Research+Proposal

Written by: Kim Scott Date: July 2010 ** Research Question:  ** What components of Inquiry programmes improve student engagement in the primary school and why?
 * EDUX 441 – Research Proposal  **

Defining Engagement
Stovall (2003) suggests that engagement is defined by a combination of students’ time on task and their willingness to participate in activities. Krause and Coates (2008) say that engagement is the quality of effort students themselves devote to educationally purposeful activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes. Additionally, Chen, Gonyea and Kuh (2008) say that engagement is the degree to which learners are engaged with their educational activities and that engagement is positively linked to a host of desired outcomes, including high grades, student satisfaction, and perseverance. Other studies define engagement in terms of interest, effort, motivation, time-on-task and suggest that there is a causal relationship between engaged time, that is, the period of time in which students are completely focused on and participating in the learning task, and academic achievement (Bulger et al., 2008). A basic tenet of the research into student engagement is that students’ activity, involvement and effort in their learning tasks is related to their academic achievement. While there does not appear to be a single definition for engagement, the following definition represents an aggregation of the literature. “Engagement is seen to comprise active and collaborative learning, participation in challenging academic activities, formative communication with teachers, involvement in enriching educational experiences, and feeling legitimated and supported by learning communities.” (Coates, 2007). This definition suggests that engagement is the amalgamation of a number of distinct elements including active learning, collaborative learning, participation, communication among teachers and students and students feeling legitimated and supported. While it is not possible to provide universally accepted interpretations for the elements that comprise the definition, it is possible to provide an overview of their meanings.

Defining Inquiry Learning
==  Inquiry-based learning is often described as a cycle or a spiral, which implies formulation of a question, investigation, creation of a solution or an appropriate response, discussion and reflection in connection with results (Bishop et al., 2004). IBL is a student-centered and student-lead process. The purpose is to engage the student in active learning, ideally based on their own questions. Learning activities are organized in a cyclic way, independently of the subject. ==  **  Literature Review  ** Although there has been considerable research completed in the areas of ‘Inquiry Learning’ and ‘Student Engagement’ there is little research completed that looks specifically at the improving of student engagement through the use of Inquiry Learning programmes. There is however an underlying assumption in the research when outlining the components of Inquiry Learning that increased student engagement will occur as a result of these components being evident within the process (Wilson and Murdoch 2003, Clarke 2001, Scott 2010). Klem (2004) states that an emerging consensus exists in the school reform literature about what conditions contribute to student success. Conditions include high standards for academic learning and conduct, meaningful and engaging pedagogy and curriculum, professional learning communities among staff, and personalised learning environments. Schools providing such supports are more likely to have students who are engaged in and connected to school. Integrated Inquiry programmes focus heavily on meaningful and engaging pedagogy and personalised learning programmes and I intend to extrapolate the key components and themes of Inquiry Learning further within this research process. **  Plan of Action:   ** Initially I intend to research extensively to identify the key components of the Inquiry Learning process and the key indicators for increased student engagement. Using this information I will then develop a survey that includes the key components of Inquiry Learning and their correlation with student engagement levels in classrooms. I intend to include a section for each teacher to define what they envision student engagement includes. I haven’t included this for the Inquiry Learning definition because all of the teachers within these schools have worked extensively at defining this as part of their professional development programme with me (as an educational consultant in Inquiry programmes). I consider that a survey format will ensure that there is little influence by the researcher (as I am a passionate advocate of Inquiry Programmes) apart from the structuring and vocabulary used in the survey. I intend to survey teachers from three different primary school settings (from different Deciles), on the components of the Inquiry programme that improve their student’s engagement and why they think each of these things ‘work’ for them. These surveys will be completed within their schools as part of their professional development programme and the teachers will have the survey for a week to complete to ensure they have time to consider each of the questions. I intend to use a post modernist perspective with this research and therefore the variables for consideration will be broad and many and hopefully the survey questions will be open ended enough to ensure this. When these are all completed I will analyse and correlate the key themes and messages that come from these surveys which will then be discussed in greater depth by a cohort of 8 to 10 experienced teachers from within the study in a ‘focus group interview’ format. The survey forms will be destroyed after this focus group process is completed and the collated data will be used in an online wiki for presentation purposes both for this paper and also for the teachers from within the study to use as the basis for self-study. I expect that this research will show the variables that teachers have identified that improve student engagement and to increase the awareness of other teachers to the width and importance of these variables. This research will also inform my personal practice as an educational consultant in Inquiry Learning (working mainly in primary schools) to ensure that teachers consider these variables when planning their programmes. ** Ethical Considerations:  ** Although I am not asking for identification of teachers and they will not be able to be identified in any way I appreciate that I am surveying teachers and therefore I believe that this will need a category B ethics application and I have just resubmitted this with alterations after suggestions, as I hadn’t completed one of these before. I consider that this component of the process is vitally important to the integrity of the research and also to ensure the ethical guidelines support both the research and the participants whom in this case are the teachers.