Classroom Research: Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching

Excerpts from Pat Cross and Mimi Harris Steadman’s book with the above title present an argument for and resources to support the implementation of educational research in the classroom, emphasizing the importance of meeting the intellectual challenges of teaching. The book is extensive, 260 pages, and organized as a handbook, recommending both resources and questions for research on learning in specific classroom contexts.

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 (p. 2).

Characteristics of Classroom Research

1. Learner-Centered: focuses primary attention of teachers and students on observing and improving learning, rather than on observing and improving teaching.
2. Teacher-Directed: dedicated to the proposition that college teachers are quite capable of conducting useful and valid research on classroom learning.
3. Collaborative: requires the active engagement of students and teachers. In most circumstances, students become partners in the research and share in the analysis and interpretation of results.
4. Context-Specific: [is] conducted to shed light on the specific questions of an identified classroom...the teaching of a particular discipline to a known group of students.
5. Scholarly: intellectually demanding and professionally responsible. It builds upon the knowledge base of research on teaching and learning. It requires the identification of a researchable question, the careful planning of an appropriate research design and consideration of the implications of the research for practice.
6. Practical and Relevant: the questions selected are practical questions that the teacher faces in teaching the class.
7. Continual: [is] ongoing. Frequently, a Classroom Research project will raise new questions, leading to cascading investigations (pp. 2–4).

Purposes of the Classroom Research and this Book
[In this uniquely formatted book] we present four separate cases, four stories about classroom learning situations, written by experienced college teachers from a variety of academic disciplines. The incidents presented in the cases will be easily recognized by experienced teachers, but not easily solved. They will provoke discussion.... Second, to integrate teachers' experience with research and theory, for each case we present a brief review of the recent relevant research on learning, followed by an annotated list of further readings. Third, for each case we suggest ways teachers can further study the learning issues through their own Classroom Assessment and Classroom Research.

Although we believe bringing faculty together to talk about teaching from their wealth of experience is the first step in creating a climate for good teaching, we also believe that in these times of very active research on cognition and learning, experience is not enough. Teachers need exposure to what research has to say about how students learn—an exposure lacking for teachers whose preparation for college teaching usually stops with mastery of the subject matter....Many teachers do not know what exists in the way of research on learning or where to look for it. Thus, our second step in developing this book has been to bring relevant research into teachers' discussions about teaching and learning.

We do this through the presentation of brief syntheses of research relevant to each [of the four cases describing classroom learning situations]. Each case in the book is followed by a case analysis that includes some hypotheses about the question, "What is going on here?"—the common query that opens case discussions. For example, a common problem for first year students without much experience in or vocabulary for the study of a particular discipline is that there are huge holes in the knowledge they need to understand the "language" of the discipline. In research on cognition, such a network of knowledge is known as a schema—a term not even familiar to most college teachers. Thus, in this book, each hypothesis for student learning is followed by a synthesis of research and theory on that hypothesis, plus an annotated list of readings appropriate for further study. For example, the first case—about Leslie, the student who is thinking about dropping economics because she does not understand what is going on in class and, despite conscientious study, fears she will do poorly in the course—suggests several hypotheses that could explain her fear of remaining in the course. One is that she lacks the prerequisite knowledge to understand the language of economics. That is, her schema for economics is not sufficiently well developed to permit her to make the connections between the new information presented in class and what she already knows. Because we believe it is important to understand whatever researchers know about the role of schemata in learning, we synthesize briefly what is now known through research and cognitive theory about the importance of previous learning to new learning. This synthesis provides both an overview of the important concepts and also an entrance into the vocabulary of cognitive psychology. An annotated list of references, especially selected for their appropriateness for a general reading audience, is then provided for further reading (pp. xvi–xvii).

This book assumes reader access to Classroom Assessment Techniques (Angelo & Cross, 1993). Although we give enough information about the CATs we discuss that the reader can follow the discussion, we try not to repeat detailed instructions that are easily accessible elsewhere....Each case study, plus its attendant hypotheses and synopses of relevant research, is followed by some examples of how CATs might be used to investigate the hypotheses and to collect further information. In the first case, for example, the teacher might wish to answer such questions as, How many other [students who just don't understand the concepts in economics] are there in the class? What is the students' general level of background and experience in dealing with quantitative relationships? How well do they understand the concepts of economics? Can they analyze the pros and cons of an explanation? How much time are students spending studying for this course? And is their study time productive? These are all questions for Classroom Assessment, providing information to teacher and students alike about how students are responding to the challenge of learning in a particular class.

Classroom Assessment typically answers questions about what students are learning and how well, but it often raises questions about how students learn. Those questions lead teachers to Classroom Research (pp. xvii–xviii).

Things to Keep in Mind When Planning a Classroom Research Project

• 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. Form a study group to share the load.
• Reformulate your question into a researchable question. What do you want to know?
• Work with other faculty to discuss, design, cooperate on and interpret your Classroom Research projects.
• Think through how students will benefit; how they can be included in the research; what issues are too sensitive for the teacher-student relationship.
• 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.
• Even if you have no plans to publish, write up your results to clarify for yourself what you have learned—about doing research, about learning, about your teaching (p. 226).

Cross, K. P., and M. Harris Steadman. 1996. Classroom Research: Implementing the Scholarship of Teaching. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

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