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 ED463944
  2000-10-00
 
Feldman, Allan - Capobianco, Brenda

ERIC Clearinghouse for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education
Columbus OH.

 
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This introduction to action research in science education includes examples of how
action research has been used to improve teaching and learning, as well as suggested
resources for those seeking to incorporate action research into their own practice of
teaching or research. Many have attempted to define action research or categorize its
many variants. For example, Noffke (1997) has studied personal, professional and
political purposes of action research, while McKernan (1988) has focused on the ways
that ideology shapes its design. Rearick and Feldman (1999) have studied other
dimensions of action research, including purpose, theoretical orientation, and type of
reflection used. Here we draw upon these and other reviews to define action research
as "systematic inquiry by practitioners to improve teaching and learning." Our
definition assumes that the products of the inquiry are made public, adding to the
knowledge bases of teaching and learning, and open to critique by peers.


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Action research has been utilized in three domains of science education: teacher
education and professional development; research on science learning; and curriculum
development and implementation. In all cases teachers are in the role of researcher,
either studying their own methods of instruction and assessment; examining the
cognitive processes of learning; or participating in the process of curriculum research
and development.


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Action research has been used in both preservice and inservice science teacher
education, and as a way for teachers to collaborate with one another to improve
practice. Hewson and colleagues (1999) use action research to help prospective
teachers become reflective about what it means to teach for conceptual change.
Prospective teachers designed, conducted, and presented research projects, used
reflective journals as research notebooks, and participated in seminars. The process
was found to help participants focus more on student conceptions and explanations,
important aspects of teaching for conceptual change.

In a Science Inquiry Group (van Zee,1998). beginning and experienced teachers meet
monthly to share experiences and insights about science teaching. Teachers present
their findings through research festivals, Web pages, presentations at local and
national conferences, and submission of case studies for publication in practitioner-
based journals.

Science FEAT was a three-year teacher enhancement project (Spiegel, 1995) funded
by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in which middle school science teachers
studied their own teaching. University faculty members provided a course on research
methods and guided teachers through individualized action research studies. The
teachers met regularly in groups to discuss the progress of their research, and in the
third year they presented their research in a colloquium. The research projects have
been published (Spiegel, 1995) and serve as examples of how action research can be a
viable, effective method of change for classroom teachers. This and other professional
development programs for inservice science teachers have resulted in increased
teacher knowledge and improved instructional practice (Feldman, 1996; Madsen &
Gallagher, 1992), as well as more inquiry-based, problem-based learning, and
constructivist science teaching (Staten, 1998).


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The Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) was an action research program
aimed at improving the teaching and learning of science by encouraging teachers to
inquire into how their students learn (Baird & Mitchell, 1987). Teachers designed
action plans that incorporated the use of innovative pedagogy in targeted classes.
With support from school administrators, the teachers met as a group throughout the
school year to share the progress of their research. Through reflection on their own
practice in collaboration with other teachers and university researchers, the teacher
researchers came to new understandings of how students learned science.

Solomon and colleagues (Solomon, Duveen, & Scot, 1992) used action research as a
means of collaborating with middle school science teachers to gather data about
classroom learning. The research focused on the effects of incorporating historical
studies into the science curriculum on students' understanding of the nature of science
and their learning of scientific concepts. Five classrooms located in three different
schools were involved, and in each classroom a university researcher worked
alongside a teacher on a regular basis both to observe and to assist the teachers in
improving practice.

Minstrell has for more than 20 years researched in his classroom how students learn
physics. By paying close attention to his students and his own teaching through the
use of audiotape, videotape, and interviews, he has uncovered common
misconceptions and devised methods for helping students develop deep conceptual
understanding of physics concepts (Feldman & Minstrell, 2000; Minstrell, 1992).
Minstrell's efforts demonstrate how a classroom teacher who is part of a community
of researchers can add substantially to the knowledge base on science learning.


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Scope, Sequence and Coordination (SS&C) was an NSTA project aimed at

transforming the ways science is taught by making instruction more student-centered
and inquiry based, and by changing the curriculum sequence so that all students study
all domains of science each year. During two years of the project in California,
teachers engaged in action research on the local development of SS&C curriculum
and the struggle to implement it in their schools (Feldman, Mason, & Goldberg, 1992;
1993; Feldman, 1995).
The transformation of science curriculum through a focus on issues of science,
technology and society (STS) was the goal of several collaborative action research
groups facilitated by Hodson and others (Pedretti & Hodson, 1995; Hodson &
Bencze, 1998). Action research assisted participating teachers in knowing how to
learn about educational issues, how to formulate their own views on curriculum, and
how to critique and develop their own educational practice.

Teachers of writing and other literacy skills have been actively engaged in action
research through local and National Writing Projects (Smith, 1996) and other efforts
(e.g., Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Hollingsworth, 1994). Saul and Reardon (1996)
directed an action research project in which elementary school teachers studied ways
to integrate the teaching of reading and writing with science.

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Resources for those who want to use action research in science education include
"how-to-do" books (Altrichter, Posch, & Somekh, 1993; Calhoun, 1994; Mills, 2000;
Sagor, 1992), a chapter in the "Handbook of Research Design in Mathematics and
Science Education" (Feldman & Minstrell, 2000), and published examples of science
teachers' action research ( e.g., Feldman et al., 1992; 1993; Minstrell, 1992; Saul &
Reardon, 1996; Saurino, 1994; Spiegel, 1995)

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Altrichter, H., Posch, P., & Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers investigate their own work:
An introduction to the methods of action research." New York: Routledge.

Baird, J., & Mitchell, I. (Eds.). (1987). "Improving the quality of teaching and
learning: An Australian case study - The Peel Project." Melbourne, Australia: Monash
University Printery.

Calhoun, E. (1994). "How to use action research in the self-renewing school."

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. (1993). "Inside/Outside: Teacher research and

knowledge." New York: Teachers College Press.

Erzberger, A., Fottrell, S., Hiebart, L., Merrill, T., Rappleyea, A., Weinmann, L ., &
Woosnam, T. (1996). A framework for physics projects. "The Physics Teacher,"
34(1), 26-28.

Feldman, A. (1995). The Institutionalization of Action Research: The California "100

Schools". In S. Noffke & R. Stevenson (Eds.), "Educational action research:
Becoming practically critical." New York: Teachers College Press.

Feldman, A. (1996). Enhancing the practice of physics teachers: Mechanisms for the
generation and sharing of knowledge and understanding in collaborative action
research. "Journal of Research in Science Teaching," 33(5), 513-540.
Feldman, A., Mason, C., & Goldberg, F. (Eds.). (1992). "Action research: Reports
from the field, 1991-92." San Diego, CA: Center for Research in Mathematics and
Science Education.

Feldman, A., Mason, C., & Goldberg, F. (Eds.). (1993). "Action research: Reports
from the field, 1992-93." San Diego, CA: Center for Research in Mathematics and
Science Education.

Feldman, A., & Minstrell, J. (2000). Action research as a research methodology for
the study of the teaching and learning of science. In E. Kelly & R. Lesh (Eds.),
"Handbook of research design in mathematics and science education." Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hewson, P. W., Tabachnick, R. B., Zeichner, K. M., Blomerk, K. B., Meyer, H.,
Lemberger, J., Marion, R., Park, H., & Toolin, R. (1999). Educating prospective
teachers of biology: Introduction and research methods. "Science Education," 83(3),
247-73.

Hodson, D., & Bencze, L. (1998). Becoming critical about practical work: Changing
views and changing practice through action research. International "Journal of
Science Education," 20(6), 683-694.

Hollingsworth, S. (1994). "Teacher research and urban literacy education: Lessons

and conversations in a feminist key." New York: Teachers College Press.

Madsen, A. L., & Gallagher, J. J. (1992). "Improving learning and instruction in

junior high school science classes through the role of the support teacher." (Research
Series No. 212). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, Institute of Research
on Teaching.

McKernan, J. (1988). The countenance of curriculum action research: Traditional,

collaborative, and emancipator-critical conceptions. "Journal of Curriculum and
Supervision," 3(3), 173-200.

Mills, G. E. (2000). Action research : A guide for the teacher researcher. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Minstrell, J. (1992). "Facets of students' knowledge and relevant instruction." Paper

presented at the International Workshop: Research in Physics Learning - Theoretical
Issues and Empirical Studies, University of Kiel (IPN), Kiel, Germany.

Noffke, S. (1997). Professional, personal, and political dimensions of action research.

"Review of Research in Education," 22, 305-343.

Pedretti, E., & Hodson, D. (1995). From rhetoric to action: Implementing STS
education through action research. "Journal of Research in Science Teaching," 32(5),
463-485.

Rearick, M., & Feldman, A. (1999). Orientations, product, reflections: A framework

for understanding action research. "Teaching and Teacher Education," 15(4), 333-350.
Sagor, R. (1992). "How to conduct action research." Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Saul, W., & Reardon, J. (Eds.). (1996). "Beyond the science kit." Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.

Saurino, D. R. (1994, April 4-8, 1994). "Evaluation formats: A teacher's action

research look at tracking." Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Smith, M. A. (1996). The National Writing Project after 22 Years. "Phi Delta
Kappan," 77(10), 688-692.

Solomon, J., Duveen, J., & Scot, L. (1992). Teaching about the nature of science
through inquiry: Action research in the classroom. "Journal of Research in Science
Teaching," 29(4), 409-421.

Spiegel, S. (Ed.). (1995). "P erspectives from teachers' classrooms. Action research.
Science FEAT (Science for Early Adolescence Teachers)." Tallahassee, FL: SERVE,
Math/Science Consortium,

Staten, M. E. (1998). "Action research study: A framework to help move teachers

toward an inquiry-based science teaching approach." Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee
Public Schools.

van Zee, E. H. (1998). Fostering elementary teachers' research on their science

teaching practices. "Journal of Teacher Education," 49(4), 245-254.