In the wake of the pandemic and the push for virtual learning, education in general but teachers and students have lost the ability to connect and engage with students. It it more important than ever for teachers to connect with students in order for learning to happen. As a theatre teacher, I’m inspired by articles like this. https://www.artshub.com.au/news/career-advice/why-drama-is-the-most-important-school-subject-2527005/?fbclid=IwAR1viwj4Vq3pf1su_syWLRSRwqTVnephdG_xA4I5NppUHkJfinVQQItUbD4
Literature Review and Proposed Research Questions (50 points)
This Assignment contains three components:
1. Literature Review. A literature review is a comprehensive summary of previous research on a topic and should be written in a narrative format. A literature review for an action research project provides guidance for the researcher on potential solutions to their problem or innovations to adopt. The literature review will allow the researcher to identify fruitful approaches to the same or similar issues in other contexts. It can also provide guidance on paths to avoid—other researchers may have found that an idea did not lead to the intended results. For example, if your project is about increasing student engagement in a math class, you would want to review the literature on student engagement in math and approaches to increasing the engagement.
If your project is focused more on understanding a situation in your school, such as how teachers use technology, your literature review will likely focus on what is known about technology use in classrooms.
Finally, if your project is determining if a specific change leads to the desired results, your literature review will likely focus on what is known about how to implement that change or similar changes to get the best results.
For this project, your literature review should be between three and four pages. You will need to include studies from peer reviewed research journals (e.g. The American Educational Research Journal). You may include literature from practice-oriented journals (e.g. Educational Leadership or Phi Delta Kappan), books, and other reputable sources (e.g. Newspapers, National Reports, etc.). Your literature review should include a healthy mix of research articles and additional sources.
You may also want to consult the two action research journals accessible via the library website. There are: (1) Action Research (Publisher: Sage); and (2) Educational Action Research (Publisher: Taylor & Francis).
2. Proposed solution/innovation and Research Questions. Depending on the exact nature of your project, this is where you might propose a specific solution to your problem or a specific innovation to adopt. You should describe what the solution/innovation is and why you think it is a good choice (this likely will relate to your literature review). For example, if your action research project is on improving student engagement in a math class, you may propose a solution such as a flipped classroom. Describe what a flipped classroom is and why you think it will benefit students.
Here is where you also ask specific questions that relate the issue/problem/proposed solution. Be specific and make sure your questions are answerable in a reasonable timeframe.
3. Revisions. Please also make any revisions from Milestone 1 suggested by Dr. Bergeron.