- TESSA_new_spaceModule 1: Personal Development – How Self-Esteem Impacts on LearningKey Resource: Researching in the classroomThis content was created and adapted within The Open University and originally published as an open educational resource on the OpenLearn website – http://www.open.edu/openlearn/. This content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. To view the original version of this content please go to OpenLearn – http://www.open.edu/openlearn/.If reading this text has inspired you to learn more, you maybe interested in joining the millions of people who discover our free learning resources and qualifications by visiting The Open University – http://www.open.ac.uk/choose/ou/open-content.Copyright © 2014 The Open UniversityExcept for third party materials and/or otherwise stated (see terms and conditions – http://www.open.ac.uk/conditions) the content in OpenLearn and OpenLearn Works is released for use under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence – http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en_GB.Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders. If any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first opportunity.In short this allows you to use the content throughout the world without payment for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Creative Commons non commercial sharealike licence. Please read this licence in full along with OpenLearn terms and conditions before making use of the content.When using the content you must attribute us (The Open University) (the OU) and any identified author in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Licence.The Acknowledgements section is used to list, amongst other things, third party (Proprietary), licensed content which is not subject to Creative Commons licensing. Proprietary content must be used (retained) intact and in context to the content at all times. The Acknowledgements section is also used to bring to your attention any other Special Restrictions which may apply to the content. For example there may be times when the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Sharealike licence does not apply to any of the content even if owned by us (the OU). In these stances, unless stated otherwise, the content may be used for personal and non-commercial use. We have also identified as Proprietary other material included in the content which is not subject to Creative Commons Licence. These are: OU logos, trading names and may extend to certain photographic and video images and sound recordings and any other material as may be brought to your attention.Unauthorised use of any of the content may constitute a breach of the terms and conditions and/or intellectual property laws.We reserve the right to alter, amend or bring to an end any terms and conditions provided here without notice.All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University.Head of Intellectual Property, The Open UniversityKey Resource: Researching in the classroomGood teachers like to find out as much as they can about their classes and the teaching approaches that work best. This is often a very informal process. For example, it is very common to discuss the best way to teach a certain topic with other teachers. These same discussions might extend to other topics. Why is the attendance of boys in the school much poorer than the attendance of girls? In what ways can parents or guardians be encouraged to come and talk to us about their children’s progress? This can become a more thorough process if you adopt the sorts of approaches and methods that researchers use. You can use what is often termed ‘action research’ to help improve your teaching and your school generally. The word ‘action’ is used to signify that you expect to gain information upon which you can ‘act’ fairly quickly. Many books and publications now describe the ‘action research’ approach. Here we set out a very straightforward approach in just four stages. Stage 1 – Defining the research questionTake the problem or issues you want to examine and formulate it in terms of a research question. For example, you may have become worried that some girls in the class seem to have problems doing homework. This worry becomes a question: ‘Why do some girls have problems doing schoolwork, especially homework, at home?’ Stage 2 – Deciding on methods to help answer the research questionYou then have to think about the methods you use to explore this problem. For example, you could give the girls a short questionnaire asking them about working at home and the reasons why they experience difficulties. This assumes the pupils have reasonably good written skills. You could carry out individual interviews with the girls. In some situations, you might be able to visit the homes and interview the parents or guardians.Stage 3 – Carrying out the research and recording findingsFind time to carry out interviews, observations or surveys. This is your research. When you have carried out the research, it is a good idea to write up the findings. Sometimes teachers do this as part of a course (an upgrading course for example) and have to write things up in a formal way. Even if you are doing this for your own benefit, it is useful to note down your findings. Stage 4 – Make changesInterpret and reflect on your findings. Once you have the data, you need to think about what it means and what the implications are. For example, if the interviews with the girls revealed that some of them are expected to take over ‘childcare’ at home and find doing homework a problem, then you need to think about how you deal with this. Do you talk to the parents or guardians to stress the importance of the girls being able to do their homework? Or do you provide, for example, lunchtime opportunities for the girls to carry out their homework? The research process then carries on as you evaluate the impact of the changes you have made. Action research can be built into the general strategies for improving teaching and improving schools. It can be done individually but it is also very effective when groups of teachers work cooperatively to try to solve particular problems. Select the next Key Resource you are interested in by clicking on the resource titles on the left-hand side of this screen.