Session 6
THE FOLLOWING BLOG WILL BE ON CREATING A LESSON PLAN FOR 'RESEARCH AS INQUIRY'
What is meant by ''Research as Inquiry''
This concept predominantly refers to a research as being a repetetive process and that it depends on asking oneself
increasingly complex questions. The answers to these questions in turn then creates one to ask even more queastions or lines of inquiry in any field. Experts see inquiry as a process that focuses on problems or questions in a discipline or between disciplines that are open or unresolved.
Scenario for the Lesson Plan
I am a First year Lecturer at the University of Utah in the Faculty of Humanities
Learning outcomes
1. Students should be able to critically evaluate the sources of their information. They should be able to identify what a reliable and an unreliable source is.
2. Students will be able to effectively resolve conflicting information.
3. Students will be able to synthesize ideas gathered from multiple sources.
Activity 1:
> Meet and greet the students.
>Explain to the students that the following activity will be a class exercise to identify what they would consider to be reliable and non reliable sources of information for academic research purposes.
> Pair the students up in two and hand out the task paper that has 20 list of different reference sources.
> They should then list what they feel are the reliable sources and provide an explanation as to why the would list it there. Then on another page they should do the exact same by listing what they feel is an unreliable source of information and to provide an explanation as to why.
Students will write down on a page what they feel are reliable and unreliable sources for academic research
Activity 2:
> Students will be given a topic to research about.
> Then they will have to present their topic to the class.
> They would have to relate to the class what they feel was the limitations of their topic.
> The other students would then also be allowed to relay what they felt was limititations on the presented topic according to their knowledge base.
The presenter is relaying to the class what he felt are the limitations of the topic that he is presenting to the class on. His classmates can also relay what their limitations are regarding his topic.
Activity 3:
> Meet and greet the class.
> Relay to the class what the activity is for the lesson today.
> The students individually are all given a specific topic that they have to conduct research on.
> However, they need to consult a multitude of sources such as books, journals, google scholar and e-books etc. on the same topic that they are researching.
> Then they need to create a mind map that lists the different ideas/or themes that they have gathered from the different sources.
> They would then hand in the mindmap for a coursework mark.
The above illustration is an example of a mindmap that was completed by the student, whom has listed the different themes on a specific topic that has emerged from citing different sources.
Relation Knowledge Practice
The students, by doing this activity, will become skilled in identifying what are academically reliable and credible sources are. This is extremeley essential for students to know when they are conducting research because they cannot use unreliable sources as this would be an unethical research practice. It would also give them a weak course mark in their academic studies.
The students would be able to identify what the conflicting arguments are on a research topic that they are investigating. They would be able to disert it and add on to the argument by highlighting their arguments as well. They will list the arguments for and arguments against of the topic and draw the two oppsosing arguments together and then draw a conclusion on their own. In this manner they are adding to the knowledge base on that topic. Giving it more meaning and attracting other researchers to explore this new avenue of information.
This activity will allow students to consult with various sources on a specific topic. This will help them to conduct good research by not only drawing from one source alone, all of their information. It would not be considered good research practice if students only cited one source of refenece for a research topic. Students will synthesize the differenet themes, arguments for and arguments against on a specific topic. Their research will be seen as being effective as they have consulted many different sources and in this manner their research will be an in-depth investigation on a specific topic. This will enable their research to be credible and reliable.
Relation to Disposition
The student will learn the skills that they require in order to become an effective researcher.
Activity one will teach the students that not all information are credible and that by citing non-credible research is unethical. In this manner they develop an open mind as well as a critical stance.
Activity two will teach students that a research question might be more complexed than initially thought.
Activity three will teach students to seek divergent perspectives on a topic.
I like the activities!
ReplyDeleteSoemyha I can see that you have invested a lot of time and effort in this lesson plan. Good graphics and illustrations. However, please take the following into account:
ReplyDelete1) Learning outcome 1 and its activity - this relates more to the Frame, Authority as Contextual and Constructed. It does not facilitate understanding of the Frame at hand.
2) Effectively resolving conflicting information (activity 2) means that the individual takes a particular stance or position on an issue where there are conflicting viewpoints. What type of activity can the students do to show that they can take a decision on an issue?
Good activity 3.