THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING

In a recent commentary by Pat Hutchings, vice president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, she discusses the importance of the movement for the scholarship of teaching and learning. Hutchings explains that the scholarship of teaching begins with questions about how and under what circumstances students learn, and with a commitment to inquiry and evidence about those questions. It invites faculty to bring their habits, skills, and values as scholars to their work as teachers. Thus, she says, faculty using different classroom approaches can work together to build a greater collective intelligence about the best ways to promote student learning in the varied and unpredictable circumstances of teaching today. (This appeared on the Tomorrow’s Professor Listserv on 2/28/04.)

References:

http://ww.carnegiefoundation.org/elibrary/docs/sotl1999.htm, The Scholarship of Teaching: New Elaborations, New Developments by Pat Hutchings and Lee S. Shulman, published in the Sept./Oct. 1999 issue of Change magazine.

http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/elibrary/docs/approaching.htm, Approaching the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning by Pat Hutchings, form Opening Lines: Approached to the Schoarship of Teaching and Learning

http://ntlf.com/html/lib/carnegie/86huber.htm, Developing Discourse Communities Around the Scholarship of Teaching by Mary Taylor Huber, published in the Carnegie Chronicle.

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CLASSROOM RESEARCH:
IMPLEMENTING THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING

By K. Patricia Cross and Mimi Harris Steadman
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1996

In keeping with the topic of the Scholarship of Teaching as discussed above, this book defines and illustrates what is meant by the term. The information here will be very helpful to you as you begin your work on your action research project.

As stated in the Preface (p. xii), there are three major goals of the book: (1) to engage teachers and prospective teachers in collaborative problem-based discussions about teaching and learning, (2) to integrate their firsthand teaching experience with recent research and theory on learning, and (3) to introduce them to the purposes and methods of Classroom Assessment and Classroom Research for use in their own classrooms.

The authors explain that the book is “about learning rather than teaching.”
“Classroom research may be simply defined as ongoing and cumulative intellectual inquiry by classroom teachers into the nature of teaching and learning in their own classrooms. At its best, Classroom Research should benefit both teachers and students by actively engaging them in the collaborative study of learning as it takes place day by day in the particular context of their own classrooms. Teachers are learning how to become more effective teachers, and students are learning how to become more effective learners.” (p. 2)
The characteristics of Classroom Research are that it is learner-centered, teacher-directed, collaborative, context-specific, scholarly, practical and relevant, and continual or ongoing. (p. 2-3)

Developing a Classroom Research Project Prospectus (pp. 223-227)

Here are a few very important questions to keep in mind when designing your research project: What is your research question? Is it of real interest to you? How will you investigate this question? How will you analyze the data or information you gather? How will this Classroom Research project further your understanding of teaching and learning?

To design your project, you can begin by responding to the following prompts: (p. 224)

Class:

Learning issue:

Related literature:

Purpose of project:

Major question(s) you hope to answer:

Work calendar (timeline for data collection, analysis, and so on):

Data collection methods to be used:

How you will involve or inform the students? Does participating in this project benefit students:

Resources needed (materials, information, colleagues for consultation):

Concerns or questions about this project:

What will you do with the results of this investigation? Is this information significant to you?

Things to Keep in Mind When Planning a Classroom Research Project (p. 226)

• Formulate a question about the learning of students in your class that is important to you in your teaching.

• Keep your question simple, realistic, and focused on your own experience. Follow your hunches; predict what might happen.

• Inform yourself about what is known about the learning issue you have selected. Read with focus – not necessarily exhaustively or exhaustingly.

• Reformulate your question into a researchable question. What do you want to know?

• Confer with your colleagues somewhat when designing your project and interpreting your results.

• Think through how students will benefit; how they can be included in the research if appropriate.

• Decide how you will investigate your question. (Avoid the temptation to use an instrument because it is there or to collect data that have no clear purpose.)

• Conduct a pilot study, with yourself and colleagues as respondents.

• Estimate the time needed for student response and for analysis of the data.

• Write up your results in the form of a research project ( you are asked to follow the guidelines of the Foreign Language Annals). This will help you to clarify for yourself what you have learned – about doing research, about learning, and about your teaching.