I'm interested in conducting an action research project in my educational psychology undergraduate classroom but am not quite sure what types of problems/topics I could focus on. Any possible suggestions?
action research is like applying PDCA
on a continuous research topic..
For projects in educational psychology - Learning, Effective Teaching, Cognitive development, Application of Learning, Lessons Learnt from Application etc., are some of illustrative projects...
Everyday experience of a Teacher and taught inclusive of learning materials, methodology, evaluation etc., where the personal stance can be derived or linked to can be evolved as a project...
It may take a little leg work, but one of the service projects I've implemented in my undergraduate Educational Psychology courses is to collaborate with the University childcare/Preschool center. I have my students conduct research on a subject pertaining to what is taught in the course and research/develop an activity using resources available to them that meet the center's safety guidelines (i.e., social-emotional interactions using laminated puppets displaying different emotions). The students then conduct pre-observations, implement the activity, and then conduct a post-observation, both observations also include an interview with the classroom teacher. By the end of the semester each team is required to submit a formal paper on the experience and express how the project was (or was not) beneficial for the future careers as educators. I have them follow the APA guidelines to format their paper. For my high achievers, I then work with them to submit their work to a journal specifically for undergraduate research. This way they have the "cradle to grave" experience of developing a study, conducting the research, implementing their creativity, and then capture the experience in writing.
For grading purposes, at the end of the semester I have each student complete peer evaluations on their team and a self-evaluation that I convert into a weight I use to multiply the final paper grade by to generate individual grades. Those that do an exceptional job organizing, resolving disputes amongst their peers, or display a passion for the project beyond just task completion, will earn a weight greater than 1.0. Those that demonstrate amotivation in the project are given a lesser weight, such as .6. This way it is a group project, but is not a group grade and all individuals are accountable for their contributions (effort and respect).
I suspect this can be conducted at any level of school. There are a considerable number of intended experiences, but what seems to be most memorable to my students is the opportunity to see how the contexts taught in my course are applicable and how even small activities can have a major impact on the development of their future students. I hope this may spark some ideas for you.
Undergraduate educational psychology class would have numerous options, but an appropriate direction might be with personality type and an introduction to discovering how students learn.
An easy way to connect students with personality type and the effect on learning might be to focus on the introvert / extrovert and sensing / intuitive dichotomies. Trying to keep this brief, introverts are reflective and love to connect the dots, while extroverts learn with explanations and group interactions.
Sensors are very detail oriented and want to know all the facts and expectations before starting any projects. Intuitives on the other hand would prefer the opportunity to discover facts on their own. You can go as far as you want with these learning styles, but I will leave off on this to discuss the activity portion.
Students can be assigned one dichotomy or the other and given the assignment to question people specifically to discover their preference of type. Introvert and extrovert are the easiest to determine preference, but sensing and intuition are not too difficult either.
Much research has been done on teaching to personality type with results your students would find interesting and the data collection process simple. For brevity sake, please email me for the short list of questions your students could ask. They also need to keep record of gender, age, and perhaps even GPA if possible. Feel free to email me at [email protected]
In my course, we revised the university's course evaluation form. The students conducted background research on teaching and learning. They drafted items for the revised form. In class discussions, they had to think through what was critical for student learning. They piloted the items with at least five friends. The results of the pilot were added to an SPSS dataset and analyzed. They came up with so many important items that we decided to turn it into a student survey for academic program review. We recently conducted a meta-analysis of the results from the last five years in which the survey was used as a core element of program review.
Nina,
There are numerous areas in which you can conduct Classroom Action Research (CAR). The approach suggested by Krishnan is quite useful. There are numerous topics to research on. For example, you could find out whether students' participation in classroom activities influences their performance, whether a teaching style affects learning outcomes, etc. The topic depends on your interest.
All in all, CAR is an interesting undertaking. Success.
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