Action research is a process of enquiry by you as a practitioner into the effectiveness of your own teaching and your students’ learning.
It’s a natural way of acting and researching at the same time... We do something. We check if it worked as expected. If it didn’t, we analyse what happened and what we might do differently. If necessary we repeat the process. The people affected by the change are involved in the action and the critical reflection. Understanding is widely shared, and so is commitment to any planned change.
The following diagram shows the process from identifying the problem or issue through to sharing findings.
CHILD FILE 1: Improving practice through action research
To do:
Make a list of issues or problems you would like to address/ change in your practice.
Develop a list of research questions. Remember that good research questions get at explanations, reasons, relationships. “How does....?” “What happens when....?”; is manageable and can be completed; provides a deeper understanding of the topic and is meaningful to you and is measurable.