Engaged Student Learning with Action Research: Do You Have a PLAN?
Type of Presentation
Workshop (1 hour and 15 minutes)
Target Audience
Other
Workshop is appropriate for K-20
Location
CGC Lobby
Proposal
Students at all levels find their time and attention distracted and filled with extraneous images and sounds. Teaching environments compete with those distractions to provide learning experiences. Since the goal of education is developing lifelong critical thinkers, educators and education’s proponents seek techniques for engaging students in meaningful study units.
Although many research models exist, PLAN approaches students’ exploration of topics in an easy to remember format. PLAN scaffolds intent of research so as to engage students comfortably in a process often intimidating. Besides unit goals established by teachers, allowing students to wrestle with necessary outcomes builds confidence for the task. Brainstorming segues from preparing to learning. The Learn step should include, if possible, not only empirical research but also action research. PLAN attempts to put the process in students’ hands to encourage ownership. With PLAN, library research and action research create a more complete learning experience and one which becomes prior knowledge for future research explorations.
Students’ analyzing the planning and learning steps uncovers where they acted carelessly and/or delved into their material inadequately. Sometimes students realize they have not answered the unit’s essential questions and therefore, are not well prepared to move to the next level of learning. Students ask “How does this fit with the essential question?” “Did I meet my goal?” and “Can I readily use this information now and in the future? Finally, PLAN gives students opportunities to share their findings as well as project PLAN’s usefulness and their inclusion of the process in future endeavors.
Presentation Description
Discover Inquiry-Based Learning through Jekyll Island Ecosystems, a sixth-grade project culminating in student-produced Voicethreads. PLAN, a new research model, guides students’ exploration while building information literacy, technology skills, and new knowledge. With PLAN, students use rubrics, prior knowledge, essential questions, formative and summative assessment, and reflection to create outstanding products.
Keywords
PLAN model; Research: Library and Action; Inquiry-Based Learning; Voicethreads; Information Literacy; Student Engagement; Technology Skills; Critical Thinking
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Husid, Whitney N. Dr. and Wallace, Virginia L. Dr., "Engaged Student Learning with Action Research: Do You Have a PLAN?" (2016). Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy. 65.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gaintlit/2016/2016/65
Engaged Student Learning with Action Research: Do You Have a PLAN?
CGC Lobby
Students at all levels find their time and attention distracted and filled with extraneous images and sounds. Teaching environments compete with those distractions to provide learning experiences. Since the goal of education is developing lifelong critical thinkers, educators and education’s proponents seek techniques for engaging students in meaningful study units.
Although many research models exist, PLAN approaches students’ exploration of topics in an easy to remember format. PLAN scaffolds intent of research so as to engage students comfortably in a process often intimidating. Besides unit goals established by teachers, allowing students to wrestle with necessary outcomes builds confidence for the task. Brainstorming segues from preparing to learning. The Learn step should include, if possible, not only empirical research but also action research. PLAN attempts to put the process in students’ hands to encourage ownership. With PLAN, library research and action research create a more complete learning experience and one which becomes prior knowledge for future research explorations.
Students’ analyzing the planning and learning steps uncovers where they acted carelessly and/or delved into their material inadequately. Sometimes students realize they have not answered the unit’s essential questions and therefore, are not well prepared to move to the next level of learning. Students ask “How does this fit with the essential question?” “Did I meet my goal?” and “Can I readily use this information now and in the future? Finally, PLAN gives students opportunities to share their findings as well as project PLAN’s usefulness and their inclusion of the process in future endeavors.
