June 17, 2010 by Christine
I am taking two classes during the first summer session. One is a small, one-credit course on classroom action research. Action research is basically a systematic way for a practicing teacher to reflect on her work and try to improve. Sometimes the teacher works with an outside researcher, sometimes the teacher works collaboratively with others from her school, and sometimes the teacher works alone. Action research can be really formal, but oftentimes it is not very formal. It is an interesting way for a teacher to consider her own practice.
My other class is a regular three-credit class on educational research. This class talks about setting up research experiments in the social sciences in general, then gives several direct applications to education. It walks through the process of choosing a sample, ethical concerns with performing research on human subjects, quantitative and qualitative methods for testing hypotheses, and interpretation of results. There have been a few dry portions of the book, but I have found most of it really interesting. It makes me excited to get into my own research for my PhD!
And, just so this won't be a completely dry post about school, I found this picture the other day. What do you suppose it is? Why, a cake, of course!
A vase of edible flowers with a chocolate vase cake.
Some other pretty pictures from this party.
My other class is a regular three-credit class on educational research. This class talks about setting up research experiments in the social sciences in general, then gives several direct applications to education. It walks through the process of choosing a sample, ethical concerns with performing research on human subjects, quantitative and qualitative methods for testing hypotheses, and interpretation of results. There have been a few dry portions of the book, but I have found most of it really interesting. It makes me excited to get into my own research for my PhD!
And, just so this won't be a completely dry post about school, I found this picture the other day. What do you suppose it is? Why, a cake, of course!
A vase of edible flowers with a chocolate vase cake.
Some other pretty pictures from this party.
Here's the link if you would like to see the full slide show of Maya Angelou's 82nd birthday party. Most of the rest of the pictures are just a bunch of celebrities I don't know... yawn.
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