Executive Summary and Conclusion).Washington, DC: U.S. Department ofEducation.

Spiegel, S. A. , Collins, A., & Gilmer, P. J.(1995). Science For Early AdolescenceTeachers (Science FEAT): a program forresearch and learning. journal of ScienceTeacher Education, 7(4), 165-174.

Spiegel, S. A., Collins, A., & Lappert, J.(Eds.) (1995). Action research: perspectivesfrom teachers'classrooms. [Monograph].Tallahassee, FL: Southeastern RegionalVision for Education.

20

a

Penny Z. GERnarcv Ph.D.Years Teaching: 20

Present Position: Professor of Chemistry,Florida State University

Awards and Accomplishments:Elected Fellow of the American Association

for the Advancement of SciencesInnovation in Teaching Science Teachers

Award, Association for the Education ofTeachers in Science, 1995

Principal Investigator Science FEAT, 1993-1995

"Being There" Award, Florida State UniversityTeaching Incentive Program Award, Florida

State University, 1993

My experience with Science FEAT catalyzed achange in my beliefs and practices about teach-ing. I now employ portfolios, concept maps, andgroup work in my chemistry courses (HonorsGeneral Chemistry; Physical Science for El-ementary Teachers; and Science, Technology,and Society), and utilize action research as away of addressing concerns. Some of my chemis-try colleagues are also trying some of these newmethods, so the influence of Science FEAT is notonly on K-12 schools, but at the university aswell.

Science FEAT was a powerful program not onlyfor the teachers in the program but also for thefaculty and staff The ripples from it are beingfelt at Florida State University and K-12schools throughout northern Florida andsouthern Georgia. Many of the Science FEATteachers have moved to new, challenging posi-tions. Some have returned to doctoral graduateprograms in education while they continue theirK-12 teaching. Many continue action researchin their classrooms.

Zane 3. lEcDonand.Years Teaching: 16

Present Position: Adjunct Instructor ofChemistry, Tallahassee Community College

The impact of action research and Science FEAT onthese teachers was phenomenal. Each teacher wasalready a very successful teacher, yet each radicallychanged his or her method or philosophy throughaction research to become more of the teacher fortheir students that they aspired to be. Reading theseaccounts and listening to the stories of these teachershas influenced my own educational philosophy andgiven me many ideas for change.

U.S. National Commission on Excellence inEducation. (1983). A nation at risk: theimperativc for educational reform. Wnington, DC: U.S. Department of Educa-tion.

White, A. (1992). Testimony of ArthurWhite, Director, National Center forScience Teaching and Learning. InScience and math education reform: hear-ing before the committee on governmentalaffairs: U.S. Senate, 102nd Congress, 2ndsession. (pp. 14-18). Washington, DC:U.S. Government Printing Office.

Footnote1 Science FEAT was supported in part by a

grant for the National Science oundation(Grant No. ESI 9253170). Any opinions,findings, conclusions, or recommendationsexpressed in this paper are those of theauthor and do not necessarily reflect theviews of the National Science Foundation.

7

asfid JcPpeTcoptolmo

'\

Abstr ctThis study focuses upon the questions, "What is)science?" and "Who is a scientist?," posedtocitarget group of six first grade students. Itexamines changes in children's beliefs andperceptions after many intehrated, activity-oriented experiences that wereincreastng,Igoriented toward science. The results of earlyinterviews and samples ofjournal entriesindicate that although students Were learningscience concepts explicitly and loved'doingscience, they did not realize it or call it "sci,ence." Rather, the children realized this onlyafter repeated references that what they weredoing was science and that they were beingscientists. Furthermore, the data suggestchildren could more readily discuss what theyhad learned when they used their journals asprompts. Changes in students' beliefs andperceptions occurred slowly, even when exposedto many experiences.

;91

cience affects all of us even when weare not aware of it. It permeates ourdaily livesour transportation, our

health, our machines, our environment, how

,/

we accomplish/the ordinary things iniourlives. It has shaped our historywith medi-cal advances, a greater understanding of thenatural world,\with how war is waged; and itwill influence our futurewe4ill have moretechnological advances and medical discover-ies, more sophisticated weaponry and in-creasingly more political, environmental, andethical scientific issues to consider. Thus,science is important to us all.

The overall goal of the new science curricu-lum of the county in which I teach is: "to

;develop responsible, scientifically literatecitizens who make well-reasoned, data-baseddecisions" (Leon County Schools ElementaryScience Curriculum Guide, 1994, p. 5). Toaccomplish this, children not only need anunderstanding of science, but they also needto be able to envision themselves as scientistsand to realize that they can do science: Theycan make guesses (hypotheses), experiment,observe, and any of the other processesinvolved in science. As teachers, we mustcreate an environment in our classrooms inwhich science is a less intimidating, morerealistic, human endeavor in which everyonecan be involved.

Background andQuestion

V7hen I began my educational research, Iwas working with older elementary

children (ages 9-11 years) in an inner-cityschool. I was intrigued with the way scienceseemed to have been taught to these children.The teacher led and directed the scienceactivities, and the students followed alongwith few opportunities to discover on theirown. Later, with different children at a smallrural school with pre-kindergarten througheighth grade in one school, I began teachingkindergarten and first grade children (5-7years old) from lower to lower-middle classeconomic backgrounds.

As I contemplated my research topic, Irealized that these children were not already

conditioned from having been in school forfive or six years. They had never been taughtscience from a teacher-centered approach.Did they have an understanding of science?Did they think that they could do science, orcould they envision themselves as scientists?According to Harlen (1993): "Children formideas about things around them long beforethey are taught about them in school" (p.15).

Consequently, my educational researchdeveloped into and focused on an investiga-tion of my students' beliefs and perceptionsof "What is science?" and "Who is a scientist?"before and after giving the children manyopportunities to experience an intenselyscience-oriented unit into which othersubjects were integrated.

10

25

nodss I set up my classroom at the beginningof the year, I wanted to create an envi-

ronment that would stimulate my students'curiosity, build upon their pre-existingknowledge, and encourage them to observeand ask questions. I placed science posters onthe walls and provided many hands-onmaterials. On my science table were magnifi-ers, balances, shells, and a variety of itemsthat I changed with each topic we studied. Inaddition, on each desk, I provided wormfarms or other projects.

The population of my classroom would bechanging at some point due to the fact thatwe were getting another kindergartenteacher to alleviate overcrowding. With thisin mind, I used a group of six first gradersthree boys and three girlsas a target groupfrom which to gather information.

I planned to interview the children and usetheir daily reflection journals as sources of

ivly goal vva6after each unit of study and to read andanalyze several sample journal entriesthroughout each unit.

I taught the first unit as I usually did, equallyintegrating science, math, and language artsskills all into one topic. The topic for thisunit was "Apples." We made a class list ofwhat we already knew about apples and thena list of what we wanted to learn. We ex-plored these questions. All subjects, of whichscience was one, were taught using apples asa point of focus: We read books related toapples, counted apple seeds, made art pic-tures with apple prints, and wrote aboutapples in our journals. As science activities,we soaked apple seeds and observed thembefore we planted them, looked at the vari-ous parts of an apple blossom and labeledthem, made a booklet that showed the

growth of an apple seed from seed to tree,and observed and tasted the changes inapples when making apple sauce. We did notdiscuss being scientists or what science is orwhich activities were science, although wehad done many.

The next step in my research was to assessthe children's' beliefs and perceptions about"What is science?" and "Who is a scientist ?"after this typical unit and before an intenselyscience focused unit. I asked the children todraw and write about "Who is a scientist ?" intheir journals. They each drew a picture (seeFigure 1), but because the children varied inability level, some of the children wrote asentence telling about their pictures, whilemany dictated a sentence to me.

I also audiotaped an individual interviewwith each child in my target group over aperiod of one week while the other childrenwere outside at free play time. I asked twoquestions:

"What is science?"

Vvno is a scientist?"

Then to clarify and elicit more discussionfrom the children I asked

"What kind of person is a scientist?"

" Describe what you think a scientistlooks like."

"Who is a scientist?""Somebodg that does

experiments and findsbones. 0 /Id peopie with

beards. Just men."

21

12

"Have you ever met a scientist?"

"Are you a scientist?"

"Could you be a scientist?"

"Have you ever done science?"

Next, I conducted a unit on plants and seeds.We made class lists and explored the ques-tions as we had with the Apple unit. Again Iused an integrated, activity-oriented ap-proach to the unit. This unit, however, wasdifferent from my usual method because Inow integrated the other subjects, such aswriting, reading, and mathematics, into thespecific science unit of plants and seeds. Forexample, the students now, rather thansimply reading a book that had plants orseeds as a topic, actually read scientific booksabout plants and seeds. Everything we didwas definitely science-oriented. We had,what I would consider, an intense scienceunit!

At the end of the unit we created an impres-sive concept map for the class which I usedas an assessment tool. Students copied theirversion of it into their journals (see Figure2). It showed the phrases/words/ideas thechildren knew related to a given concept andhow the phrases/words/ideas are connectedto each other. I interviewed and sampledjournals again.

ResultsAfter the Typical Unit: Apples;Before the Intense Science UnitWhen I asked the question, "What is sci-ence?", their answers were:

Student 1 (Girl): "Mixing things.Making things that haven't been made

27

before. Makingthings that haven'tbeen discovered.Dinosaur bonesbecause they haveto search for them,dig for them andlook for them."

+ Student 2 (Boy):"Something youlearn. Balancingthings."

+ Student 3 (Girl):

"They balancestuff. Do math."

+ Student 4 (Boy):"It's something yougot to know tolearn other things about the moon andout in space. Looking into bodies. Snakesand poison."

44, Student 5 (Girl): "Pluses."

e 4. a la 1.V.1 V&A tly j -dinosaur bones and eggs. Doing experi-ments on air and weight."

I initially thought these responses werecoming from the students' previous year'sexperiences. After I reflected on their an-swers, I realized that science activities thatwe had done very early in the year, prior tothis study, were evident in their responses,(e.g., scale and balance activities).

My next questions, "Who is a scientist ?" and"What do you think a scientist looks like?"received a wide variety of answers:

+ Student 1: "A scientist is someone whohas to have glasses. They have to havewhite clothes and shoes on. They have tobe old. Can be a boy or a girl."

+ Student 2: "He's a person that doesscience. Makes potions. Makes a life."

+. Student 3: "It's a person that does allkinds of different things. They have hair,arms, clothes. Can be a man or awomail."

Student 4: " A scientist is a surgeon ordoctor or specialist. They look intobodies. Pick men to go up in space. Lookreal old because he couldn't know asmuch. Men or women if they want tobe."

+ Student 5: "He's a person. He has on awhite thing. Uses a magnifying glass tosee things. Has potions. All kinds of

"When I asked if theywere a scientist they all

s aid, Wo."

.28

f,..Children not only needan understanding of

science, but theg need tobe able to envision

themselves as scientistsand to realize that theg

can do science..."

people can be a scientist: Americans,Chinese. Ages could be 22, 34, 33."

Student 6: "Somebody that does experi-ments and finds bones. Old people withbeards. Just men."

I then asked if they had ever met a scientist.They all responded, "No," but several saidthey had seen scientists on television! WhenI asked them if they were a scientist they allsaid, "No." All students answered that theycould be a scientist, however.

The last question in this interview was"Have you ever done science?" Their responsesonce again were varied but also reflectedsome of the science activities we had done inclass (i.e., using the scale and balance, mak-ing play dough, measuring water, cookingapples, mixing hot and cold water experi-ments).

Student 1: "No, but I tried to cookbefore."

4. Student 2: "Yes! Balancing rocks andshells on the scale."

Student 3: "Yes. Doing math and puttingbeans in a cup."

4'. Student 4: "Yes. We made some playdough. Did things with hot and coldwater. Measuring water projects."

Student 5: "Yes. The pluses."

Student 6: "Yes, here once or twice.Made play dough."

MI Eller.

1 21

29

After the Intense Science Unit:Plants and SeedsBecause the students had been able to recallan amazing amount of information as wemade our concept maps, I anticipated theiranswers to these questions to be about all thescience activities we had done in class and allthe science things they had learned. I was infor a shocking surprise!!

When asked, "What is science?" they re-sponded:

Student 1: "Making things. Mixingcolors. Making things you've never seenbefore. Dinosaur bones."

Student 2: " I think it is something thatyou guess. Making guesses like math isreally hard, and you guess the answers. IfI was a grown-up, I'd look in the dictio-nary to see if I was right."

Student 3: "They pour blue and redstuff in the little like cups but a tube.Sometimes it's math, take-away."

Student 4: "Ail kinds of stuff thatscientists do. Sometimes they mess up,and when they mess up they go over itagain and see if they really did mess up,and if they did, they go again. They do itover again and, if they keep doing itwrong, they just look it up again. They'dfigure out what was the matter whenthey were wrong. They explore theworld. In pyramids, they found sand thatwas buried. Found a room with a king init. When they looked in there they maysee secret passages in the room thatnobody in the world has knowed about.They have to read this Py readthat to know where the booby trap orsecret passage way opens."

4, Student 5: "A person who thinks things.Science is pluses, numbers, letters andthat's all."

rP

Student 6: "Something that you look uplike dinosaur stones and make guessesand see if you're right. Can't rememberthe name of it. Answers and discoverstuff."

The students' answers to "Who is a scien-tist?" and "What kind of person is a scientist?"were relatively unchanged. For example:

0:0 Student 1: "Boys or girls can be scien-tists. They can be whatever they want.They wear white things, white shoeseverything white. They have beards and6,1aaal.J. I uuy uy w 115Guess at things. Mix things up."

When asked again if they had ever met ascientist, the students said, "No." Whenasked if they were a scientist, all but onereplied, "No." When asked if they have everdone science, the students replied:

S Student 1: "Yes."

"I had assumed that thechildren knew we weredoing science, but theirresponses indicated theg

did not."

Student 2: "Sometimes. I guess aboutthings."

Student 3: "Yes, last year. We sortedbeans. We done math. In kindergarten.This year, math, take-away."

Student 4: "Probably once, but I don'tremember if I've ever done it. [To clarify,I asked, "Think about here at schooll"Well, I don't know about that. It's 98days of school, and I don't think I'vedone a science project yet. But whenYOU havespoken, yousaid that it wasa scienceactivity like thewater activity."["How aboutthings you'vedone ? "] "Well,that stuff wasnot like originalscience. It waskinda like whenyou're startingscience. Likeyou measureand heat andsee how hot itis. If you wantto grow up andbe a scientist you have to graduate allthrough the way through school."

Student 5: "No, yeah. Numbers, pluses.Painting and drawing."

Student 6: ["Are you a scientist ? "] "No,but I've done scientist things. Like beans.They have like... we opened them up andthey have vine things. If you wet it theshell thing comes off and it's wet."

After hearing the children's answers, I wastruly discouraged. Many of them said the

16

same things they hadsaid previously, eventhough we had com-pleted an intenselyscience-oriented studyon plants and seeds. Ihad assumed that thechildren knew we weredoing science, but theirresponses indicatedthey did not. My expec-tations were not met.As Osborne andFreyberg (1985) stated:"Some teacher assump-tions can undercutteaching effectiveness"

(p. 91). I felt that my teaching had not beenas effective as I had thought it had been.

When sharing these experiences with otherteachers, it was pointed out to me that thestudents were learning but, to them, theywere doing "school things," not sciencespecifically. Asking them to answer thequestion "What is science?" might be tooabstract for them. My peers suggested that Iask them to discuss topics in their journals.This might disclose more of the scienceconcepts they had truly learned and helpenhance their perceptions of science. Thus, I

31

decided to use their journals as prompts inthe next round of interviews.

The children were very eager to talk aboutwhat they had drawn and written in theirjournals. The students were also able toexplain the science concepts we had studiedin more detail. For example:

AIA

CIA

Student 1: [On clouds] "There aredifferent kinds of clouds. Stratus, cumu-L,Q T..0;,1. aro 1:1.1-1-1a t111

rain drops . 'They go faster and makelightning."

Student 4: (On plants) "The seed keepson getting bigger. The root grows first.Then the stem grows second. I learnedplants need water and dirt to grow, alsoneed air."

4. Student 6: (On plants) "Seeds floataway from the parent plant because theyare close together. It would be hard to

- grow. The roots would get together. Can'tgrow good."

None of the students, however, said withoutprompting that they were doing science orbeing scientists. When I specifically askedthe students to think about what they weredoing and if they were doing science, they all

said they were doing science. Several evensaid that scientists observe things and thatthey were being scientists when they ob-served the weather, clouds, and wind.

Coo nchasionrT-lhe purpose of this research was to

discover what a group of first graders'beliefs and perceptions were on "What isscience?" and "Who is a scientist?" I alsolooked at how these beliefs and perceptionschanged after many activity-oriented, in-creasingly science-oriented experiences.

The results of this study have shown me thatmy students love doing science, they just didnot know they were doing it. My studentsdid not realize they were acting as scientistsnor were they calling their activities "sci-ence." However, they were enthusiastic andvery able to recall information about whatthey had learned, as shown in both theinterviews 'and journal entries-of the -targetgroup. This realization did not occur untilregularly repeated references that what theywere doing was science and that they were

"I plan to continue anante s rated, activitg-

oriented sciencecurriculum, but, as I do, Iwill stead ilg refer to ourwork as science and that

we, the students and I, arebeint scientists. as we

discover otteher."

32

17

being scientists. As Brass and Duke (1994)stated: "When children begin to understandthat they can do science and that they can beinvolved in the study of science, then theybegin to see themselves as scientists and cando science; they can take chances, makeguesses and hypothesize" (p. 108). Thisoccurred in my class!

Brass and Rudd (1994) also expressed: "Allchildren can think scientifically to a greateror lesser extent, and even those children whofind science difficult are very capable ofthinking for themselves in their own way.One important aspect of children developingin this way is that the teacher's role in theclassroom also develops"(p. 121). In thisstudy, I learned that unless I, as the teacher,refer to what we are doing as science, mystudents do not realize they are doing sci-ence. As I facilitate their learning, I, too, amlearning and growing. The constructions Ihave made from this experience will enableme to be a better facilitator of my students'learning.

Ise

Xm rlica,tionshanges in students' beliefs and percep-tions occur slowly even when exposed to

many experiences. As Marshall (1994)stated: "Change is not something that hap-pens over night. It is not something thathappens in one school year. It is a gradualprocess with subtle changes occurring alongthe way" (p. 91). Consequently, I plan tocontinue an integrated, activity-orientedscience curriculum, but as I do, I will steadilyrefer to our work as science and that we, thestudents and I, are being scientists as wediscover together.

Science permeates our daily lives. Whileknowledge and skills of a unit can be science-based, teachers should stretch beyond subjectboundaries and give children experienceswhich integrate science into their lives withmeaning and purpose. Then, if the teacheralso makes the students aware of the many

,33

ways they are doing science, the students canconceive of themselves as being scientists,and science will be exciting and important tostudents as they progress through theirschool years and into adulthood.

Epfloglaby Jane B. McDonald, Editor

Ms. Joanos was an elementary schoolteacher who felt weak in the science

area. Previously she had taken what she calls"stabs" at improving her background byattending workshops. But she never reallygot comfortable with science until she com-pleted the Science FEAT program. After theprogram, Ms. Joanos intensified the sciencecontent in her class. Her students lovescience. She has impacted her school andteachers county wide and received theTeacher of the Year award from her fellowteachers. The action research component of

the program dramatically revolutionized herapproach to science in her classroom. Shebegan the next school year emphasizingscience and what a scientist is and does, and,she used science terminology daily. Ms.Joanos integrated science so thoroughly intoall of the activities during the day thatscience became a natural, everyday occur-rence to these students. Then, at the end ofthe year, in response to the questions "Whatis science?" and "Who is a scientist?", manyof the children made comments such as, "I'lljust draw myself," or "I'll write about whenwe studied soil." Her students realized thatthey were doing science and were able toenvision themselves as scientists, which wasthe goal of the change that she had made andused as her research topic. She has consid-ered a follow-up questionnaire for the subse-quent teachers of her students to evaluateany long-term impact she has made.

Ms. Joanos has also shown the importance ofsharing what you learn. She has not hoardedher knowledge for herself but has passed it

LEUTE, oo ZoanosYears Teaching: 16

Present Position: K-1 Teacher

So many people go to work and do not enjoy whatthey are doing. This is not the case for me! Theshining eyes, the hugs, the lovingly scribbledpictures, are just a few of the daily rewardsteaching gives me.

Action research has made me more aware ofmyself and what I do in the classroom. It is apretty easy method to improve yourself to set agonl and nvike chanp,ee Tf poll. an= intPrected indoing action research, have someone you canbounce ideas off of

2234

on generously to her fellow teachers. At bothher former and present school, she organizedand conducted a week's worth of hands-onscience activities in the context of a "ScienceDays" event . Ms. Joanos has held school andcountywide inservice as a member of thecounty Science Cadre. She has written twogrant proposals and received funds withwhich she has purchased science materials toimplement the new county science curricu-lum not only for her class but for each of theother first grade classes and to share andwork with the other first grade teachers.Consequently, the teachers at her school haveincreased the science content of their owncurriculum. One teacher said, "Laura isalways willing to listen, to give suggestions,and to help smooth the road for teachers whoare science-phobic. Laura's enthusiasm forscience has gotten me, my students, and thewhole school excited about science."

Ms. Joanos also benefited from the ScienceFEAT and action research experiences. Sheis no longer intimidated by science and cansee for herself, as she wrote in her paper,how science is so important and permeatesour lives. Ms. Joanos now considers actionresearch a very doable method of positivechange in the classroom, something that anyteacher could use. She is excited about the"ripple" she has made with her students andother teachers and dreams of a science "tidalwave" as more and more teachers are influ-enced by science education research.

20

ReferencesBrass, K., and Duke, M. (1994). Primary

Science in an Integrated Classroom. In P.Fensham, R. Gunstone, and R.White,(Eds.), The content of science: Aconstructivist approach to its teaching andlearning. London: Falmer Press.

Brass, K. and Rudd, T. (1994). Year Three:Research Into Science. In P. Fensham, R.Gunstone, and R. White, (Eds.), Thecontent of science: A constructivist ap-proach to its teaching and learning. Lon-don: Falmer Press.

Harlen, W (1993). The teaching of science.London: David Fulton Publishers.

Leon County Schools. (1994). Leon countyschools elementary science curriculumguide. Tallahassee, FL: Leon CountyInstructional Services.

Marshall, R. (1994). Connecting theory andpractice: A qualitative look at the impact ofa professional development program onscience in an elementary classroom. Un-published master's thesis, Florida StateUniversity, Tallahassee, FL.

Osborne, R. J., & Freyberg, P. S. (1985).Learning in science: The implications ofchildren's science. Auckland, NewZealand: Heinemann.

35

naypilamoratn

Autharagq,Lwow:. z

\ / , ../i Ajiiiifer1V---Yelverton

, / /

Abstrict

cia,,\ a

CTllonco

An experienced, traditional, 5th grade teacherimplements and evaluates an authentic: sciencelearning experience. Her class inventories theschoolyard biota, researches and identifikeachspecimen, and publishes the results in a`refer; ,"ence book for the school library. The teacher\--finds that meaningful learning has occurred:\Students develop research skills, grasp theconcept of sc ence-as-researc extend theirknowledge, and become very rirtivatea, Sim alsostruggles as she develops an alternative studentlearning assessment required bythe study.

i d

or sixteen years I stayed on ---literary side of science and taughtscience primarily as a reading course.

My students, after all, were evaluated annu-ally by a standardized test that measuredtheir ability to read and choose an answerfrom a list of choices. Science was simplyinformation to memorize. I was taughtscience in a textbook style. Practical applica-tions, although discussed in class, were neverexperienced. I had no applicable understand-ing of the concept of science as a process aswell as factsor of how to teach this conceptin a meaningful or productive manner.

I stayed in a safe zone/in which learning wassimply arriving at answers in the teacher'smanualthe right answers, and wheregrading could bestandardized and jus/tified.

/To provide students with problem solving/ and reasoninglexperiences would allow too

many options for answers! Surely/if I justtaught my students how to comprehend thetext, define vocabulary, andlabel the dia-grams, I was doing thy part to educate themin the science curriculum.

\VPt T thnii6ht reneaterlht "These rhildrencan't think. They don't reason." in reality,was not asking them to do so. Eventually, Irealized that I must provide the studentsWith opportunities to think. The students

/- needed experiences that encouraged explora-tion and discovery and, provided choices indecision making and problem solving, and,yes, even allowed a variety of answers.

"I staged in a safe zone inwhich learnin wassimpig arrivin at

answers in the teacher'smanualthe ri ht

answers."

3G

2)1

"To provide stu eats withproblem solving and

reasonin t experienceswould allow too manyo ti'/ins for answers!"

So much time in our schools is spent inlearning but not in understanding. I definelearning as the process of accumulatinginformation and the ability to recall it in theform of memorized terms, definitions, orsequenced events. Frequently, learning isshort-term, i.e., the material is memorizedand quickly forgotten after serving its useful-ness (the test), recalled yet not understoodbecause it has no relevance to the learner.

In contrast, understanding is, as Perkins &Blythe (1994) suggest, "...a matter of beingable to do a variety of thought-demandingthings with a topic [such as] explaining,finding evidence and examples, generalizing,applying, analogizing, and representing thetopic in a new way" (p. 5). Understandingrequires one to take learned information andmake sense of its relationships, to relate it todifferent situations and grasp its purpose andmeaning.

Students, I realized, might best learn andunderstand concepts that had meaning andvalue in their everyday lives as Sorohan(1993) suggests, "...we embed learning in ourindividual experiences" (p. 48). Thus, ateaching technique that included authenticscience experiences could result in long-termlearning and understanding for my students.Authentic means having "real world" implica-tions and first-hand applications as opposedto being staged in the classroom with noapparent relevance to students' lives. AsNewmann & Wehlage (1993) explain, "Alesson gains in authenticity the more there is

22

a connection to the larger social contextwithin which students live" (p. 10).

For this study I incorporated an authenticlearning experience into the science curricu-lum of my fifth grade classroom. I believedthat this would provide my students anopportunity to understand "science asresearch" by doing science authentically asthey gathered, recorded and publishedscientific facts, extended their knowledge tonew situations, and realized that science ismore than facts. I thought that this experi-ence would help them to learn scientificresearch skills such as observing, makingpredictions, gathering and recording data,researching scientific literature, and drawingconclusions. This study focuses on theimplementation of this teaching technique todetermine if authentic learning experiencesare effective in helping students learn scien-tific skills and facts and in developing theirunderstanding of science-as-research.

MethodRC suRts

nd

The Authentic Learning ExperienceAn area behind the school was to be devel-oped as a nature trail by all grades andthereafter used for hands-on science curricu-lum. Our authentic experience would be toinventory the existing plant and animal lifein the area and record that information in areference book for the school library. Theinventory was a "real life need" for ourschool because the area needed to be assessedbefore development by the other grade levelscould proceed.

To consider this authentic learning experi-ence effective, I decided the technique usedin this study had to (a) provide students withopportunities to make personal discoveriesrelated to the process of scientific research;(b) provide students with opportunities for

3

decision making and problem solving whichin turn lead to a variety of answers to ques-tions; and (c) engage students in learningscience facts, ideas, and skills in ways mean-ingful to them and valuable to their dailylives.

To evaluate the effectiveness of this authen-tic learning, I used my lesson plans, a dailyjournal in which I recorded my observationsand frustrations, and an assessment ofstudent learning made from the content ofstudents' journals, my observations of groupdiscussions and activities, and the quality ofthe final written reports.

My Lesson PlansMy first lesson plans were very general:discuss the project, give the purpose, havestudents inform their parents of their re-search project, and make a decision about atopic in which to specialize. I loosely struc-tured my plans so that I could guide thestudents through the research process of theinventory. Also, I wanted my students tohave input into planning the activities.

My objective was not only for my students tolearn specific information but for them toalso explore and discover, make decisions(particularly about the direction of the

t, it

study), and solve problems that arose. Ihoped this experience would interest thestudents and be relevant to them. I realizedthat while I could provide the same opportu-nities to all students, their responses wouldreflect their unique needs as individuals.

As the project progressed, the plans becamemore focused on the discovery and documen-tation of the biota, and student input in-creased as they began to see the study astheir own. Day-to-day activities were basedon their need to know more about theirspecimen and arose from the students' owncuriosity and interest. Otherwise, the stu-dents would have been following my direc-tives to achieve my goals rather than theirown.

How We Implemented the AuthenticLearning Experience and MyObservations

1. First we discussed the project anddecided upon four research teams, eachenni.pri.cedof ctudentc, tn_cturIll nrIp._of

the topics: frees, grasses and fiowerinaplants, vertebrates, invertebrates.

This began the authentic experience and alsopresented the students with the problem tosolve.

It was immediately evident that all teamswere not equally staffed after the studentshad each selected an area in which to special-ize. The students brainstormed and decidedto vote to select a solution. The winningsolution was to spin a bottle, let the studentat whom the bottle pointed select an area ofstudy, and to continue this process until eachteam had six members.

I wrestled with the idea of asserting my`teacher power' because I felt sure theirsolution would never work. Everything

23

within me, my teacher training and experi-ence, my parental urgings, my adult/childrelationships, cried that I should settle theproblem quickly and efficiently. But, againstmy better judgment, I let their decisionprevail, standing by awaiting disaster, whilethe students selected a leader, implementedtheir idea, and solved the problem with notone argument or complaint. The studentshad been successful, and had I intervened, Iwould have denied my students an authenticopportunity to experience problem solvingand decision making. I struggled with myselfto provide this opportunity for my studentsand because I did allow it to progress in thismanner, we all won.

2. Each team was then given theresponsibility for planning andcompleting a task.

What a wonderful opportunity for eachstudent to participate on a team! Theyeagerly designed a plan of action. I allowedthem to determine which method wouldwork best for their group. They were incharge, empowered to make any decisionsnecessary to accom-plish the task in theirparticular area ofresearch.

Plans recorded intheir journals rangedfrom the simple:"Don't kill the ani-mals," to the specific:"I will do the camera,[He] is going to do thejars and the twee-zers...." One teamincluded a diagramwith a key showingthe location of eachteam member on thetrail during the out-door time and instruc-

221

tions for bug collecting: "Gang around him.Someone traps him with [a] net. Someoneslams [a] jar on him."

3. An explanatory letter with apermission form was sent to parents. Thestudents discussed and wrote safety rulesin their journals and then explainedthem to the class. They also took short`field trips" on the nature trail area tohelp them develop observational skills,establish acceptable outdoor behaviors,and become familiar with thesurroundings.

Rules evolved from outdoors experiencessuch as: "Don't cut yourself!" and, "Don'tjump on the benches!" Some showed theirconcern for life: "Don't kill the animals," and"Don't harm the plants." Others revealed aninsight into the need for cooperation: "Staytogether," and, "No fighting!"

4. Finally, after a review of our long- andshort-term goals and with clearlydesignated duties and plans to find,

39

sketch, photograph, describe, and identifyten' different specimens in each of thefour research areas, the students wereready to begin.

Energy and enthusiasm were finely tuned bythis time.

5. For three consecutive days, studentsworked in the nature trail area observingthe plant and animal life, writingdescriptions, photographing specimens,and contemplating their discoveries.

The first day of outdoor exploration was funand exciting. The students worked togetherand independently, both on and off task.Often they would call out in excitement,"Come see what I found! You've got to seethis!"

"What are they learning?" I wrote in myjournal, " I cannot tell by observing. They atleast seem to be having a good time and arehappy aboiit_thpir activities ." T hoped theywould lc v cal sonictheir journal writings.

6. Every day the students wrote a moredetailed explanation of the work they haddone and their thoughts about theexperience.

Students needed little encouragement fromme as they began to write about their experi-ences. I, of course, hoped they had learnedsomething meaningful in the process.

"I was surprised at the trees we foundbecause I thought they were all oak trees, butthey weren't. There were dogwood, oak,pine, and cedar... I had a great time," onewrote; from another, "I thought there wasjust trees and grass out there." As I readthese comments, I knew that these students

had recognized the diversity of the area anddeveloped observational skills. For one ofthese two students, in particular, my teachingefforts had so far been ineffective when Isimply tried to "show-and-tell" the informa-tion. But now this student searched andexplored, motivated by his own curiosity.

SUII1C U1JVV VG11Gj -WC c,-c,i-tainly c,rplans. They often occurred during what Iconsidered off-task behavior: "Today wetagged four trees.... I never knew what amagnifying glass could do. The only thing Idid know was that they made things bigger.The magnifying glass can start a fire. [He]did, but he put it out." These comments wereevidence of a personal discovery that wasmeaningful to this student.

Another example of this came from a studentinventorying vertebrates. He wrote, "I saw awhole bunch of stuff. [My friend] caught abee and a hornet in his net... I caught twowasps with my bare hands. I saw a bluebirdthat could fly really, really fast. We didn'tcatch anything in our animal trap. [He]caught a butterfly and named it DUD be-cause it had a broken wing...." His journal,though not indicative of him completing his

40

25

task, was crammed with detailed graphsdisplaying data collected from other groups.Had I been looking for a right answer fromthis student, I would not have found it. WhatI found instead was that his curiosity andinterest led to the most sophisticated dataanalysis, in the form of graphs, I have everseen produced by a fifth grader. After sharinghis journal entries with the class, otherstudents began to graph their own data.

Other discoveries were more social in nature.For example, one student shared, "When wegot outside we got to work....Then we startedworking as a team." Plans made in theclassroom had now become a reality for thisstudent.

For some the outdoor explorations weresimply fun. Their journals contained theseinsightful remarks: "I liked being in the treegroup. Looking at trees is pretty cool." "Ifinished my research [and] began to lookaround with my friends. But that got boring.I just hung around with my friends, the onlything that I learned today was have fun whenyou're learning." But, as I read the entry Ithought, what a wonderful thing for a stu-dent to discover! "I learned to have funwhen...learning."

"What an urgencg Isawwhat a demand formore information! All oftheir energg was directed

toward finding out,learning, toward

satisfying their owncuriositg."

26

Another positive outcome was that studentswrote prolifically of their experiences. Onegirl commented after reading aloud from herjournal, "I am writing like a scientist!" Thewhole experience proved to be an excellentmotivation for developing writing skills.

7. The next week theg spent in the librargresearching the literature.

As the students planned their library activi-ties, I heard them voice their need to knowmore about the samples they had collected andphotographed or to confirm or resolve anyquestions about the identity of a sample. Theydiscussed possible sources of information. Inoted in my journal that on several occasionsvarious students commented that they "neededto go the library now" although a number ofreference books were available in the class-room. What an urgency I sawwhat a de-mand for more information! All of theirenergy was directed toward finding out,learning, toward satisfying their own curiosity.

Consequently, discoveries continued as theresearch moved indoors to the library. Sev-eral entries in journals were similar to whatone student wrote, "I had [to find informa-tion about] the dogwood tree. I looked, andlooked, and looked, and looked, and looked,but there were no books on the dogwoodtree. Then it struck me so hard, look in theencyclopedia...I didn't know if I was struckby lightning or an idea...."

Another student was committed to proving acertain tree was a 'falconer' tree. He wrote, "Iexperienced...how to look up [information]...sometimes we were wrong, but we did a lotof research to find what [the tree] reallywas.... But there was this one tree [that was]such a problem, we thought it was a falconertree, but that isn't a tree." Even so he did noteasily give up his identification. He wasquestioned many different times as to whyhe thought it was a falconer tree. Although

41

he gave no reason for his belief, he searchedand searched hoping to verify the name. Butby comparing leaf samples and descriptiveinformation and talking it over with histeammates, he was finally convinced that thetree was not a "falconer" tree but a hack-berry tree. Learning produced from thispersonal controversy would be much moremeaningful than if I had simply given himthe answer. I thought, "This discovery willhave more impact upon him than anything Icould tell him." This was relevant to thisstudent's life and a wonderful example of thepower of curiosity.

These were indications to me that thesestudents had focused on their topic and hadbegun to discover and develop the scientificskills of making predictions and observa-tions, and analyzing datacapabilities nottaught by definitions in a textbook or by mydemonstration, simulation, or instruction.This process had developed naturally inresponse to a real-life situation in which thestudents, responding to their personal deci-sion to explore, sought answers to questionsgenerated by their own-curiosity.

8. Each student was to complete aresearch paper that included adescription of one specimen, its commonand scientific names, and a bibliography.Each team was responsible for a total often papers, those done individually byeach member plus four for the group tocomplete cooperatively. When theidentification phase of the research wascompleted and discussed, we typed andprinted our data, then organized it in abinder which we placed in the schoollibrary as a reference book for the schoolnature trail. Students addedphotographs, sketches, or dried samplesof leaves or flowers to each report andcovered each page with a plastic sleeve.

When the reference book was completed Iposed this question to the students, "Nowthat you have worked as scientists, what willyou do if another student says, 'I don'tbelieve you have identified this plant oranimal correctly because...'?"

After consideration, one responded, "If theygive me evidence, I will have to consider thatI may have been-wrong. I have been_ wrong- inidentifying chingsuefure, and I may 1.x w longagain." This indicated to me that the stu-dents grasped the concept of science-as-research, science as a process, with insightsbased on evidence. Also, he showed confi-dence in his ability to assess new informa-tion and draw a conclusion divergent fromhis original.

Assessment of Student LearningTo assess learning of science processes, Ilooked for written evidence in studentjournals, oral evidence during group discus-sions, and physical evidence of the studentsat work. I used the written product (thepaper) of the research to correlate theseobservations to facts in the literature.

Informal sources provided insight for me intothe students' learning that could never be

27

"I could have neverdelivered such an

authentic learningexperience t my studentswith mg former science-

as-facts-to-learnapproach."

captured by traditional on-paper tasks:Student journals contained entries such as,"I never knew that....," "I always thoughtthat...," "I finally realized that...." Theyfrequently huddled in groups either toobserve, discuss, question, think, rethink, orplan. They stood, knelt or sat to write andsketch data. Students shared personal experi-ences and discoveries in small groups atlunch time at a picnic table. Each person'sresponse to the day was quite unique andreflective and continually expressed fascina-tion for their work. They communicatedtheir experiences and data orally in grouppresentations and in written form as thefinal paper. I interpreted all of these as anindication of learning.

One student, however, with a learningdisability and a history of disruptive behav-ior, gave no evidence of learning scienceconcepts in his journal or of developingscientific research skills. During grouppresentations he listened and showed inter-est in each discussion, but he added fewremarks. When I asked him directly what hehad learned, he always shrugged his shoul-ders and replied, "I don't know." With verylittle evidence from him in writing, oralresponses, or physical activities, I assumedthat he had gained nothing from the experi-ences. However, a conference with hismother revealed that he was enthusiasticallyextending his school experiences at home by

28 43

collecting insects and plant samples in hisown yard. He was noting details and makingobservations and comparisons of his speci-mens and asking his mother for help in theiridentification.

Mecallseonrom this evidence, I am convinced thatmy students have experienced opportuni-

ties to explore and make personal discover-ies, to make decisions and solve problems,and to develop a meaningful concept ofscience of practical value to them.

The students together solved the problem ofassuring the coverage of all the topics, andthey, in groups, made decisions regardingtheir plans of action and the safety rules.They all certainly explored as they hit thenature trail and discovered the variety oftrees and animals. One student even foundout what a magnifying glass could do. Theymade discoveries in the library, too, as shownby the dogwood tree research and by thefalconer versus hackberry tree dilemma.They based their conclusions on data gath-ered during their explorations and on infor-mation in the literature, not on me havingprovided them the "right answer." Theresearch process naturally evolved from theproject requirements and their own curiosity.The students had been given the mission to"inventory the wildlife." They had accom-plished it by planning, exploring and discov-ering, gathering and verifying data, andpublishing the results, all of which are partsof science-as-research. I could have neverdelivered such an authentic learning experi-ence to my students with my former science-as-facts-to-learn approach.

Although I believe a need exists for studentsto learn scientific facts, and perhaps drill andpractice, oral and written experiences are

effective methods of instruction, the outcomeI desired was that the students understandscience as a research process and gain theskills and knowledge to solve a problem. Thisauthentic experience provided multipleopportunities for these types of learning tooccur. I have related specific examples ofonly a few students in this paper, but Ibelieve that all of my students benefited fromthis project. They all learned, as exemplifiednot only by the journal entries and thepublished reports but also by the one studentwho made the graphs and the other studentwho, although doing little at school, extendedthe activities to an at-home learning experi-ence. These students learned something ofimportance to them, not to me or to thecurriculum, although this was the desiredoutcome of both.

My failure to detect learning in the studentfor whom learning mostly occurred at homewith his mother led me to question thepurpose of assessment and how I mightbetter assess learning. For many years, I havebeen aware that students are unique learn-ers, using different-modalities auditory,visual, tactile, and kinestheticto processinformation. To meet these needs, I havenow varied my methods to provide learningopportunities for all modalities. In the past Ialways provided the same information in thesame way to all students, thereby guarantee-ing my fairness in teaching and learningassessment. I felt obligated to be objective, tocome to the "right" answer myself in theform of a justifiable, standard grade for eachstudent. I felt safe with the traditionaltextbook-and-test method of instructingstudents. Many times, however, I sensed aneed for a change in my instructional prac-tices, in my expectations of learning, and inmy testing (assessment) methods. I am nowmuch more willing to try alternative forms ofteaching and assessment. I have seen and canconfirm that learning can occur and beevaluated in a nontraditional manner.

As the research drew to its conclusion, Ifound myself reflecting upon my beliefsabout teaching and learning. In view of whatboth I and the students have learned fromthis experience, I wonder if my emphasis onteaching students should now shift to helpingstudents to learn. I know that I want tocontinually reconsider my beliefs and tosearch for the most effective techniques inscience education. The evidence supportsand encourages my belief that authenticlearning experiences are a most enjoyableand effective science teaching and learningtechnique.

4 4

Epilogueby Jane B. McDonald, Editor

Ms. Yelverton has always been immersedin the educational world. She comes

from a family of teachersher aunts andcousins, and now her daughter. She beganteaching school immediately upon her owngraduation from college and has taught fifthgrade for eighteen years at the same school.As a result, Ms. Yelverton had fallen into thetrap of feeling required to measure up tovarious expectations. However, Ms.Yelverton longed to bring the outside world,or "real life," into her classroom, and shehad, with projects centered around practicalconcepts such as recycling and composting.She had also sponsored ExploraVision2teams, one of which won first place in a

national competition, that link the businessand engineering community up with stu-dents. But Science FEAT provided theopportunity and the impetus for Ms.Yelverton to finally dare to relinquish controland to experiment with a truly authenticexperience that had no well defined plan ormeans of assessment. She is still, after a year,obviously excited to have broken out of thetraditional mindset. In her own words:"Surviving this experience has set me free!"

Ms. Yelverton has continued to implementauthentic learning experiences into hercurriculum at every opportunity. Throughparticipation in the Florida EXPLORES!3program, she obtained her very own satelliteantenna that perches atop her classroom. Acomputer in her room receives weather datadirectly from the satellites that pass over the

Jennifer W. YelvertonYears Teaching: 22

Present Position: 5th grade Teacher

I want my students to have more experiences,more time to do the thinking, to make choicesand decisions, instead of me doing it all. Theworld outside of school has different expecta-tions. I want to bring this outside world into myclassroom.

My evaluations of my teaching had always beenbased upon my feelingsdid I feel like that wasa good thing I had tried with the children.When I did action research, I had documenta-tion to evaluatewords the children hadwritten, products they had made, or notes I hadtaken that I could use to help me analyze what Ihad done. Doing action research forced me tokeep up with myself

304.5

school. These satellite images have made avariety of concepts, such as latitude, longi-tude, negative numbers, and graphing, real toher students. Ms. Yelverton is participatingin Project CHILD'', a program designed toincorporate computer technology into thecurriculum and has increased the use ofcomputers into her math curriculum. At herschool, she has instituted an annual Olym-piad which is a hands-on science/mathcarnival. She has also collaborated with otherfaculty members to implement a microsocietyin her school. Thus far they have begun aschoolwide postal service (inspiring prolificletter writing) which they hope to expand toa working and banking system. She andothers are currently involved in writing grantproposals to fund this school-wide authenticlearning experience. Ms. Yelverton feels veryfortunate, also, to work with many otherteachers that share her desire to "step outsidethe boundaries" and with an administrationthat has confidence in the faculty.

Action research has helped to crystallize aconfidence within Ms. Yelverton that she is

irrrnnrtarif cnrher students, that students will be able toaccess information if they learn the skills.Although she may not say this herself, shenow recognizes her own expertise. She ismuch more relaxed about experimentingwith new projects and using alternativeassessment methods. One alternative form ofassessment that she has used this year is toallow the students to set their own criteriafor grading various assignments. She hasfound that the students are very capable ofrecognizing quality work and set very highstandards for themselves.

The nature trail continues to flourish. Thelocal garden club helped the students add abutterfly garden, birdfeeders and a frog pond

The students have formed their own gardenclub. With all the new flora and fauna, thereference book will soon need an update,creating yet another opportunity for anauthentic learning experience.

,e*Avaz<

ReferencesNewmann, F. M., & Wehlage, G. G. (1993).

Five standards of authentic instruction.Educational Leadership, 50(7), 8-12.

Perkins, D., & Blythe, T. (1994). Puttingunderstanding up front. EducationalLeadership, 51(5), 4-7.

Sorohan, E. G. (1993). We do; therefore, welearn. Training and Development, 47(10) 47-48.

Footnotes1 The choice of ten as the number of specimens

was based on what I assumed to be a reason-b10 a 0'717

2 Expiora vision is associated with Toshiba andlinks students as working partners withengineers and businesses to develop futuristicinventions.

3 The Florida EXPLORES! program is aneducational outreach program of the FloridaState University Meteorology Departmentthat implements direct-readouts satelliteground stations into K-12 classrooms.

4 Project CHILD, Computers Helping inLearning Development, is a worldwideeducational program.

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AbstrThe effect of facilitative teaching on student \learning_was in,vestigated th,rouah 16 video- \ing three roles: coach, consultant, and counselor,was adopted for this study. The\coach intro-duces the unit, gives advice and 'encouragement,and provides feedback. The consultant clarifiesdetails and initiates discussions of stUdentproblems. The counselor provides patiencierunderstanding in a non-threatening environ-ment (Keenan & Braxton-BrOwn, 1991). As aresult of this facilitation the students are ableto demonstrate 5 student learning behaviors:analysis of a problem, questioning the analysis,developing and testing a hypothesis, comparingideas with peers and supporting their hypoth-esis or constructing new meaning.

1 Paul M lilVe man

thought I was the kind of teacher thatallowed my students to analyze a prob-lem, question their analyses, develop and

test hypotheses, compare ideas with those ofother students, and support their hypotheses

or construct n'ew meanings, studentbehav-iors similar tothose suggested by,Livdahl(1991)1. Teachers who facilitate learning aspart of their teaching stylefifid these mean-ingful learning approaches occurring in theirclassrooms (Kember & Gow, 1994).

'Keenan & Bramou-rnown k,ivz, Li UGJULLAJG

the roles of a facilitator as a coach, consult-\

ant, and counselor2. The coach introducesthe unit, gives encouragement and advice as,necessary, and provides feedback, response,or both to the students. The consultantclarifies details and initiates discussions ofproblems that students encounter, and thecounselor provides patience and understand-ing in a non-threatening environment. I wasvery interested in examining how I acted as afacilitator of learning, using these roles as amodel.

Prior to doing this study, I videotaped myselfwhile teaching fifteen science lessons andthen viewed the tapes to analyze my teachingstyle. While watching the videotapes, I askedthe question, "Who's doing all the talking?",and I realized it was me! I realized that I ledthe students to the answers I wanted to

4833

aa

hearthat,contrary to what Ithought, I was adirector of stu-dent learningrather than afacilitator. Adirector leads thestudents topredeterminedoutcomes,whereas a facilitator presents learningopportunities to students who in turn dis-cover the outcomes themselves.

drift of the continents. I concluded theactivity without ever allowing the students todiscover the theory of continental drift or toshare their ideas or to ask questions. Uponviewing the videotape I realized I was direct-ing all of the activities, picking and choosingwhat I wanted to hear from my students andwhen I wanted to hear it. I elicited none ofthose behaviors that resulted in deep, mean-ingful learning! Yet, Lowery (1989) contendsthat the teacher should be a manager oflearning rather than a provider of informa-tion. Jaeger & Lauritzen (1992) explain, "Noamount of teacher talk facilitates conceptualchange" (p. 13).

For example, one lesson I analyzed was aboutcontinental drift. I chose this lesson toanalyze because I felt it was my worst lesson.I had set up an activity for my students todiscover the expansion of the Atlantic Oceanthrough a hands-on map manipulation. Thestudents worked in pairs and cut the conti-nents out of a map. I directed the students toplace the continents on their desks in thecorrect global positions and then describedhow to move the map pieces to simulate the

32i

I wanted my students tolearn more indepen-dently than my "direc-tor" role allowed. Myhypothesis was that, if Ichanged my teachingstyle from that of directorto facilitator, I would beable to evoke theselearning behaviors thatencouraged the studentsto discover the outcomesthemselves and becomelife-long learners.

Methodselected a group of five fifth grade stu-dents from my ESE inclusion class3 to use

as my test group. This group was chosenbecause it was comprised of three boys andtwo girls who ranged in age from ten totwelve and were of varying ability. Two hadspecific learning disabilities. I met with thegroup for forty minutes each day, four days aweek, while the remainder of the class, alsoin groups, participated in different academicactivities.

9

For this study, I once again videotaped myselfwhile teaching 16 sessions of lessons onmagnets and motors. I decided that my rolein teaching these lessons was to facilitate thestudents' activities by introducing eachlesson, by encouraging as necessary, byproviding feedback and response, and by notsetting limits on pathways to the outcomes.The unit, supplied by the National ScienceResource Center's Science and Technology forChildren (1992), contained lessons whichranged in topics from "What Can MagnetsDo?" to "Creating Magnetism throughElectricity" to "Making a Motor" to "Gener-ating Electricity." Each lesson provided thestudents the opportunity to do hands-onexperiments that encouraged them to explorenew ideas and expand their knowledge aboutmagnets and motors.

After viewing all of the videotapes, I selectedfive sessions which covered a variety oftopics and procedures to analyze. In the firsttwo sessions, the students individuallyconducted similar experiments and thenshared their discoveries with the group. Inonethey examined-the-properties of mag-nets, ana, in the otner, the magnetic proper-ties of other objects. In the third session, thegroup divided into two teams: Team 1 wascomprised of three students; Team 2 wascomprised of two students. Each teamconducted tests to determine if additionalmagnets affected magnetic strength. In thefourth, the five students worked as one groupto identify the various parts of an electromag-net and designed an experiment to increase

"While watching thevideotapes, I asked the

question, 'Who's doing allthe talking ?', and Irealized it was me!"

(1;

"A director leads thestudents to predetermined

outcomes, whereas afacilitator presents

learning opportunities tostudents who in turndiscover the outcomes

themselves."

the strength of the electromagnet. The finalvideotaped session showed the studentsconducting this experiment.

To determine if teacher facilitation affectedstudent learning behaviors, I first needed todetermine if I was actually facilitating; Ineeded to analyze my teaching style. So Idevised a checklist (Appendix A) to ascertainif I fulfilled the roles of coach, consultant,

tt' 50

35

"I simplg initiated thediscussion, and the

students resolved theproblem."

and counselor during these lessons. I viewedthe videotapes and tallied the number oftimes I observed myself exhibiting a behaviorthat fulfilled each role. I also wrote additionalcomments.

I viewed the tapes a second time to observestudent learning behaviors. The five behav-iors I tallied were: analyzing the problem,questioning the analysis, developing andtesting a hypothesis, comparing ideas withpeers, and supporting the hypothesis orconstructing a new meaning (Appendix B). Ialso indicated if a student was off-task, and Iagain wrote additional comments.

To determine if learning had occurred, Icompared the results of a pre-unit and a post-unit assessment of the topic. I administeredthe following questions before and after theunit: "(1) Think of all the places that elec-tricity comes from. Make a list of at least fiveof those places below. (2) Draw a picture ofwhat you think an electric motor looks like.Please put labels on your drawing in order totell other people about it"(National ScienceResources Center, 1992).

Observations'11Refore each lesson, I reviewed the topic

only by asking the students to reflect onconcepts learned the previous day or on priorknowledge of the subject. Then, as a coach, Iintroduced each lesson by indicating whatwe would be studying during that time, but Idid not tell them what they would discover. I

36

did not direct their learning; I tried only tomotivate their desire to discover on theirown4.

An example of coaching behavior surfaced inthe lesson in which students tested thestrength of the electromagnet they haddesigned: When the electromagnet did notwork after the addition of a second batterythe students immediately assumed theirhypothesis was wrong. Although they couldnot understand why this would be, they didnot even think to question their procedure.So I, acting as a coach, suggested that theycheck the batteries'. After listening to thisadvice, they discovered that the batterieswere incorrectly connected. They rewiredthem and were excited to discover that theirhypothesis was correct after all. I had facili-tated the type of learning experience inwhich the teacher is called upon only whenneeded to help remedy a student misunder-standing (Hudson-Ross, 1989). This, a"teachable moment," could not have beenplanned and directed. I repeatedly observedthat giving encouragement and advice to thestudents as needed was a key factor in thefacilitative teaching environment. It pro-pelled the students to experiment, to findanswers on their own or with the help oftheir teammates, and it encouraged them toopen up and share ideas.

The role of a coach is also to provide feed-back, which I typically did at the end of eachlesson. For example, in one lesson, thestudents predicted the magnetic properties ofvarious objects prior to doing the experi-ment. Naomi' found that a brass washer wasattracted by a magnet and, in our concludinggroup discussion, expressed her surprise. Theother students, when encouraged by me as acoach, compared their results and foundthem to differ. Then Naomi retested thewasher and found her first result to beincorrect. Feedback, not only from myself butalso from her team members, allowed clarifi-cation of this. Thus, by providing only a little

51

feedback rather than an answer, I had givenmy students an opportunity for the learningthat Jaeger & Lauritzen (1992) describe:"Learners are supple to the leading of otherlearners and will often modify or adopt anew construct invented as a collective effortmore readily than if offered as a distanttruth" (p. 11).

One of the consultant roles, that of clarifyingdetails, emerged predominantly at the begin-ning of each lesson. In one lesson, for ex-ample, the students identified the variables ofan electromagnet and selected a variable that,if changed, would increase the electro-magnet's strength. However, the students asa group were able to identify the variablesonly after I had defined the meaning of"variable" and thus acted as a consultant.

I acted as a consultant throughout the lessonsas the students encountered problems. Thisrole often ran hand-in-hand with the coach'strait of giving encouragement and advice.However, in order to facilitate, I did not giveadvice when acting as a consultant. I simplyinitiated the discussion, and the studentsresoiveu me problem.

One experiment the students conducted wasto determine the strength of different combi-nations of magnets. They were given fourmagnets, a tongue depressor, two plasticcups, steel washers, and a paper clip. Turn-ing the cups upside down, the students thenmade a bridge with the tongue depressor andplaced a magnet on top of the tongue depres-sor with a bent paper clip that could holdwashers underneath the tongue depressor(see Figure 1). Their task was to add washersto the paper clip and to record the number ofwashers that one, two, three, and four mag-nets would hold.

Keshia, a member of Team 2, hypothesizedthat additional magnets would cancel themagnetic properties of the first magnet,whereas Adam, her teammate, and the

;.f

students on Team 1 thought that additionalones would strengthen it. How hard it wasfor me not to correct her! But I did notIallowed the students to experiment and teachthemselves.

The results of the experiment for Team 1showed that a combination of four magnetsheld fewer paper clips than a combination oftwo or three. Charlie, one of the Team 1members, questioned these data. As a facili-tator, I asked him what he should do, and heresponded, "Retest because four magnetsshould hold more than two or three." As aresult of his questioning, the team retestedand discovered Charlie's analysis was right.During the process, the teammates comparedideas with one another as well as chartedtheir results. At the conclusion of the lesson,they compared data with the other team.Team 1 discovered that one magnet heldthree washers, two held seven, three heldten, and four held ten. Team 2 found thatone held three, two held six, three held nine,

Figure 1Setup for Determining

the Strength ofDifferent Combinations

of Magnetstongue depressor

clear plastic cups

37

and four held ten. Their surprise at thesimilarity of the results led to a discussion offair testing, experiments in which all vari-ables are held constant except the one beinginvestigated. This type of learning experiencetook more time, but it allowed Keshia toconstruct a new concept while the otherstudents confirmed their original hypotheses.My students had exhibited collaborativelearning in which the students learn fromand listen to other students (Lardner, 1989).

Also during this experiment, functioning inthe role of consultant, I casually remarkedthat they would need nimble fingers to put

the washers on the dangling paper clip. Inresponse to this, Team 1, who had seen apattern developing, decided to estimate thenumber of washers that three and fourmagnets would hold and put the washers onthe paper clip before attaching the paper clipto the magnet. My students had becameempowered learners! They had developed anunderstanding of the magnetic propertiesand had devised a more efficient way toconduct the tests all on their own (Brown,1992), something I did not observe in stu-dents when I had acted as a "director" ofstudent learning.

Figure 2Incidence of Facilitator BehaviorsPercentages of incidents of teacher facilitated behaviors

tallied during observations of lessons

Discussion23%

Clarification31%

Advice32%

Feedback14%

COACHIntroduces Lesson*Gives AdviceProvides Feedback

I I

CONSULTANT ElClarifies detailsInitiates discussions

COUNSELOR** itt

* The coach introduced thelesson once during eachlesson

** The counselor role wasportrayed throughout eachlesson

3853

ResultsWas I Facilitating?I found myself in the various roles of ateacher facilitator throughout each lesson.The procedure for each lesson was similar. Iintroduced the lesson and included a reviewof previous learning. The students helddiscussions among themselves and with me.Next the students manipulated the materialswhich allowed them to test and build theirown hypotheses. Each day we concludedwith sharing the results of the day's activityand the students' new or reinforced concepts.

I tallied each of the five behaviors a facilita-tor uses in the roles of coach and consultant.I introduced the lesson only once, at thebeginning of each daily lesson. The otherfour behaviors, the coach giving (a) adviceand (b) feedback, and the consultant (a)clarifying details and (b) initiating discus-sions, were seen throughout each lesson.Thirty-two percent of my facilitative behav-

iors were directed at giving the studentsencouragement and advice. I clarified details31 percent of the time. Twenty-three percentof the time I initiated discussions of problemsthat the students faced, and 14 percent of thetime I provided feedback, response, or both(see Figure 2). I acted as a counselorthroughout each lesson by being patient andunderstanding.

Were the Students "Learning"?The responses to the first pre-unit question,"Think of all the places that electricity comesfrom," ranged in answer from "I don'tknow," to "lightning," to "the wall socket."The post-unit response to the same questionby all of the students included "generators."

The drawings of motors for the second pre-unit question were unrecognizable andunlabeled (see Figure 3). In the post-unitassessment, the students not only drew anaccurate picture of a motor but also labeledits components (see Figure 4). These assess-ments indicated to me that the students hadconstructed new meanings and "learned".

Figure 4Post-Unit Drawing

of a Motor

39

Did They Exhibit the MeaningfulLearning Behaviors?Each student demonstrated all five of thesebehaviors in each lesson: the students ana-lyzed the problem, questioned their analysis,developed and tested their hypothesis, com-pared ideas with peers, and supported theirhypothesis or constructed new meanings.

Concha eonhe results of this study show that when Ichanged my teaching style from that of

director to facilitator, the students corre-spondingly changed and exhibited positivelearning behaviors. What I saw was that, notonly did my students learn, as evidenced inthe unit pre- and post-assessments, but theyalso enjoyed the lessons, stayed on task andwere highly motivated to learn.

By no means am I implying that students canonly exhibit learning behaviors when ateacher is a facilitator. Tbelieve that themost important factor is that theteacher identify his or her learningbehaviors and then implement a teach-ing method that is effective both for theteacher and his or her students.

This research process benefited both meand my students. In retrospect, I seethat my research does not necessarilyinclude all the components of scientificresearch. If I were to do this researchagain, I would tally director behaviors,as well as facilitator behaviors. Alterna-tively, I would consider analyzing theamount of time the students spendexhibiting positive learning behavior inresponse to an incident of either direc-tor or facilitator style teaching. Never-theless, I learned so much from thisresearch, in the same way that mystudents learned when I became a

210

"Not onlig did mgstudents learn..0 but thegalso enjojjed the lessons,staged on task, and were

highlg motivated tolearn."

facilitator. I was not directed through myresearch. Instead, I learned how to do re-search by doing it. +

Pb o (4) U

by Jane B. McDonald, Editor

year later, Mr. Veldman is still excitedabout how this action research project

had an impact upon his teaching methods

5 5

and his perspective. He says, "I never wouldhave videotaped myself on my own initiative.I would have maintained the status quo,believing I was teaching my students to thinkyet actually simply taking students throughpre-defined motions."

Enthusiasm exudes from him as he describesthe interest for science that he saw in hisstudents when he implemented teacherfacilitation. This was so successful an en-deavor that the principal in his school re-quested one of his groups to present a 15minute demonstration of one of the lessonsto the faculty. A low-ability student orga-nized and led the presentation. Mr. Veldmanwas thrilled that, not only had he becomemore of the teacher that he wanted to be, buthis supposedly "low-level" students hadlearned much about magnets and motors plushad become enthusiastic and empoweredlearners.

Mr. Veldman has relocated to another city tobe closer to his family. He and his wife nowteach in a school with more rigorously definedprotocol, and Mr. Veldman has-fewer opportu-nities and materiais with which to continuehis non-directive approach in science. He is apart of a "directed reading" program whichhas a set curriculum and teaching method.His action research, however, continues toflavor his teaching, and he offers as manyfacilitated learning situations as he can. Forexample, although the reading program is verystructured, he also incorporates role-playingas an open-ended assignment.

ReferencesBrown, M. J. M. (1992, October). Teaching as

an Interpretive Inquiry Process. Paperpresented at the Educational Develop-

ment Center Conference on ActionResearch and the Reform of Mathematicsand Science Education. Cape Cod, MA.

Hudson-Ross, S. (1989). Student questions:Moving naturally into the student-centered classroom. Social Studies, 80 (3),110-113.

Jaeger, M., & Lauritzen, C. (1992, Novem-ber). The Construction of Meaning fromExperience. Paper presented at the An-nual-Meeting-of-the National Council OTleachers of Knoish (87.nd). Loiliqvilie,KY. (ERIC Document ReproductionService No. ED 358 410).

Keenan, T. P., & Braxton-Brown, G. (1991).Techniques: Coach, consultant, critic,counselor: The multiple roles of theresponsive facilitator. Journal of AdultEducation, 19 (2).

Kember, D., & Gow, L. (1994). Orientationsto teaching and their effect on the qualityof student learning. Journal of HigherEducation, 65 (1), 58-74.

Lardner, T. (1989). Rethinking classrooms:Perspectives on teaching and learningstyles. English Journal, 78 (8), 88-89.

Livdahl, B. J. (1991). The learner centeredclassroom: Explorations into languageand learning. Insights into Open Educa-tion, 24 (1).

Lowery, C. M. (1989). Supporting andfacilitating self-directed learning for

56

211

Paul M. VeidmanYears Teaching: 8

Present Position: 4th and 5th CombinationTeacher

I had never considered teaching until I did alittle coaching and urnping of Little League. Ienjoyed working with the kids. Somethinginteresting was happening every day.

Go into action research with an open mind andexpect to see things about yourself. Everyoneshould videotape themselves teaching. As youwatch you think, did this? Why did I dothat?' Getting started is the hardest. Butremember, a journey begins with one step.

employment. Columbus, OH: Center onEducation and Training. (ERIC Docu-ment Reproduction Service No. ED 312457)

National Science Resources Center. (1992).Magnets and Motors. Burlington, NC:Carolina Biological Supply Company.

Footnotes1 My student learning behaviors are similar to

Livdahl's with the following exception: Ibelieve that first the students need to analyzethe situation and then to question theiranalysis. This analysis helps the studentsform a clear picture of the problem in whichthey will engage. The students then developand test hypotheses and share their resultswith other students. From analyzing, testing,and sharing, the students can then eithersupport their original hypotheses or constructnew meanings.

2 Keenan and Braxton-Brown also include therole of the critic. I have omitted the role ofcritic because I feel that the role of the criticis dispersed throughout the other three roles.

212

3 ESE stands for exceptional student education.Inclusion means that students with disabilitiesare in general education classes and partici-pate in regular extracurricular activities.

4 As I frequently tell my students, I cannoteducate unmotivated students (Kember &Gow, 1994).

5 Keenan and Braxton-Brown (1991) supportthat suggestions are necessary because thestudent does not have a full understanding ofthe problem.

6 All names are fictitious.

57

Appendix A

ChecklistTse tc hi r FaclEtAtorLesson #

I. COACH

Behavior Times Observed

Introduces unit

Gives encouragementand advice

Provides feedback

Notes:

II. CONSULTANT

Behavior Times Observed

Clarifies details

Initiates discussionsui piouitnith Malstudents face

Notes:

III. COUNSELOR

Behavior Times Observed

Provides patience andunderstandingin a non-threateningenvironment

Notes:

Appendix Itt.

ChecklistStudent IleirnhIg

3ehaviorsLesson #

I. ANALYZE PROBLEM

Student

Times observed

Notes:

II. QUESTION THE ANSWERS

Student

Times observed

Notes:

III. DEVELOP AND TEST AHYPOTHESIS

1 cturipnt1

IIII

1 ii1

Times observed1 11 1

Notes:

IV. COMPARE IDEAS WITH PEERS

Student

Times observed

Notes:

V. SUPPORT HIS/HER HYPOTHESISOR CONSTRUCT A NEW MEANING

Student

1 1 1Times observed

Notes:

Se

cur

a.

fl

i\ -----',s /\ \ ,--------

-----\xpeo Studen.,..,.....4,,,

0 ono / (------ ..,_._4,

07\ \

IcaF-p ya yncaTompp /)/ i,

ant0_.. 6/

, / a

mow; ED 'ORT

L(DOchil.pm(Oollvft pig

TI6N.-atf,orm6T

Roopono:

Abstract

Toni B. 1pgdon7/

the answer to their own problem solvingqpestions. I believe that, as Schank (1988)described, if students are presented newconcepts in exploratory situations, thequestions they ask and the procedures theydevelop to answer their questions shouldhelp them become more active in their ownlearning process.

Students were repeatedly presented with simpleproblems or materials and asked to form__questions that could be answered throughscientific experimentation, and they were askedto create an experiment with a prediction,materials list, procedure, data chart, results,and conclusion. Results indicated that studentsmaintained the level of responsibility they hadupon entering the class. However, an anecdotalpostscript describes post-study activities whichsuggest progress in the students' levels of respon-sibility, creativity, enthusiasm, and confidence.

The purpose of my study was todetermine if student responsibility isincreased when students ask and find

. 11.0

For this study, I define responsibility as (a)initiating an idea for a task by formulatingone's own question about a challenge (prob-lem or event); and (b) completing a labora-tory report which includes a written ques-tioneither one's own question or one fromanother source, a prediction, a materials list,a written procedure, data charts, results anda conclusion.

GO

45

0

a

Backgroundo formulate one's own question is to

IL decide what one is to learn and thisnaturally places the burden of responsibilityfor learning upon oneself. Formulating aquestion about a problem or event requirescreativity. Thus, becoming more responsible,according to the definition I have used forresponsibility in this study, requires creativ-ity. The problem with learning to be creativeor to ask questions is that it is possible to fail.

Schools either teach,children to avoid failure,or they set up a system in which it is impos-sible to fail (Schank, 1988). Children estab-lish patterns in their years of schooling. Sothey must relearn what was once natural andunlearn what our social system and ourschool systems have taught them (Schank,1988).

Failure can be beneficial. It can motivate oneto succeed, as Schank (1988) describes, "Theprocess of failing and then recovering fromthat failure can be the source of the creative

216

spark"(p. 59). Temporarily failing can lead tothinking about what went wrong. "Byteaching kids and adults to overcome theirfear of failure, we can show them how toovertake the risk of doing or just thinkingsomething wild and having it not work out.That is the only way they will stand a chanceof coming up with something new andcreative that does work out" (Schank, p. 61).

Schools are partly responsible for closing theavenue to creativity because the system tendsto applaud success and instill the fear offailure. The procedure I designed for helpingstudents to learn to become responsible fortheir own learning collided head on witheverything these students had learned sincetheir kindergarten years.

MethodSettingThis research was conducted in a sixth gradeclass at a university research K-12 school.The population of students represents thestate's economic and racial composition.These classes were conducted in a traditionalclassroom with no science facilities. Thegifted students had been selected out so thatthe classes were a heterogeneous mix ofaverage to below average students. The tenstudents selected for my study were chosenfrom the class roster before I met them andwere based on race and sex.

Data CollectionFor this study I defined the word "section" torepresent both the formulation of a questionby a student and the various parts of awritten laboratory report. These parts, or"sections" of the written report were awritten question, regardless of the source; aprediction of the answer to the question; alist of materials; a written procedure; datacharts with titles; results; and a conclusion.

I used two methods of data collection:

1. Observation: I noted the studentsattitudes as they began each activity,whether an investigation, project, orexamination, and I recorded their com-ments as they worked. If the studentformulated his or her own question Iconsidered this as a "section" success-fully completed and recorded it as such.

2. Document Analysis: I collected eachlaboratory report, and tallied which"sections" of the written report eachstudent satisfactorily completed.

General Lesson PlansAt the beginning of the year, I made veryspecific, detailed lesson plans for the first twonine-week sessions. During the first nineweeks I planned to present four investiga-tions to the students. With each investiga-tion, I increased the number of sections(Table 1, page 52) for which the studentswould be responsible. I explained eachsection initially and helped the students asnecessary, but I decreased my input as thesemester progressed to allow them to becomeincreasingly more responsible for their ownperformance.

The main emphasis during the second nineweeks was the Science Fair project. Most ofthe work was done at school. All sectionswere required for the Science Fair project.Before the due date of the project, we com-pleted three short investigations designed torefresh the students' memories about datacharts, graphing, and probability.

The semester examination was in the form ofa laboratory investigation, and included allsections.

The First Nine WeeksInvestigation 1: Picking up a chair.On the first day of school, I challenged each

of the students to pick up a kindergarten sizechair while they kept their heels and bottomsin contact with the wall. Before experimenta-tion could begin, the students needed torecognize a problem and ask a question thatcould be investigated. Consequently, on thesecond day I helped the students to realizethat a "Problem" existed: The chair could notbe picked up by everyone. I wrote this prob-lem on the board and asked the students ifthey could think of any questions that mightlead us to the resolution of this problem.Some examples included the following:

voo

Why could only two girls out of fiftystudents pick up the chair?

Is the chair too close to the wall to bepicked up?

Is the chair too far away?

Does the shape of the person's body haveanything to do with the ability to pick upthe chair?

We listed these questions and discussed whata prediction is and thcii 1Ol.VIUCU two predic-tions for each question on the board. Iemphasized that a prediction must relate tothe question being asked. It can be right orwrong. I also mentioned that sometimesfinding an answer that differs from theprediction can lead to more knowledge thanwas expected or can lead to a new question.

For the next three investigations, I simplysupplied the students with laboratory materi-als and asked them to formulate their ownquestion. I developed the concepts of eachsection for which they were responsible, asappropriate.

Investigation 2: Tea and baking soda.I supplied the students with two baby foodjars, lemon juice, baking soda, hot tea,stirring rods, teaspoons, and a paper towel. I

47

asked them to look at the materials and to tryto come.up with a question about what theywanted to learn about these materials. To getthe students beyond their prior experiences, Isuggested that we already knew about the"volcano" effect of baking soda and lemonjuice, and that they might incorporate the teainto their question. I knew that color changesoccur when lemon juice or baking soda isadded to tea , but I did not tell the students.

At first, the students were silent! Then theypleaded with me for fifteen minutes to tellthem the question they were "supposed" toask! Finally, I told them to formulate anyquestion as long as it incorporated all of thematerials, and I allowed them to sharequestions. But I emphasized that I preferredeach person or group (depending on howthey were working) to come up with theirvery own question, because then they wouldbe discovering something of interest tothemselves.

The students wrote individual laboratoryreports that included the written question,the procedure, and data recorded in charts. Iexplained that the materials lists and proce-dures are written so that someone else canrepeat the experiment. I taught them how tomake data charts, enclosing them withborders and providing titles that indicate thecontent of the chart and subtitles withinformation about quantities or the quality ofthe data collected.

As a class we discussed the difference be-tween results and conclusions: results aredata in paragraph form; the conclusion is anexplanation of why the investigator thinksthese results occurred. We listed the resultsof the various experiments and formulatedpossible conclusions. The students thenwrote their own results and conclusionsections in their reports.

248

"At first, the studentswere silent! Then theapleaded with me for

fifteen minutes to telthem the question they

were 'supposed' to ask!"

Investigation 3: Air pressure.The next set of materials consisted of two, 2-liter plastic bottles, two rubber bands, aballoon, scissors, and one dishpan. Alsoavailable were boiling water and crushed ice.The assignment was to work in pairs and todiscuss with each-other what they wanted tolearn about the set of materials. The studentsspent an entire hour-long class discussingthis. They also again pleaded repeatedly for ahint about what "I wanted them to find out."But I reminded them to think about whatthey had learned in their former scienceclasses and about what they wanted to learnright now. The next day some pairs of stu-dents began formulating questions.

I walked around; initialed their questions --and told them to write a prediction, a proce-dure and a materials list, and to construct adata chart. "What's the first step in theprocedure?" was a common question. Iwould not answer that question because, as Iexplained to the students, many of them hadposed different questions. Instead, I facili-tated the writing of the procedure by remind-ing them to think of the steps they wouldneed to take to answer their questions. I toldthem to relax and to think about whatneeded to be done. Before the studentsconducted their experiment, I read theirreports and wrote comments to help themclarify procedural steps and to design moreappropriate data charts.

63

When all the students had concluded theirexperiments, we discussed our results. Wealso viewed a physics videotape that dealtwith temperature in relationship to airpressure. The students had viewed this tapein previous science classes, and their teacherhad demonstrated an experiment similar tothe ones they had developed. As they viewedthe tape they began commenting on informa-tion they were gathering that would helpthem form the conclusions to their experi-ments.

Investigation 4: Volume of a rock.The students had previously learned tocalculate the volume of cubes. Thus, for thisinvestigation, each pair of students receivedthree rocks, a wooden block (a cube), ametric ruler, a 1000 ml beaker, a 250 mlbeaker, a 50 ml graduated cylinder, and adishpan full of water. They were instructedto find the volume of each rock and provethat their method worked.

Most of the students formulated and wrotetheir questions that day and listed theirmaterials. I dropped hints about calculatingthe volume of cubes. They "played" with thematerials and discussed possible proceduresfor the investigation. The investigations werecompleted within a few days. The studentswere required to complete all sections of thelaboratory report.

The Second Nine WeeksThe Science Fair project.Each student was required to think of threequestions of interest to him/her for a ScienceFair project. If any student could not do this,I provided a list of ideas. Each narrowed thequestions down to one with my help.

The students were required to write a five-page paper and conduct an interview with aperson who had information pertaining totheir question. For one week they obtainedinformation resources from the library. They

249

64

L

ob.

spent two weeks in class jotting down notesof information from the resources and thenwrote rough drafts of their papers in class.They also used class time to call and conductor set up interviews. I made grammaticalcorrections on rough drafts of their papers.

The students designed and conducted inves-tigations in class and wrote laboratoryreports that I checked for accuracy and form.They were required to finish their experi-

50

ments and collect data during the winterbreak.

I collected the data charts, graphs, results,and conclusions for the Science Fair projectfrom each student so that I could review andreturn them in time for the students tofinalize their reports and prepare theirdisplays for the Science Fair During thistime we also completed three short investiga-tions to help the students manipulate theirdata correctly. They received a handoutdescribing the required Science Fair displayso they could begin thinking about theorganization of their boards.

Investigation 5: Measuring leaves.The students each collected and measuredthe length of ten leaves. They recorded thedata on the board and in their own datacharts, created their own questions, wrotelaboratory reports, and constructed graphs.

Investigation 6: Picking up paper clips.For this investigation, I informed the stu-dents verbally of the procedure: "You willspread 20 paper clips on the table in front ofyou and close your eyes. I will say, 'Go? Youwill have 15 seconds to pick up the paperclips between your thumb and forefinger and

65

place the clips in the Petri dish. You may onlypick up one paper clip at a time. We will dothis three times. You will record the dataafter each trial."

Before we began, the students were requiredto write a question, a prediction, a materialslist, a procedure, and to construct a datachart. They accomplished this and collectedand recorded data on the same day. Thefollowing day the students constructed bar orline graphs and wrote up the results andconclusions. We discussed the results, con-clusions, and graphs after I collected thepapers.

Investigation 7: Probability.The students were asked to construct aspinner, divide it into eighths, and color it sothat 2/8 were red, 2/8 were blue, 3/8 wereyellow, and 1/8 was green (see Figure 1).They were to spin the spinner 100 times andrecord the number of times the spinnerlanded on each color. They formulatedquestions, made predictions, wrote a materi-als list and a procedure, made data charts,nna then constructed the sninners. Theycollected data, graphed ii, audwrote the results and conclu-sion sections of the laboratoryreports, which I collected.

The SemesterExaminationFor the semester examination,I gave each student oneLifesaver candy. I instructedthem only to suck the Life-saver, not to chew it. They putthe Lifesavers in their mouthsat the same time and were toldto raise their hand when theirLifesaver had completelydissolved. I recorded thestarting time and ending timeson the board. The studentswere told to formulate their

own questions and to write up a completelaboratory report, which was to include agraph. Semester examinations are two hourslong.

es itsAfew students complained that themethod of coming up with your own

question was too hard. My typical reply was,"Yes, this work is harder than just followingthe laboratory directions in the book, but thiswill help you to learn to think and makedecisions." When one student asked, "Whenare we just going to use the book and answerquestions at the end of the chapters? That'sthe way I learn," I replied that we would dothat sometimes, but if that was what sheneeded in order to learn then she couldalways do the questions and answers on herown time. She never attempted this.

Table 1 indicates the total number of sectionsof each part of the investigations that eachstudent completed.

Figure 1Example of a Spinner

red

blue

C.

6 6

51

Lou', who initiated no questions, was frus-trated with this type of activity. Each time Iintroduced an investigation, Lou would layback in his chair, roll his eyes, and wrinklehis face in such a way that showed he wasalready defeated. What sections he didcomplete were copied from other students.Possibly Lou completed more work on hisScience Fair project (Table 2) because he hadhelp at home, and it comprised the majorityof the grade for the second nine weeks. His

failure to do any part of the final examina-tion (Table 3) indicated to me that he stillcould not formalize any of the work becauseof his frustration level.

Sam made comments such as, "This is fun!"or, "Wow! We get to do anything we wantwith these materials!" Although Sam wasabsent frequently, he did all of the work,except one conclusion.

Results

Secti ofProjectOBSERVATIONS

Table 1of Students' Completionof Investigations

,,Total

Total

Lou

of

Sam

Sections

Tom'

Bob

-

Successfully

tiMark Kate

,

Sue

Completed

r

Amy Kay

,

Lori

Formulates ownquestion

0 3 1 2 3 1 6 2 0 1

DOCUMENTANALYSIS

Written question 7 3 3 2 3 3 3 6 6 1 4

Prediction 7 3 3 3 3 5 3 6 6 0 3

Materials List 7 3 3 3 3 5 3 6 6 0 4

Procedure 7 3 3 1 1 5 3 6 6 0 3

Data Charts 7 1 3 1 2 4 1 4 6 1 3

Results 1 2 0 0 4 1 4 4 0 0

Conclusion 1 2 0 1 4 2 3 4 0 0

52

67

Tom attempted parts of the first three inves-tigations but did not do any of the others.Although capable of doing the work, Tomconstantly complained that it was just toohard. One day, however, to my surprise andthat of the entire class, Tom was the firststudent to create his own question, predic-tion, materials list, and procedure. He pro-claimed, "This is so easy! I can do it now!" Ipublicly congratulated him and said he wasnow on his way to success. But then he did

not turn in his work! Tom was very imma-ture in his work habits. In fact, Tom's fatherrequested periodic conferences to ensureTom completed all assignments. Thus, withthe help of his father, Tom finished hisScience Fair Project. Tom's failure to com-plete all sections of the final examination wasdue to lack of time.

Bob, more immature in his work habits andhis personality than Tom, would cry when

Results ofof Science

Secton ofProjectOBSERVATIONS

Table 2Students' Completion

Fair ProjectSection bompleted

S ke=taLou Sam Tom Bob

1

IMark Kate Sue Amy Kay Lori

Formulates own question 0 + 0 0 0 + + + 0

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

Written question + + + 0 + 0 + + 0 +

Prediction + + + 0 + 0 + + 0 +

Materials List + + + 0 + 0 + + 0 +

Procedure + + + 0 + 0 + + 0 +

Data Charts 0 + + 0 0 0 + + 0 +

Results + + + 0 0 0 + + 0 +

Conclusion + + + 0 0 0 + + 0 +

NOTE: + = section satisfactorily completed0 = section either not submitted or completed unsatisfactorily

68 53

Results ofof Semester

Section ofExaminationOBSERVATIONS

Table 3Students' Completion

Examination

Lou Sam Tom

Section

Bob

Completed

StudentMark Kate Sue Amy Kay Lori

Formulates own question 0 + + + + + + + + +

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS

Written question 0 + + + + + + + + +

Prediction 0 + + + + + + + + +

Materials List 0 + + + + + + + + 0

Procedure 0 + + + + + + + + +

Data Charts 0 + 0 + + + 0 + + 0

Results 0 + 0 + + + 0 + + 0

Conclusion + + + 0 0 0 + + +

NOTE: + = section satisfactorily completed0 = section either not submitted or completed unsatisfactorily

he could think of no question. Often he puthis head down until someone else startedworking on an investigation. He then wouldwatch and occasionally participate.

Mark, who completed much of the work, didnot successfully complete his Science Fairproject because he had difficulty making oneof the substances he needed to successfullycarry out his experiment. Because of the lack

521

of data, he did not include results or conclu-sions in his project.

Kate was very social. She seemed to enjoybeing able to share ideas rather than developher own questions. She formulated only onequestion of her own. She often ran out oftime due to her social interactions and sub-mitted only three investigations. Although Isuggested that she finish her work at home,

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she did not. Kate probably would have com-pleted more of her Science Fair project hadshe not become so involved in attempting tocontact and interview someone.

Sue consistently completed not only thewritten portions of the investigations, Sci-ence Fair project, and semester examinationand she also initiated work in the form offormulating her own questions. Incompletework was due to absences and, on the semes-ter examination, lack of time because of herdesire to be careful and neat.

Amy was always conscientious about herwork and completed almost all assignments.One investigation was not completed due toabsences. However, Amy initiated only twoquestions out of the seven investigations.Twice she chose to use a partner's questionrather than create her own. I knew Amy hadthe ability to formulate a question, but shewas not used to making decisions. Occasion-ally she would cry when she could not thinkof a question. I told her to be calm and justsit and think and gave her subtle suggestionstet efimiilata liar thniitfht nrnrecepc hilt T

I

never provided her with a question.

Kay had very low skills for sixth grade. Shesat and watched the other members of hervarious groups and occasionally attempted towrite parts of the investigations. The onlylab report that she submitted was near theend of the semester, and then it includedonly the question and data. The Science Fairproject was extremely difficult for Kay eventhough I worked with her, as I did all stu-dents, to help her clarify her procedure andlab report. I also stressed that what we dideveryday was more important than the finalproduct. Even so, she still somehow feltincompetent and did not submit anything.She never told me why as other students had.Although Kay had shown little progressduring the semester, she completed allsections of her semester examination.

Lori needed a lot of attention from me andher parents before she felt any incentive todo assignments. She was in my larger scienceclass and I did not recognize this need untilwe began the Science Fair projects. Beforethis she worked sporadically during class.After I had a conference with Lori and herparents she then began to work eagerly. Afterthe conference I made it a point to speak toher daily about her project. She did all partsof the Science Fair project except initiatingthe question. Lori did not complete thematerials list, data charts, or results sectionof her semester exam. She was also stillweak at writing a procedure and conclusionwithout some support. Lori initiated onlyone question other than the semester exami-nation question.

I was very disheartened by the results of theScience Fair project as shown in Table 2. Ifelt as if my students were not accepting thechallenge to become responsible for theirown learning by formulating their ownquestions and writing their own laboratoryinvestigations.

55

C 3 U

Students-still approached me during thesemester examination for help in finding outwhat question I wanted them to ask, butfewer than at the beginning of the semester.During the second period exam, I foundmyself still attempting to help studentsformulate my question: Do boys or girlsdissolve the Lifesaver faster? I was limitingtheir knowledge! I became uncomfortablewhen I realized I was doing this. Conse-quently, during the next class, I did notinfluence the formation of anyone's questionand the results were wonderful. This classhad a greater variety of questions than thesecond period class: Will the green Lifesaversdissolve faster than the red ones? Whichcolor Lifesaver dissolved the fastest? Does theway the Lifesaver is sucked affect how fast itdissolves? Does the amount of saliva in aperson's mouth affect the speed that theLifesaver dissolves?

ConclusionrIlhe results for the investigations portion

of this study (Table 1) showed various

"Patterns are vergdifficult to change with

one semester of work.Some students... were

willing to takerisks.... Others, so

ingrained with the fearof failure, could not

overcome theirfear inone semester."

56

levels of responsibility as defined by thestudents formulating a question and complet-ing sections of the laboratory report . For theScience Fair (Table 2), most of the studentsWere as responsible in doing their projects asthey were with their investigations, or lessresponsible. Most sections of the semesterexamination were completed by most stu-dents. The exception was Lou, who wroteonly a conclusion. All students but Louformulated their own question for the semes-ter examination (Table 3). Overall, I expecteda much greater increase in the responsibilityof my students than the results indicate.

I believe that these results were due to thepatterns that children have established intheir previous years of school. Patterns arevery difficult to change in just one semesterof work. Some students in this study werewilling to ask questions, take risks, andassume responsibility for their own learningbefore they even entered my class. Others, soingrained with the fear of failure, could notovercome their fear in one semester.

This study also included a definition ofresponsibility for learning that was mine, notthe definition that belonged to each student.Individual interviews would-have yieldedinsight into the students' definitions ofresponsibility of learning. Interviews wouldalso have helped in determining why thestudents did not complete various parts ofthe experiments or why, as in Lou's case, hedid not attempt any of the work on his own.

The Science Fair project results discouragedme. What I saw was a lack of growth inresponsibility. The results of the semesterexamination, nevertheless, were encourag-ing. At the beginning of this research it wascommon for the students to spend up to twohours trying to think of a question and aweek to conduct an investigation. Thus,being able to complete a laboratory investiga-tion and write it up as an examination in a

71

two hour period was an accomplishment initself. The results also indicated that all but

- Lou had learned the skills of conducting aninvestigation and writing a laboratory report,regardless of having used them previously.

The formulation of the question was, frommy observations, the most important step inevery activity we didthe investigations, theScience Fair projects, and the semesterexamination. Unless a question was writtendown, no further work could be accom-plished. Also, the formulation of a questionrevealed curiosity and responsibility on thepart of the student for their own learning.The performance on the semester examina-tion revealed that the students were capableof devising their own questions. The testingsituation of the semester examination,however, forced the students to do so. I didnot consider this an increase in responsibilitybecause, at this school, the semester examina-tion was an extremely important grade.

Students will not ask questions unless theyare curious and amenable to relearning thelearning nrocesses, no matter what must betorn down. They also W111 not ask questionsunless I influence them properly. This wasshown by the results of the second periodclass in which I gave hints, as compared tothe results of the next class, in which I didnot influence the formation of questions.The first class wanted their questions to beclose to the question I had conceived,whereas the latter class came up with manycreative questions. The students actions aredirectly related to the teacher's actions.

The technique that I used for increasingstudents' responsibility for their own learn-ing collided head on with the patterns estab-lished through years of schooling. Changedoes not come quickly or easily.

"The technique that Iused for increasing

responsibility, for one'sown learning collidedhead on with all of thepatterns established

through gears ofschooling."

Postscrmodified my classes for the second semes-ter. Instead of presenting the students with

materials and a challenge to create their ownquestions and solutions, I presented themwith a general area of study and asked themto choose a way to learn, abort the TPa andproocnt it to tho allowod tho stcntsto continue working in groups.

This generated more enthusiasm, creativity,and diligence than any of the first semesterinvestigations. For example, when we studiedsimple machines, one group that had notbeen particularly interested in the investiga-tive process created a song about simplemachines and sang it to the class! Also, thestudents turned our study of complex ma-chines into projects to assemble three ormore simple machines into complex ma-chines.

As the end of the school year approached, T1gave the students the freedom to investigateany subject in the book that we had notdiscussed. The students were overjoyed!They chose to study minerals, the cell,animals, drug reactions, the ocean, the

7257

plasma state of matter, eating disorders, acomparison of the human eye and cow eye,and dissection of a frog and a fish. Theirinvestigations included a list of questions,two laboratory procedures of their owncreation, a two-page report summarizingwhat they had learned, and a class presenta-tion. Every group worked diligently andevery student was enthusiastic, except Tom:Tom just attached himself to a group and didwhat they assigned to him.

Many things that happened during this timewere very exciting and encouraging to mebecause they showed that my students hadbegun to accept responsibility for their ownlearning. For example, one student, at thecompletion of the cow eye lab, announcedthat he no longer wanted to be an athlete. Henow wanted to be a doctor!

Another was that Kay became a leader in hergroup. She helped the group organize theirlab activities, and even came in after schoolto learn to use the computer to type up thereports and papers. This group compared thespeed of the flow of blood in a goldfish's tailbefore and after exposure to caffeine. Whenthey completed this experiment, they were soproud of themselves that they created an-other experiment which compared the senseof smell in males and females. Kay's group'spresentation was one of the most organizedand interesting presentations we heard.

Furthermore, Lori demonstrated much moreresponsibility. Lori worked independently ona project of her own invention which in-volved her pets. Her parents would not bringher pets to school for her presentation, butLori, who previously required much parentalsupport, did a wonderful job of thoroughlyexplaining her project to the class withouther pets.

If I were to repeat this study I would allowmore freedom of choice around the third orfourth week of school. Without a doubt, the

58

students needed to acquire the essential skillsI taught during the first semester, such aswriting a procedure, recording results, andgraphing. Yet it seemed that, when I finallygave the children the freedom to select theirarea of study, they also felt free to ask andanswer their own questions, and they startedto accept the responsibility for acquiringtheir own knowledge.

I would also emphasize more strongly thatwhat they wanted to learn was more impor-tant than what I thought they should learn.At last they stopped asking me what Iwanted them to know and began askingthemselves what they wanted to know. Thus,I would try to be more of a facilitator than adirection giver in class.

By the end of the year I was encouraged. Irealized it is difficult for both me and thestudents to change methods and incorporatenew ways of becoming responsible forlearning.

Epiloguebb Jane B. McDonald, Editor

Ms. Haydon truly has the heart of ateacher. She builds rapport with her

students, adapts her styles to meet thestudents' needs, and experiments with new

"Thep had at laststopped asking me whatI wanted them to know,and had begun askingthemselves what they

wanted to know."

73

ideas. She says she teaches the way she doesbecause it is more fun for her and her stu-dents, even though it is more work.

Ms. Haydon's twenty-six years of experienceinclude a variety of teaching situationspublic, private, high school, middle school,and elementary. This action research wasconducted during the only year she taught ata university developmental school. She is

currently teaching seventh and eighth gradeintegrated science in a rural K-8 publicschool. Implementing a radically differentteaching style in a new situation was veryrisky and threatened the confidence of evenan experienced teacher such as Ms. Haydon.

Ms. Haydon's enthusiasm for her actionresearch project turned to anxiety early inthe semester: "It was exciting to start a new

T© o o HaydonYears Teaching: 26

Present Position: 8th grade Integrated Science Teacher

Children need to learn how to become learners. No one will teach them as we do in schoolsduring the rest of their lives. If they want to become educated they must do it forthemselves.

Action research is a method of setranaigsis for a teacher. When other people critique you,you can attribute their comments to a difference in teaching styles. But action research,and videotaping in particular, helps you take stock of what really goes on in your class-room, and to change, or to stay the same. Make sure you do not try action research at anew job, because the pressures of establishing yourself are great enough.

561

74

project and be involved in research. But amonth into it I thought, 'This is ridiculous!'The kids would just sit and not do anything.I thought I was wasting the kids' time. Myprincipal kept coming in and watching me.Everyone said, 'What are you doing inthere?' But as we continued into the nextsemester, the kids blossomed. They becamereally interested in science and went wildwhen I gave them the opportunity to re-search whatever they wanted to research. Wehad eleven different projects going at onetime! In retrospect, it was very worthwhile."As further evidence of this, Amy, who hadlacked confidence in her own ability, wenton the following year to win third place inthe State Science Fair.

Ms. Haydon's situation illustrates the needfor teachers to communicate. Although Ms.Haydon was very creative on her own, shewas fairly isolated from other science educa-tors while teaching for seven years in aprivate school, and she was definitely not inthe loop for hearing about workshops,conferences, or "how-I-do-it" chit chat. Herparticipation in Science FEAT, in fact, wasserendipitous. As she began the ScienceFEAT program, she was very quiet becauseshe was not used to sharing ideas. ScienceFEAT provided contact with other scienceeducators and gave her the opportunity toshare experiences, participate and speak infront of groups, and take classes. Ms. Haydongained not only new ideas but confidencefrom her participation in Science FEAT.

60

Ms. Haydon has joined the "network," now.She informally shares her action researchwith other teachers. Educators from a varietyof levels and disciplines, such as biology,history, ESE2, and college chemistry, have alltried variations of her idea of letting thestudents ask and answer their own ques-tions. She herself continually adapts hermethods to her situations as she strives tohelp students "learn how to learn."

,43 *80,7eale<

ReferenceSchank, R. (1988). The creative attitude. New

York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Com-pany.

Footnotes1 All names are fictitious.2 Exceptional Student Education (ESE).

So Tout mat\

Actorm ROOCZTCAngelo Collins /

Vanderbilt UniversityNashville:Tennessei:\

Sarnuel,A..Spiegel;,,

Florida State Universi't'yTallahassee, Florida

f, after reading,about classroonkbasedaction research by, science teachers, youthink this is something you wantto do in

your classroom or school, this chaPter,is for I

you. It is organized into three sections: Thefirst, a definition of action research, briefly, _tertraces the evolution of the \concept of actionresearch. This section is presented in a rather,formal style. The second section presentssome guidelines for doing action research.The third, using statements from the ScienceFEAT teachers who did research and fromtheir administrators, provides advice. If youwant to learn about action research, read thesections in the order presented; if you wantto do action research, read the sections'irr---reverse order.

A De linition ofRadon R Iris

A ction research currently is an ininor-i tant t genre in the field of education.However, it is a genre that has and continuesto evolve. Kurt Lewin (1946), a social scien-tist concerned with major social problems ofthe period, is credited with coining the termaction research in the years after the Second

Thischapter is reproduced with permission of thepublisher and authors from a previOusly pub-lished monograph entitled Action Research:Perspectives from Teachers' ClasSrooms, which/Contains edited reports of action- "research con-

- ducted by middle school.ela'sspziom teachers Whoparticipated in the ScienCe,Fbcr Program.

./

World War. He argued that through actionresearch advances in theory and neededsocial changesimight be simultaneouslyachieved. Lewin described action research asa spiral of circles of research thateach beginwith a description of what is,.Oecurring in the"field of action" followed by an action plan.The movement from the field of action to theaction plan requires discussion, negotiation,

\exploration of opportunities, assessment ofPossibilities, and examination of constraints.The action plan is followed by an action stepwhich is continuously monitored. Learning,discussing, reflecting, understanding, re-thinking, and replanning occur during theaction and monitoring. The final arc in thecircle of research is an evaluation of theeffect of the plan and action on the field ofaction. This evaluation in turn leads to a newaction plan and the cycle of research beginsanew. The value of action research in educa-tional situations was almost immediatelyapparent. Through his book, Action Researchto Improve School Practice (1953), StephenCorey at Teacher's College, Columbia Univer-sity, was influential in introducing actionresearch into mainstream education.

Robert Rapoport (1970), still focusing ongeneral social problems, added an element ofethics to the definition of action research

when he claimed that it "aims to contributeto the practical concerns of people in animmediate problematic situation and to thegoals of social science by joint collaborationwithin a mutually acceptable ethical frame-work" (Rapoport as cited in Hopkins, 1993,p. 44). In 1983, Stephen Kemmis definedaction research as:

a form of self-reflective enquiry undertakenby participants in a social (including educa-tional) situation in order to improve therationality and justice of (a) their own socialor educational practices, (b) their under-standing of these practices, and (c) thesituations in which practices are carried out(Kemmis as cited in Hopkins, 1993, p. 44)

By this time, the place of action research ineducation was clear. With the inclusion of afocus on justice, the current close relationbetween action research and critical theorywas introduced. In 1985, Dave Ebbuttsolidified the role of action research ineducation when he stated that it "is aboutthe systematic study of educational practiceby groups of participants by means of theirown practical actions and by means of theirown reflection upon the effects of theseactions" (Ebbutt as cited in Hopkins, 1993,p. 45). Ebbutt quotes Kemmis when hecontinues that "Action research is trying outan idea in practice with a view to improvingor changing something, trying to have a realeffect on the situation" (Ebbutt as cited inHopkins, 1993, p. 45). John Elliott (1991)states that action research aims to feedpractical judgment in concrete situations,and the validity of the 'theories' or hypoth-eses it generates depends not so much on`scientific' tests of truth as on their useful-ness in helping people to act more intelli-gently and skilfully (sic). In action research,`theories' are not validated independentlyand then applied to practice. They are vali-dated through practice (p. 69).

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It is not surprising that, in the fifty yearssince Lewin introduced the idea of actionresearch, the genre has developed andchanged. Action research is seen to comple-ment and blend with other modes of inquiry.For example, Lawrence Stenhouse (1975)pointed out that action research and the ideaof teacher as researcher, an idea he intro-duced as a way to improve education throughempowering teachers by engaging them incurriculum development, were closelyrelated. Also, as disciples of action researchdeveloped, implemented, and refined modelsof this mode of inquiry, terms were created todistinguish variations of the method. In hisbook on action research for teachers, whichhe terms classroom research, David Hopkins(1993) describes at least four variations ofaction research. All models include cycles inwhich a situation exists (a field of action)where a practitioner desires to make achange, an action plan, an action, and anevaluation. All variations of action researchdescribed by Hopkins require reflection.

Possibly Virginia Richardson (1994) bestcaptures the spirit of this form of researchwhen she says that practical inquiry, a termfor one variation of action research, "isconducted by practitioners to help themunderstand their contexts, practices and, inthe case of teachers, their students. Theoutcome of the inquiry may be a change inpractice or it may be an enhanced under-standing." Whether it is termed actionresearch, classroom research, or practicalinquiry, the genre formalizes an aspect ofteaching that expert teachers have knownabout and employed for a long time. Theyobserve situations in their classrooms thatare less than optimal, they identify theproblem, they think about what and how tochange, they make the change, they evaluatethe impact of the change on the situation andbegin again.

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escription ofAct R-search

Identifying a ProblemIn education, the classroom and the schoolprovide the situation, using Lewin's term forcontext or setting, for action research. Asdescribed in this monograph, action researchbegins with thoughtful reflection on class-room practice. This thoughtful reflectionmight be initiated by an observation by oneteacher of another teacher's classroompractice, by a conversation with a colleague,by viewing and reviewing a videotape ofsome lessons, by a student question orbehavior, or by a parent comment. Alterna-tively, the thoughtful reflection might betriggered by reading a book or attending acourse or seminar on science teaching andstudent learning. An outsider cannot tell ateacher what is the appropriate action re-search for her classroom. Action research inclassrooms must be teacher initiated.

Observation and reflection help identify aproblem. Fri daily use the term problemdescribes a situation in which something iswrong, something needs to be corrected. Inaction research the term problem describesthe focus of interest. Often the problem issomething that, while it is quite all right, theteacher judges is less than optimal. Theteacher might wonder if student achievementcould improve if she tried a new instruc-tional strategy. Student achievement was notbad, but could be improved. Sometimes inaction research the problem is termed thepurpose, the topic, or the issue, to avoid thenegative connotations associated with theword problem. In choosing a problem, ateacher needs to be dire there is a closerelationship between the problem and theproposed change. Further, the problem needsto be something that is within the teacher'spower to change. While changing the school's

budget might improve student achievement,teachers today rarely have the authority tomake budget changes. Even if a teacher hadbudget authority, she would need to make astrong case for the relationship betweenbudget and student achievement if thesewere the two concerns in her action re-search.

Making a PlanThe next step in action research is to planthe action. The plan needs to conform tosome existing method of research and to relyon good research tools. If the teacher choosesto survey students' opinions, the survey mustbe constructed properly. The wise actionresearcher begins by looking for existingtools that meet the needs of the research, orthat can easily be modified to meet thoseneeds before trying to construct originalresearch tools. If a teacher chooses to dointerpretive research such as a case study,she must adhere to the guidelines of interpre-tive research. For example, if a teacher isdoing a case study, she must define thesystem that is being studied and its bound-

ShG 111USt plan to uullect info' illationabout the system and search that informationfor patterns that are meaningful to theproblem being researched. She must plan toreturn again and again to the system to lookfor confirmations, exceptions, and variationsof the patterns that are emerging. If a teacherchooses an interpretive research method, thetools of interpretive research must be em-ployed. A prime tool of interpretive researchis triangulation. Triangulation requires thatthe situation in which the change is beingmade is examined multiple times in multipleways. A teacher might triangulate by gather-ing the same information from a number ofstudents on different occasions, severalweeks apart. A teacher might plan to triangu-late by collecting information in differentways such as from interviews, from observa-tions, and from test scores. A teacher mighttriangulate by getting information from

63

different people in the situation such asstudents, administrators, and parents. Bookson research methods such as ComplementaryMethods for Research in Education (Jaeger,1988) provide a good primer for planningeducational research.

When doing an action research plan, themore a teacher can anticipate the action, themore detail she can include in the plan. Themore detail in the plan, the less likely theteacher will have to make instantaneousdecisions without the benefit of reflection. Inplanning action research a teacher might ask:Which class or classes shall I study? Whichstudent or students? What types of informa-tion will I collect-paper, audiotape, video-tape? Haw frequently will I collect informa-tion? What is the duration of each datacollection activity? What is the duration ofthe study? How will I keep all the informa-tion I collect stored and organized? If I amkeeping a journal myself, what will I give upto make time to write in my journal? Doingan action research plan requires reflection.

Taking ActionHaving made a plan, the teacher begins theaction research. Even the best plan will bemodified as the research continues. Therewill be unanticipated events that must beaccommodated. As information is collectedand patterns begin to emerge, differentinformation than what had been anticipatedin the plan may be necessary. During theaction phase of action research, a teachermust make time to carefully examine theinformation that is being collected. Thiscareful examination is both analysis andreflection. As the information is organizedand examined in relation to the originalproblem, the raw, unexamined informationbecomes data to support assertions about theeffect of the changes in the classroom. Anassertion is a statement that expresses whathas to be learned through the action research.

621

The masterful action researcher will haveincluded the data analysis procedures in theplan: While the circumstances of the actionmay change the planned analysis, it is a realpredicament to have carefully gatheredextensive classroom data and not have anyidea what to do with it.

Evaluating the Effect of the ActionAs the action period comes to an end, it istime for evaluation and more reflection.Questions that a teacher might ask to stimu-late evaluation include: What impact has thischange had on my students? On their learn-ing? What have I learned about students?About learning? About the subject matter, inthis case science? Should this change becomea regular feature in my classroom? How can Imake this change a regular feature? Is it costeffective? What new problems have emergedthat I now want to research?

Communicating about ActionResearchAction research by classroom teachersincludes the need to communicate withothers about the research. This requirementcomes from fundamental beliefs that bothteaching and research are activities thatoccur in communities, and that valuedknowledge in those communities must bepublic. In order for knowledge to be public, itmust be shared. Some use the term persuadeto describe the manner of sharing that is partof action research. It is more than just telling;it is not telling a story and it is not tellingeverything. It is telling the important pointsin a manner that is lucid, concise, explicit,and in a way that shows a logical relationshipbetween the problem, the action, the infor-mation collected and analyzed, and theevaluation of the action on the situation.This public sharing of action research is noteasy. In order to articulate their ideas, teach-ers need to think critically and systematicallyabout their practice. While national reformmovements in education such as the National

79

Board for Professional Teaching Standards(1991), and leaders in education reform suchas Shulman (1987) make it clear that teach-ers need to be able to articulate their profes-sional knowledge, sharing ideas about teach-ing (other than recipe swapping such as"have you tried this") has not been part ofthe common practice of teaching. Further,the skill of sharing substantive ideas aboutteaching generally has not been taught inteacher education programs.

Whether writing or talking, deciding what tosay and how to say it requires effort. Theteacher as action researcher must decide howmuch to say about the original situationtheclassroom. Other decisions involve howmuch to say about the research plan (includ-ing when it was followed, when the researchdeviated from the plan, and why), whatinformation was collected, how the informa-tion was analyzed, what new insights weregained during the action research, what newunderstanding the teacher has achieved,what changes the teacher will make in her

.nd who,: racrsinnipnA Q

ungin Inat.c U) l) LUG' J in a JllllllalAll of this knowledge must be shared in aclear, precise manner. And it must be pleas-ing and interesting to read or hear.

More and more frequently, teacher research-ers have opportunities to share their researchpublicly. The journal Teaching and Changeonly publishes research by teachers. Even asthis monograph is being prepared, otherjournals about research and science teachingsuch as Science Education and Science Scopeare considering regular sections that includeclassroom research by teachers. The annualmeetings of national and regional organiza-tions of science teacherssuch as the Na-tional Science Teachers Association, theFlorida Association of Science Teachers, andthe Florida Educational Technology Confer-enceprovide teachers opportunities toshare their research. Teachers also have

opportunities to share research throughworkshops and local research activities.

Maintaining CollegialityIf it were possible to publish the next sen-tence in flashing neon lights, that still wouldnot be sufficient to highlight its importance.Action research cannot be done in isolation.While research is a solitary activity andreflection done by oneself is an essentialcomponent of action research, teachers, oranyone else for that matter, cannot success-fully engage in action research withoutsupport. This support comes from othersteachers and teacher educatorswho have orare engaged in action research. This supportis in the form of opportunities to discuss theproblem situation, the action plan, theanalysis, and the communication in-a criticalbut non-judgmental environment.

Teachers engaged in action research alsoneed support from administrators whorecognize that it is demanding. Differentschools will need to work out different formsof support. Reduction iii committce work, anadditional aia, or the use or in-service timefor research are some possibilities. Schools inwhich teachers, with the support of theiradministrators, are engaged together inaction research within the classrooms andacross the whole school are moving towardthe vision of the school as a communitydescribed recently in the National ScienceEducation Standards (National ResearchCouncil, 1994).

While it is relatively easy to describe thephases of action research in sections in apaper, in practice the distinctions of thephases blur and overlap. The variety oftopics, methods, approaches, and presenta-tions in this monograph reflect only some ofthe variations in action research by class-room teachers.

Some Advice onDoing ActionResearch

rp caching is a demanding and complex1 activity. Doing research also is a de-

manding and complex activity. The meldingof the knowledge and skill of both teachingand research required to conduct actionresearch in a classroom situation can bedaunting in the demands and complexitypresented. It seems that some advice fromthose who engage in action research wouldbe useful to classroom teachers who areconsidering an action research project. Thissection will share advice from three points ofview: a university-based instructor whoworks with teachers engaged in actionresearch, the classroom science teachers whohave just completed an action research study,and some administrators of schools whereaction research has occurred.

Advice from the UniversityDavid Hopkins published his first edition ofA Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research in1985. At that time he had been working onprojects that engaged classroom teachers inCanada and the United Kingdom in actionresearch for almost ten years. The secondedition of his book, A Teacher's Guide toClassroom ResearchSecond Edition (1993),reflects insights from additional years ofexperience. For those interested in conduct-ing action research, the book is well worthreading. In Chapter 4, he presents six criteriafor classroom research by teachers. Thesecriteria provide some good advice to actionresearchers.

Teaching. Hopkins reminds readers that ateacher's first responsibility is to teach. Anyresearch should not interfere with or disruptthis primary responsibility. With this advicehe includes an ethical dilemma about teach-ing. If a teacher is trying a new instructional

strategy for the first time, her presentation islikely to be ragged. Is a teacher remiss in herresponsibilities if she replaces an adequateinstructional strategy with one in which herperformance may be less than adequate? Oris she remiss if she does not attempt newstrategies which may eventually improvestudent learning? He resolves the dilemma byrelying on the professional judgment of theteacher. If the teacher is so committed toimproving teaching and learning that she iswilling to engage in the rigor of actionresearch, those outside this classroom mustrely on her judgment to do nothing that willharm students.

Time. Hopkins' second criterion is that themethod of data collection cannot demand toomuch of a teacher's time. This implies thatthe teacher needs to be certain of the detailsof the data collection method before shebegins. For example, if a teacher chooses toaudiotape classroom discussion, she needs tobe aware that it takes about twice as long tolisten to a tape as to make it and about fourtimes as long to transcribe it. The teacherengaged in action research needs to plan anduse efficient data gathering techniques and areasonable data gathering and analysistimetable. Here, administrators can providesome time to a teacher engaged in actionresearch by such support as a reduction inextracurricular responsibilities.

Method. The method of data gathering needsto be sufficiently reliable that the teacher isable to formulate hypotheses and/or asser-tions with confidence. The teacher must havesufficient confidence in the research methodthat changes in classroom practice based oninformation from the method can be under-taken without undue concern.

Problem. The teacher engaged in actionresearch must be committed to the researchproblem. It seems self-evident to state that itis difficult, if not impossible, to sustain theenergy required to engage in research on a

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problem if the concern is not real and per-sonal. Further, the problem needs to bedefinable and solvable. As Hopkins says,dealing with amorphous and overly complexproblems that have no solutions only leads tofrustration.

Community. In so far as possible, engaging inaction research to improve teaching andlearning should take place in the context of aschool community that shares a commonvision.

Ethics. Doing action research presupposesethical behavior. Hopkins relies on theethical guidelines for action research pre-sented by Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1988).Some of these ethical guidelines that impactclassroom research include:

Observe protocol. Make sure that allrelevant persons are informed and allnecessary permissions and authoriza-tions are obtained. For example, permis-sion might be required to videotapestudents, to use student work samples, orto PYrdiritpermission before using direct quotes.

Confidentiality. Accept the responsibilityto maintain confidentiality and actaccordingly. For example, use pseud-onyms in place of actual names.

+ Negotiate with those affected. Considerthe wishes and responsibilities of otherswho are in the situation where the actionresearch will occur. This might includethe students, other teachers of the samestudents, administrators, or parents.Allow others whose work you describe tochallenge your interpretations. Allowthose involved in meetings and inter-views to add to or edit their originalstatements. Such practices increasefairness, accuracy, and relevance.

Report progress. Keep the work visibleand share expected and unexpectedoutcomes or insights with others inter-ested in the problem.

Make your principles binding andknown. While the researcher wants toencourage others who have a stake in theoutcome of the action research to getinvolved, all people engaged in actionresearch must agree to the principlesbefore the work begins; all must under-stand their rights and responsibilities inthe research process.

Advice from Classroom TeachersEach of the Science FEAT teachers engagedin action research during the 1994-1995academic year was asked to put in writingsome advice to another teacher who might beconsidering an action research project. Theadvice they gave is not substantively differ-ent from the advice of the university-basedaction researcher, but it is captured in thewords of the classroom teachers. Theiradvice is a product of their experience and

.^.Irs, n n Tf n rr fr. ty -es

ture in typeface the emotion presented inoversized letters, different colored inks andmultiple exclamation points. The followingsection, organized by themes, weaves to-gether the direct quotations from the ScienceFEAT teachers. The themes which emergedfrom reading and organizing the advice areresearch: choosing your topic; designing yourresearch; conducting your research; commu-nicating your research; gaining support; andsurviving. These themes are addressed in theteachers' own words.

Choosing your topic. Think a lot about yourresearch topic. Do something that is relevantand meaningful to you personally. Choose asubject you are very interested in exploring,or a question you have a burning desire toanswer. Make it relevant for you. It is reallyimportant to do research on a topic that

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interests you, something that you have beencurious about. You will find yourself "mar-ried" to your research, so that choosing asubject you really want to "spend time with"makes the union easier and more enjoyable.

Identify a question that you would like toinvestigate about your teaching style, meth-ods, or classroom environment. Focus onyour classroom and students. Choose a topicthat will have force in the way you teach andthe way students learn. For the research to beuseful to you it needs to be something thatwill improve your teaching and somethingthat will have meaning for your particularsituation. Choose a topic that will be person-ally beneficial for you to explore. Choose atopic that will help you to become better inyour profession. All that hard work will thenbe worthwhile. Consider your individualinterest, time required, participants.

Spend lots of time narrowing your choice oftopic down because you will spend lots oftime with it. Keep it narrow. Narrow it downto one or two things. The narrower thebetter. The narrower the subject the easier itwill be. It doesn't have to be something tooinvolved. Try to limit the scope of the re-search. The project tends to grow and be-come more and more complex. Make sureyou have focused or zeroed in on your actualquestion before you begin the study. Other-wise you will have trouble narrowing yoursearch and wind up with too much irrelevantdata.

Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple.Keep it simple. Keep it simple and precise.Keep it direct and simple. Simple is not bad.Think small. Don't try to answer more thanone question and try to make your questionas basic and measurable as possible. Designyour study so that you are concentrating onone facet of your problem. Stick to onevariable. You will discover many otherquestions that concern your topicyou need

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to stick to one. Don't bite off more than youcan chew.

Observe videotape footage of yourself en-gaged in teaching to identify aspects ofteaching which could benefit from being thefocus of research. Make some journal entriesafter every day of teaching and audiotape orvideotape two or three lessons to look forstrengths and weaknesses. Read researchdone by other teachers. Read recent researchliterature to find out what others are think-ing. Read as much literature as possible. Putsufficient time into planning functions.During this phase research is the key. Thismust include more than library research; talkto others who have done it, to experts in thefield, seek community help.

Designing your research. Carefully plan thedata collection process. Define data collectionand analysis clearly from the outset andsolicit one or more people to assist you indata collection. I did this and it was ex-tremely helpful. Be sure that the methodsused to study the question match the purposeof the study. Make a trial run beforehand.After my first attempt this year it would bemuch easier to do again.

Conducting your research. Jump In! If thereis an area in your classroom you'd like toinvestigate, a technique you'd like to try, orsomething you wonder about in your teach-ing practice, think about how you mightinvestigate your question and start. Don't putoff getting started. Just as soon as you knowwhat your question is, start planning tocollect your data. Start early in the schoolyear to be sure there is plenty of time toupdate and follow up on the results you mayget. Continue the research for a long enoughtime to be able to draw some conclusions.

Make sure you are clear in your own mindabout the data collection: keep a notebookwith you at all times to jot down notes about

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classroom occurrences. Collect feedback fromstudentsit can be formal or informal; ifdata about attitudes is being collected, usesome videotapesbody language is impor-tant. Prepare well in advance. Make sure youhave all the necessary materials. Organizeyour materials so they are readily accessible.Have all your equipment ready and workingwhen videotaping and audiotaping. If video-taping your classroom, I found it more usefulwhen someone came in to run the camera.When the camera was just mounted on atripod, much of the class action was lost. Onany survey or interview include as a finalcomment, "Any other comments, observa-tions, questions and suggestions?"

Don't be surprised if your research takesseveral turns and twists before completion.Look for the unexpected. Be flexible. Beprepared to reflect frequently on how theresearch is going. Don't feel that you mustremain true to your original statement. Ifdata or experience lead you in a new direc-tion, give serious consideration to followingit. Accept the fact that your research maychange (your method or your focus) once

f tt centhave began. You may ind ha a111

constraints dictate this. You may find thatyour data causes you to look at your questionin another way. Certain aspects of your studymay be better 'dropped' since they offer noinsight into your revised focus. [But] afteryou have reached your research question andcompleted gathering your data, if you findnew data don't try to add it after your paperis complete or you will work yourself todeath. I did this and it was extremely hard(no matter how good the information is).

Organize! Organize your personal life. Timewill be short. Spend a few extra minutesgetting organized. Get a box and keep allresearch documents together. Have a specialcontainer on hand (a bin, a folder, a filedrawer) to drop student work in. Set up aspecial file cabinet drawer to keep all of the

material you collect. Prelabel your folders.Have one for method, data, student work,journals, literature, etc. Review data fre-quently and label it clearly. Be careful to keepyour notes together. I used several legal padsscattered around my classroom. If I had usedone, it would have been easier to compilenotes in my journal.

Analyze data as you get it, record it as yougo. Only analyze the data you need. Workwith a small sample of students to keep thework manageable. Develop a timeframe tofollow and then maintain it. Always writedown everything. Regardless of the type ofresearch, a journal is of great use in recallingwhat happened. Make one. Keep a journal.The journal should be written in every day.If not, you will forget some very importantinsights and events that may be important toyour final paper. The journal will not onlyhelp you on your paper, but help you realizeyour own personal growth as you learn fromyour research. Your progress and change willbe more evident to you.

Communicating your research. Be sure tohayc someone review :y-our work, especiallysomeone with a 'scientific' mind and anEnglish background. If you can't find oneperson with both strengths, you will need tohave two people. One must read for contentand the other for grammar. Find a slash-and-burn editor. You will be so emotionally tiedto your writing and the story behind thewords that you cannot be objective. You don'tneed a "friend" who is afraid to say "I didn'tunderstand what this part is doing here," or"Your sentences are too wordy." Find some-one who has both the competence and theassertiveness to really edit your paper. Don'ttake the criticism personally. And if thesuggestions for change alter your fundamen-tal feel for the writing, don't make them.

Do not extend the writing phase too much oryou will lose your focus.

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Keep updated versions of your paper on thehard drive and 2 or 3 disks.

Gaining support. Administrators should bebriefed on the facts of the process and under-stand thoroughly how much is involved inthe preparation of a quality project. Theyshould put in writing that they are aware ofit so they can be reminded when it slips theirmind. It takes a lot of time and effort to doresearch in a classroom. Gain support fromthe administration so that the obligationsoutside the classroom are severely limited.This should include not teaching new subjectmatter. Do not take on new teaching assign-ments when beginning to do research. Itwould be valuable to have a lighter teachingschedule, due to the amount of time neededto do research. Don't volunteer for extracur-ricular activities.

Talking to others helps even if they are notdoing research. Share your research withcolleagues and mentors. Their suggestionsand opinions can be valuable. Review datathe first time in the presence of a supportivepartner. Pace yourself and take advantage ofthe assistance being offered.

Surviving. Remember to consider theworkload demands of conducting classroomresearch when doing your classroom plan-ning. Use your free time and planning timewell. Don't take on any other outside tasksavoid serving on school committees, takingthat office at church, or anything that youcan defer until later on. Your study will takeup more of your time (and even your emo-tional energies) than you think. During theresearch time it is hard to find the life out-side of teaching and research. Rememberfamily and friends.

Go easy on yourself, if you see flaws in yourpractice. Don't get discouraged. Get lots ofinput but trust yourself. This is your per-sonal journey. If it doesn't fit someone else's

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vision of what 'research' is, fine. But it's yourjourney and you are the only one who knowswhat you are seeking. Enjoy the experience!

Advice from School AdministratorsThe administrators of the schools in whichthe Science FEAT teachers work wereinvited to make recommendations to otheradministrators at schools where teachers areconsidering action research. While not asextensive as the teachers' advice, it is powerful.

An administrator needs to celebrate what ateacher has done. Be tuned into teachers thatseem to be asking questions and suggest theyget together with another teacher who hasdone action research. For teachers who wantto try it out, use action research as theteacher assessment tool instead of the tradi-tional form.

Administrators must provide resources toteachers who show promise through actionresearch. Allow the teacher the freedom toexplore and the time to implement actionresearch. Expecting them to grow withoutproviding enough resources is ludicrous.Provide additional planning time. Providemore teacher assistant help. Allow flexiblecurriculum.

ry P-rsConcitason

7 have been privileged to work with the_Leachers participating in the Science FEATProgram since its inception. I have workedwith them as they learned research methods,as they developed the action research plan, asthey initiated and followed the plan, as theyanalyzed the data, as they evaluated theirclassroom practice, and as they preparedwritten papers. I have watched and listenedas they have formally shared teacher initiatedand designed, classroom-based action re-

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Dr AngeRo CoRRtneYears Teaching: 28

Present Position: Associate Professor ofScience Education, Vanderbilt University

Awards & Accomplishments:Alumni Achievement Award, University of

Wisconsin, School of Education, 1996Innovation in Teaching Science Teachers

Award, Association for the Education ofTeachers in Science, 1995

Director National Science Education Stan-dards, 1994-1995

Principal Investigator Science FEAT, 1993-1995

Fellowship AAAS, 1994

Action research is valuable for I feel it provides teachersone structure for professional growth.

Samuoli A. SplegaRIL VW:41111g; 0

Present Position: Director of K-12 Educa-tional Programs, National High Magnetic FieldLaboratory, Florida State University

Awards & Accomplishments:Innovation in Teaching Science Teachers

Award, Association for the Education ofTeachers in Science, 1995

Program Director of Science FEAT, 1993-1995

Mg involvement with the Science FEAT program hasbeen truly educational and rewarding. Some of the mostrewarding moments have been when I have had opportu-nities to work in small groups or one on one with theteachers and their students.

Research is a difficult yet worthwhile endeavor. Actionresearch presents a potential tool for teachers to focus onenhancing their classrooms. It allows them to enhanceeducation by focusing on the problems, constraints, andsolutions within the local contexts of their schools.

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search with one another in a university-based colloquium. While many experienceswith these teachers doing action researchbring me joy and hope, allow me to close bysharing one. Daily a Science FEAT teacherwill say to me something like, "I know somuch more about classroom research, nextyear I am going to redo my study but justfocus on. . .," or "I have so many morequestions now than I did last summer, I amnot sure which one to research next year," or"My study for next year is already set; I planto. . .". With teachers with such knowledge,skill, and dedication, I am confident that thefuture of science education is in good hands.

ReferencesCorey, S (1953). Action research to improve

school practice. New York: Teachers CollegePress.

Elliott, J. (1991). Action Research for Educa-tional Change. Milton Keynes: Open Uni-versity Press.

Hopkins, D. (1993). A teacher's guide toclassroom research (2nd ed.). Bristol, PA:Open University Press.

Jaeger, R. (1988). Complementary methods forresearch in education. Washington, DC:American Educational Research Associa-tion.

Kemmis, S. (1983). Action research. In T.Husen & T. Postlethwaite (Eds.) Interna-tional encyclopedia of education: Researchand studies. Oxford: Pergamon.

Kemmis, S. & McTaggart, R. (1988). Theaction research planner (3rd ed). Victoria:Deakin University Press [1st ed., 1981].

Lewin, K. (1946). Action research andminority problems. Journal of Social Issues,2, 34-46.

National Research Council. (1994). DraftNational Science Education Standards.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

National Board for Professional TeachingStandards. (1991). Toward high and rigor-ous standards for the teaching profession:

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Initial policies and perspectives of the na-tional board for professional teaching stan-dards (3rd ed.). Detroit, MI: Author.

Rapoport, R. (1970). Three dilemmas inaction research. Human Relations, 23, 1-11.

Richardson, V. (1994). Conducting researchon practice. Educational Researcher, 23, 5-10.

Shulman, L.S. (1987). Knowledge andteaching: Foundations of new reform.Harvard Educational Review, 57 (1), 1- 22.

Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction tocurriculum research and development.London: Heinemann.

Suggested ReadingsRichardson-Koehler, V. 1988. What works

does and doesn't. Journal of CurriculumStudies, 20, 1, 71-79

Schon, D.A. 1983. The reflective practitioner.New York, New York: Basic Books

Shulman, L.S. 1987. Knowledge and teach-ing: Foundations of new reform. HarvardEducation Review, 57, 1, 1-21

Sockett, H. 1993. The moral base for teacherprofessionalism. New York, New York:Teachers College Press

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