Limitations
This action research project has allowed me to grow as a professional educator; however, during the process I discovered some limitations to my study.
Teacher as Researcher
One limitation is an inherent limitation of action research; the role of teacher as researcher. I felt that It was difficult playing the role of teacher and researcher for several reasons. One difficulty was trying to find enough time to develop curriculum, provide quality instruction, reflect on my students' learning, and reflect on my role as their teacher. I feel that sometimes I was rushing my role as a researcher in order to fulfill my obligations as a teacher. In addition, I recorded notes in my personal journal about my observations after classes but was basing these notes off memory. It is possible that some of the interactions important to my research were lost in the process of being their teacher. Being my students teacher and researcher may have also affected data from the feedback forms. I wanted to have the students put their names on the forms so that I could keep track of each students change in attitude throughout the semester; however, some of them may have answered questions according to what they thought I wanted. In the future, I may consider making all feedback forms anonymous so students feel free to be completely genuine with their responses. Finally, I discussed larger implications for the educational community; however, due to the small sample size (27 students) the results of my study might not hold true in another classroom. Because action research is done by the teacher as researcher sample sizes tend to be small making the data difficult to quantify for all students.
Student Teaching with Established Classroom Norms
Another limitation is, as a student teacher I was in a classroom where norms have already been established. When I began my action research I wanted to investigate, what happens to student learning when students are allowed to seek peer support as well as online and classroom resources during classroom learning activities and assessments? After the implementation of phase one, I omitted online resources because the use of netbooks was not part of classroom norms, and the netbooks were unreliable. I was hesitant to implement the use of netbooks because I felt it would be a departure from normal classroom instruction. Furthermore, it usually took the students ten to 15 minutes to get the devices booted up, themselves logged in, and another ten minutes at the end of class to put the netbooks back in the cart. I felt that this took too much time away from instruction and classroom activities providing another reason I was hesitant to use technology. Therefore, one limitation of my action research is that classroom norms had already been established, and my own fears about technological difficulties made investigating the use of online resources difficult.
Limitation on Time
Another limitation was a lack of sufficient time to properly address my research questions. As I mentioned, when I transitioned from phase one to phase two we switched the curriculum from algebra to statistics. I wanted to investigate, are students able to transfer their learning during assessments when they do not have access to peer support, and the switch in curriculum limited my ability to fully address this sub-question. With more time I would have been able to teach one more unit on algebra providing an opportunity for an individual and collaborative assessment with the same curriculum. I believe that administering an assessment with the same curriculum would have allowed me to answer my sub-question with more accuracy.
The casino day project provided me with an opportunity to evaluate student engagement during a collaborative activity but failed to address the effects on student learning. When I finished the casino day project I found myself wondering if students had actually learned the basic concepts about probability. Could they demonstrate those skills if given an assessment? We finished the casino day project on the second to last day of school and I was not able to give an assessment on probability. Given more time, I would have developed an assessment on probability allowing me to measure the effects on student learning, as well as, student engagement.
This action research project has allowed me to grow as a professional educator; however, during the process I discovered some limitations to my study.
Teacher as Researcher
One limitation is an inherent limitation of action research; the role of teacher as researcher. I felt that It was difficult playing the role of teacher and researcher for several reasons. One difficulty was trying to find enough time to develop curriculum, provide quality instruction, reflect on my students' learning, and reflect on my role as their teacher. I feel that sometimes I was rushing my role as a researcher in order to fulfill my obligations as a teacher. In addition, I recorded notes in my personal journal about my observations after classes but was basing these notes off memory. It is possible that some of the interactions important to my research were lost in the process of being their teacher. Being my students teacher and researcher may have also affected data from the feedback forms. I wanted to have the students put their names on the forms so that I could keep track of each students change in attitude throughout the semester; however, some of them may have answered questions according to what they thought I wanted. In the future, I may consider making all feedback forms anonymous so students feel free to be completely genuine with their responses. Finally, I discussed larger implications for the educational community; however, due to the small sample size (27 students) the results of my study might not hold true in another classroom. Because action research is done by the teacher as researcher sample sizes tend to be small making the data difficult to quantify for all students.
Student Teaching with Established Classroom Norms
Another limitation is, as a student teacher I was in a classroom where norms have already been established. When I began my action research I wanted to investigate, what happens to student learning when students are allowed to seek peer support as well as online and classroom resources during classroom learning activities and assessments? After the implementation of phase one, I omitted online resources because the use of netbooks was not part of classroom norms, and the netbooks were unreliable. I was hesitant to implement the use of netbooks because I felt it would be a departure from normal classroom instruction. Furthermore, it usually took the students ten to 15 minutes to get the devices booted up, themselves logged in, and another ten minutes at the end of class to put the netbooks back in the cart. I felt that this took too much time away from instruction and classroom activities providing another reason I was hesitant to use technology. Therefore, one limitation of my action research is that classroom norms had already been established, and my own fears about technological difficulties made investigating the use of online resources difficult.
Limitation on Time
Another limitation was a lack of sufficient time to properly address my research questions. As I mentioned, when I transitioned from phase one to phase two we switched the curriculum from algebra to statistics. I wanted to investigate, are students able to transfer their learning during assessments when they do not have access to peer support, and the switch in curriculum limited my ability to fully address this sub-question. With more time I would have been able to teach one more unit on algebra providing an opportunity for an individual and collaborative assessment with the same curriculum. I believe that administering an assessment with the same curriculum would have allowed me to answer my sub-question with more accuracy.
The casino day project provided me with an opportunity to evaluate student engagement during a collaborative activity but failed to address the effects on student learning. When I finished the casino day project I found myself wondering if students had actually learned the basic concepts about probability. Could they demonstrate those skills if given an assessment? We finished the casino day project on the second to last day of school and I was not able to give an assessment on probability. Given more time, I would have developed an assessment on probability allowing me to measure the effects on student learning, as well as, student engagement.