It is not easy for a teacher to ask a valuable research question. So, how can we put forward our own research questions? It is generally believed that all kinds of puzzles encountered by teachers in education and teaching are one of the direct sources of teachers' research problems. In addition to extracting action research questions from educational and teaching problems, teachers can also extract and form their own research questions through other channels. This includes: (1) capturing problems from specific teaching scenarios. (2) Find problems from theoretical study and reading. (3) Find problems from peer communication. (4) Looking for problems from students' differences. (5) Find problems from the development of schools and disciplines. (6) Find problems from the practice of education policy. It can be seen that there are various ways for teachers to ask questions, but from the perspective of action research, the ideal way for teachers to ask questions by themselves should be a way closely combined with their own education and teaching practice.
In educational life, puzzles and problems are everywhere. However, can all the problems be the subject of action research? The answer is no, in the process of asking research questions, teachers should adhere to several basic principles:
The question (1) should be worth studying. In other words, the problems studied by teachers should help to promote the development of students, teachers and schools and improve the quality of education and teaching.
(2) The problem should be realistic. In other words, the theme put forward by teachers is based on the thinking of current educational practice problems, and its research is mainly to analyze and solve this problem.
(3) The question should be scientific. This means that teachers should put forward "real problems" to be studied according to objective facts or scientific theories and follow scientific procedures, instead of artificially creating problems in a whimsical way.
(4) Ask specific questions. The problems existing in education are both "big" problems at the macro level and "small" problems at the micro level. How should teachers choose the problem of action research? It is generally believed that teachers should take "small but fine" as the topic.
(5) the problem should be feasible. When determining the research problem, teachers should not only consider the importance and research value of the problem itself, but also consider whether it is possible to complete such a research topic. Factors to be considered include: objective conditions (including books and materials, research time, equipment, personnel, financial support, etc.). ); Subjective conditions (knowledge structure, theoretical level, research ability and expertise, research interest, etc. ); Policy environment (teachers' research should be consciously consistent with the spirit of education policy).
(6) The uniqueness and innovation of the problem. This requires teachers to consider the differences between their own research and others' research when choosing research topics and avoid repeated research.
(2) Preliminary research and analysis
Just because the teacher diagnosed and found the problem to be studied does not mean that the research can be started immediately. Before that, we should have a preliminary discussion on the problems found. Teachers can convene a symposium attended by experts, colleagues, school leaders and even parents and students to solicit opinions from all sides on the significance, value, objectives and research methods of the research, give full play to the collective wisdom, and synthesize various opinions to form an overall research plan.
At the same time, researchers should start to collect and read relevant information extensively, and further clarify the nature, present situation and available resources of the research problem.
(3) Make an action research plan
How should teachers make their own action research plans? Or what specific contents should a suitable research plan include? Generally speaking, the teacher's action research plan should include the following specific contents:
(1) research questions. The problem of teacher selection is not only a problem to be solved in work, but also a problem to be solved in research. When writing a research plan, researchers should clarify the connotation and extension of the problem in order to carry out research, which has been mentioned above.
(2) Research ideas. The "hypothesis" mentioned here mainly refers to putting forward some expected schemes and paths on how to solve the problem. What needs special emphasis here is that teachers should fully combine research with their own educational and teaching actions when choosing research methods and paths, which is the objective requirement of action research.
(3) Process planning. That is to make reasonable arrangements for the whole research process and its specific research activities, including scientific planning, collective discussion, allocation and implementation of specific research tasks, mid-term inspection, reflection and improvement, and display and promotion of final research results.
(4) Research progress and timetable. Any kind of research needs researchers to have a macro grasp of the research progress and time. For teachers, because action research is integrated with the improvement of education and teaching, the progress and timetable of research should not be too dead, but leave room and can be flexibly adjusted according to the changes of the situation.
(5) Technical problems. For example, what method is used to collect research data, investigation or interview? How to analyze the data? Does the whole study tend to be quantitative or qualitative? As far as these research technologies are concerned, they all have their own advantages and disadvantages. For the researchers themselves, which research technology to choose depends on the actual needs of action research and the professional knowledge of the researchers themselves.
(4) Action
This is the key link to implement and start the research plan. In this process, on the one hand, teachers should carry out scientific research activities according to the established research plan, on the other hand, they should constantly observe, record, reflect and evaluate all kinds of new situations in the research process, and adjust and control them in time, so as to truly cultivate research awareness and ability in the research process and strive to achieve the dual goal of "teaching and research learn from each other". What needs to be emphasized here is that teachers' action research should follow the principle of "research in teaching, teaching in research" and try to avoid the phenomenon of "two skins" in which research is divorced from teaching practice.
(V) Achievement display and reflection
The display form of teachers' action research results is flexible, including teaching examples; Educational cases; Research report; Reflection diary; Scientific research papers, etc. Among them, research report is one of the common forms. Teacher action research report is different from academic report. They should have two functions: (1) experience sharing. Teachers' achievements in the process of action research not only serve the improvement of personal education and teaching practice, but also need to share experiences with colleagues around them. At this time, the teacher's action research report should be easy to popularize and exchange experience in expression. (2) open. Although the real purpose of teacher action research is not to pursue the publication of research results. However, if possible, it is also a good thing to publish your results publicly. Because, this will make the research results of individuals or a few teachers be used for reference by others in a wider range, and also open a window for promoting themselves and getting more feedback information.
So far, we can't say that the teacher's action research can come to an end. An important link-the evaluation and reflection of action research is indispensable. The main task of this link is to summarize and reflect on the whole action research plan. It includes two specific tasks: first, draw a conclusion about the problem studied, that is, analyze whether the action research has achieved its goal; The second is to analyze, reflect and criticize the plan, strategy and steps of the whole action research, so as to prepare for the next (circular) plan. The first part is a review of the effectiveness of action research objectives. The second half is about the evaluation of action research itself, such as clarifying the problems and limitations encountered in the research process. It can be seen that this link of reflection activities is not only conducive to teachers to improve their future research activities, but also conducive to urging teachers to improve their own education and teaching practice.