RESEARCH IN THE CLASSROOM

Amy Korol

Centering Instruction on Student Interest As teachers we are responsible for allowing our

students to grow in any and everyway possible. Why limit our students and ourselves to only the lessons that are provided to us in textbooks? Why must we follow such a rigid schedule that does not allow us to explore the questions that arise throughout the day by our students? This presentation will give suggestions for how to open your classroom up for questions and inquiry. We are not the all-knowing, all-powerful beings in the classroom, our students are more than capable of finding the answers to the questions they have when they are given the tools to be successful.

Experiential Classrooms

“Teachers acted as facilitators. Our understanding was evaluated by how well we understood problems and ultimately through our results in solving them. Outcomes were often unknown prior to exploration, and student usually worked in tandem with teachers to investigate predicaments presented” (Schultz, 2008, pg. 17).

The Style of Inquiry

Inquiry based learning has been around for many years now, but many teachers are unsure as to how to implement it into their classrooms. Inquiry does not have to be the only method used in the classroom, which I believe is a misconception by many. There are many projects and themes that allow for inquiry instruction to be easily used. It is an unwritten understanding that it would be impossible to create a classroom that solely centered on inquiry. Especially today when teacher accountability is new and prevalent in every school district.

What Is Inquiry?

“A student-centered, active learning approach focusing on questioning, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It’s associated with the idea ‘involve me and I understand” (www.eduscapes.com/tap/topic43.html).

Supporting Individual Inquiries The most memorable inquiry experiences

happen when the student answers his/her own question. How do you as a teacher support their inquiry? Ongoing records of individual students Records of class discussions Samples of student work Teacher reflection journals Bringing in resources to support student research Student presentations Teacher charting of questions, observations, and

comments available for all students to see (adapted from Falk & Blumenreich, 2005, pg.166)

Student Examples The Kindergarten and Grade 1 scientists in class

are investigating fish. They have generated many questions and are busy searching for answers. They are carefully observing the fish that live in their classroom aquarium and by researching in depth the lives and habits of one particular species. They also cooked and ate some jackfish as part of their research. These students have more questions about fish.

How do fish breathe under water? How do fish see under water? How do they eat? What do they eat? How do fish move? Do fish have teeth? How big? How do fish grow? What stages do they go

through? (http://www.galileo.org/schools/district-

clearview/fish/index.html)

Another Student Example TASK 2 - Authentic Representations Our conversations and questions with the

paleontologist led us to discussions about authentic representations for our animals. Through knowledge gained by these conversations students were dissatisfied with their artistic representations and felt they needed to further explore what they should look like. We used the work from the paleontologist to further develop these representations.

(http://partner.galileo.org/schools/bpeak/extinctions/ ) Emma says: I decided to draw the

sea otter because I am studying it. I am studying it because they are endangered. The sea otter is endangered because people kill them for food.

Spencer says: I drew the this lion because it is an endangered species and it might become extinct because many people are killing them. People are shooting them to use their skins for carpets and to eat their meat.

Challenges to Teachers

Time constraints State testing schedules APPR Common Core Standard Guidelines Individualizing for every student in

the class Gathering and preparing all the

necessary resources for each study Tracking student progress

More Challenges......

“Teaching to support children’s pursuit of questions calls on us to listen to children’s voices closely, to value and respond to their concerns, and to ask questions of them that increase their understandings, call attention to the contexts in which other questions arise, and suggest opportunities for more observation and more thoughts” (Falk & Blumenreich, 2005, pg.171).

My Proposal

How does student selection of literature influence the comprehension of reading materials?

My purpose is to convey the importance of student selected reading material in the classroom to increase student willingness and motivation in regards to the English Language Arts block of the school day.

Relation of Proposal

I am a huge proponent of classrooms that are centered on the students. I feel that too often times I enter classrooms and there is no evidence of what the children are interested in, rather worksheets that are printed and textbooks that are read aloud. My proposal and my interest in the addition of research into the classroom is the students, which all education should be focused in on.

My Interview with Two of My Students My interview questions focused on student

reactions to having the ability to choose their own books. I was shocked by the response to the question: how would you feel is you were able to choose the books you read in class? “I feel that the person that is picking out the stuff

that I have to do is making me learn more and that’s all. I feel like I would not pick the right topics.”

“I would feel more independent but I also would feel like I might be losing something.”

(both students are in 5th grade regular education classrooms)

In the Future…..

I hope that education takes a shift away from the stiffness that came with the standards and the APPR, bringing attention back to the students. It is my hope to create a classroom in which my students feel free to learn about things that they question, read things that spark their interests, and look up to a teacher that supports them in everyway that she possibly can.