Session 4: Plan-your-research workshop SUE SENTANCE

Aims of this session … (or what do we hope you will get out of this session) Perhaps … one of these?  Help you to focus your plans for a research project/ small classroom investigation  Help you to find somebody to help you with your research plans  Give you the opportunity to share your own research plans  Find out about what other people are doing …

Aims of this session … (or what do we hope you will get out of this session) Perhaps … one of these? As a result – in yellow  Help you to focus your plans for a research project/ small classroom investigation – plan the next step  Help you to find somebody to help you with your research plans – make an arrangement to work together  Give you the opportunity to share your own research plans – refine your research plans  Find out about what other people are doing … formulate your own research idea

There are so many research questions …  How can students progress from learning visual programming to textual programming?  Do unplugged approaches for teaching X help to secure understanding?  Does pair programming help students to get better at debugging their programs?  Does programming with devices (eg Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Gadgeteer) increase motivation to learn?  What strategies for teaching Scratch work best to develop understanding of selection/variables/loops etc?  What strategies for teaching Scratch work best with a wide range of abilities?  Do activities involving tracing and labelling code enhance debugging skills for some of my students?  What benefits are there to copying code and getting it to work in terms of learning to program?  How do different questioning techniques enrich understanding of X?  Is X a good way of assessing programming skills?  What are the main misconceptions that students have when struggling to understand binary numbers (or X)?  Does flowcharting help with algorithmic thinking?  How does activity X support problem-solving skills?  ·How can Computer Science concepts be delivered across the curriculum/in History/Geography/Science etc.?  ·How can I support literacy development in Computing lessons?  ·How can I support numeracy development in Computing lessons?  ·How did my SOW on the history of computers engage and motivate students?  ·How can I support the development of social/cultural and ethical awareness in Computing lessons? 

Task: write down your research interest Take a (or more) post-it and write on it what you are interested in in the very wide realm of research  Pink post-its – just an idea  Yellow post its – getting beyond an idea  Green post its – I’m a researcher working on this  Blue post-its – doesn’t fit into this category Use one post-it (appropriately coloured) for each research interest/idea Try to be specific (eg not just “learning programming”)

Task 2: Share  In a group of 3 (or table group) share your research interest  Suggest ways in which the people in your group could make progress to the next stage  Categorise the sort of topics that the people in your group are interested in

Task 3: Match-making  Put your post-its on the wall in topic areas  See if you can identify somebody who is interested in the same area as you  Discuss with them how you could work together This is a basic form of speed dating!

Task 4: Identify ways forward  On a new post-it (any colour) identify your next step. Write down what it is  Write down the support that you need to move forward  Share with group

Framing your research question  Research questions should be specific and it should be possible for you to design a study that would answer it  For example, “how do students learn programming” is too vague but “Does code scaffolding improve CA outcomes for GCSE CS students learning programming?” may be much better.

Learning research skills  Universities run Research Methods courses for teachers enrolled on MA Education programmes.  Buddying up with somebody in the local university to support you with accessing literature can be useful  Skills which are helpful include:  How to read critically  How to create effective data collection instruments eg questionnaires  How to analyse your data Question: What can CAS do to support teachers who want to engage with research?

Having an output in mind  Write up your project/inquiry for publication in Switched On  Send to Sue for inclusion in the CAS-Research section of the website (in development) as a case study  Write up for your school newsletter/magazine  Add as a resource on the Community website  Use as Part 3 towards the BCS Certificate

Benefits for teachers of engaging with research  Helps you to reflect deeply on your practice and how it affects learning.  Practitioner research can improve students’ outcomes  Gives you an opportunity to gather evidence for what you have a gut feeling about  Teaches you new skills that have other applicability in evaluating school initiatives etc.  Even being aware of research gives benefits: “Overall, engaging in research evidence was perceived to encourage practitioner reflection and open- mindedness” (NFER, July 2014).

Some news  CAS now has a research group called CAS-Research which is a group of academics meeting together every 3 months to plan how to push the research agenda forward.  Contact Sue if you are interested in joining the mailing list  We have a small amount of funding to run 4 small research hubs in to support teacher inquiry projects, which we hope will be successful enough to enable us to apply for more funding. More announcements to follow.

Aims of this session … (or what do we hope you will get out of this session) Perhaps … one of these? As a result – in yellow  Help you to focus your plans for a research project/ small classroom investigation – plan the next step  Help you to find somebody to help you with your research plans – make an arrangement to work together  Give you the opportunity to share your own research plans – refine your research plans  Find out about what other people are doing … formulate your own research idea