Lee

Hi folks,

 

I've been suffering almost terminal guilt at the lack of progress I've made in getting towards what I might do for action research with this forum. Here's the thing: There's a project coming up on Guided Inquiry being run through AIS/CEC schools which involves us being trained by Ross Todd to develop a unit of work using Guided Inquiry methods, then carrying it out, then writing a report on how we went. This will take place Term 2 - 4.

 

It is intended to be the forerunner of a bigger research project run by Ross himself next year, but we really don't know if we'll get the funding for it.

 

However, we do know we have the funding for these pilot studies. My funding is coming from my school, not either of the AIS or CEC, so that I guess that what I do with my project is my (and Loreto's!) business.

 

My major problem with getting anywhere with coming up with some action research in this forum is lack of time. It is unrealistic for me to think I can do something other than the pilot project this year. BUT! I thought I could do the pilot project - which would focus on whether the interventions we set up in the context of a unit of work contribute to deep learning. The mechanism to judge this would be the SLIM toolkit.

 

I'm thinking that I could write up this project for this forum from another point of view - it would be good if we could find out at Loreto whether Guided Inquiry works. Maybe I can do the Guided Inquiry unit (with Year 9 PDHPE) later this year, and use it for TWO purposes. The SLIM evaluation, as well as reporting on it in another way - interviewing staff involved, interviewing students, before, during and after the project to get qualitative data on their thoughts at these stages.

 

What do you think?

 

I'm just relieved to have had a thought at all!

 

 

Lee

 

 

 Morning!

 

Cold Saturday morning in Sydney - delirious with flu... hope this makes sense!

 

I've been interested in CARTL since I first heard of it, because I think action research to support our curriculum role in schools is the way to go. I've been very inspired by the Guided Inquiry theory of Ross Todd and Carole Kuhlthau over the last year, and would like to make my contribution to this group focus on Guided Inquiry.

 

I've been working with Guided Inquiry methods at my school for the last year. The first assignment I worked on with Year 7 English last year was an open-ended, develop your own inquiry, with which I gathered data and was able to isolate some key characteristics of these students and their information usage, their difficulties and the things they find easy to do. This was published by Ross Todd in the first Scan of this year.

 

The beauty of Guided Inquiry is that it's both a method you can use every time you work with students on an assignment, as well as a ready-made kit for action research. Using the SLIM (School Library Impact Measurement) Toolkit, as both a means of identifying the difficulties students are having at critical points in the research process, and therefore meeting their difficulties; and as a means of gathering data and analysing it makes it an invaluable tool in both helping students develop critical thinking skills and self-conscious use of information, as well as proving that you are doing this.

 

It's the goods!

 

My first attempts with Guided Inquiry also revealed to me how little I know about action research and its protocols. This is the reason I'm here. To learn more about how to use evidence-based practice to support student learning and my role as a teacher librarian in my school. But I want to do it properly!

 

I'm working towards framing a project for CARTL, and think it may arise out of some further experience I've had with Guided Inquiry in semester one at my school, where I've worked with two long term independent research projects using Guided Inquiry methods. Some of my findings from these include:

 

• Students will be students and will leave everything till the end if they can! Therefore, the critical process steps that are involved in Guided Inquiry must form part of the marking scheme.

• Feedback to students on an individual and class basis works like a charm!

 

Later this year, I'm doing another Guided Inquiry with Year 9 PDHPE which will incorporate everything I've learnt so far. So maybe that'll be the context for my research.

 

 

Looking forward to many chats with this forum.

 

 

 

Lee FitzGerald