perfect.”
final scene, “Some Like It Hot”, directed by Billy Wilder, 1959
3. What to present?
First, take that nobody is perfect, including you and hundreds of participants at the conference you want to present. Take that again – Nobody is perfect.
How one can come to the research mentioned in the previous chapter entitled as: “The influence of the class time schedule on the overall students’ performance in physics lab work”. We will see below how this research idea can be generated, research developed very easy and relatively fast, and results presented on a conference.
Thursday, 05.12.xx, 3:15pm. The teacher is going through current students’ grades on labs and suddenly she realizes that when her classes are first at the morning at 8am and students are doing labs, they always get a little bit lower grades than expected. She remembers that students were not focused well, their required motoring skills weren’t in good use, their teamwork was slow and disoriented. She went to the records of the recent past generation, also. The time schedule said – all had labs at morning 8:00am. Boom! She observed and formulated an idea for research with a working title: “The influence of the class time schedule on the overall students’ performance in physics lab work”.
Friday, 12.12.2019, 10:45am. The teacher is meeting her friend, another Psychology teacher in the school, and asking her about a questionnaire instrument that can be used to investigate the students’ opinions on why they perform in the labs as they have performed. The psychology teacher says that there is a ready and well-known instrument and she will modify it if needed and share after. A research team has been established and started with two.
Wednesday, 17.12.2019, 1:00pm. The teacher is meeting the teacher of Math and Statistics and discusses the research and possible use of statistical analysis of the research data. Another member of the team has been added.
Monday, 22.12.2019, 1:30pm – 3:30pm. The teacher is writing the research plan and research methodologies, including literature and references search. The team agreed upon it.
Thursday, 04.01.2019, 4:00pm. The teacher is reviewing the questionnaire instrument with her team and the Head of Department. Approval to survey the students, as well as school records of grades from other generations, has been given.
Monday, 14.01.2019, 11:30am – 12:00pm. A group of 100 students is completing the questionnaire.
Thursday, 24.01.2019, 4:15pm. The teacher finished gathering and classifying the data from past generations (three different).
Tuesday, 04.02.2019, 1:30 – 1:50pm. Math and Statistics teacher is reporting (on-line) his results on statistical analysis to the team.
Friday, 07.02.2019, 2:30pm. The Leading Researcher – the teacher, reviewed the data and made the conclusion: Lab work better to be conducted in class schedule that shows 10am or later.
15.03 – 04.04.2019. The teacher started working on the preparation of the abstract of the research and the presentation in Power Point. Help is provided from one member of the team.
21.04 – 03.05.2019. The teacher is searching for an appropriate conference and has registered the abstract and the co-authors (the team) to one most suitable.
14.05.2019, 8:30pm. A letter of acceptance of the abstract has been received from the organizing committee of the conference. The next day, school paid 100 dollars to the organizer as registration fees for the online presentation.
03.07 – 05.07.2019. The teacher and the team are reviewing the final version of the presentation and the teacher is practicing the online speech.
12.07.2019, 10:15 – 10:30am. Delivering the online presentation to the conference.
* * *
Does it now look clearer how research ideas can be developed? Do you see the time span of the research that ends with a conference presentation? Do you think you can do it? “Yes” is the right answer. No “but”. These guidelines have a purpose to kill all “but”.
The most common types of research that the teacher may be involved, or conduct, are briefly described below.
3.1.Past or present research
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
Lesley Hartly
Maybe the most easy to conduct is the so-called past-to-present research. There are many type of research conducted in the past by other authors that were dealing with themes that can be articulated again but in the current circumstances. All these research works can be found searching in the library or on the internet. The methodology of the research and analysis of the results are already given and described. The purpose, problem, objectives, target group, questionnaire instruments if used, statistical calculations if performed – all these are explained. The objective of new research that one can take can be to check how one variable in the research, or new technology, or something typical for contemporary education, are influencing the outcome of the new research – the results. It is important to mention that the primary obligation in the new research is to cite the authors of the past research works when preparing the presentation for your conference and discuss what is new in your research and why it has been important to conduct it in a way you have done.
3.2.Reviewing of a theory or a practice
“The common facts of today are the products of yesterday’s research.”
Duncan MacDonald
The review type of research is based on reading, reading, and reading. The purpose of this type of research is to present some theme and to give critical reflections. The theme can involve review of some theories and how they fit a particular problem in education. For example, how different theories explain the problem of free-time and hobbies, and their influence on student’s learning styles. Review research can be on a theme that is typically practical, for example, what are the characteristics of the best summer school programs in the world dealing with astronomy and danger from space. Review type of research cannot be short, but on a contrary – needs thorough investigation of literature, citing properly, critical analyzing and giving your point of view on every crucial aspect examined. Review research is highly valued by all teachers and researchers because gives systematic view on a problem and how others were treating it. It is like a booklet, a small textbook on who did what, when, and why. A review is like a crown among all the different research types. Those who give reviews on a conference, we say they are experts in their field. Why not one day you to be an expert from our school? Usually, young Ph.D. researchers are pushed to present a review because they were systematically investigated some problem and they have all the possible up-to-date literature. You don’t need to be a Ph.D. researcher to do review research. The only prerequisite is to have enough years of work experience, literature accessible, and time dedicated to working on. Start today, work three hours per week and finish it after two years. It is possible for a teacher to do it. Many have proved it already.
3.3.Surveys and Questionnaires
“Everyone takes surveys. Whoever makes a statement about human behavior has engaged in a survey of some sort
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