The Action Research in Education, Essay Example

There are a great number of educational resources suggesting the topics for the action research in education; however, the realm of resources they offer can be comprehended and responsibly reviewed only in cases when the researcher clearly understands the focus of the intended research. I visited all proposed sites with the direct intention to identify the assessment and evaluation methods for individual and group work; however, I did not find much information, since it was structured more according to subjects than according to the types of learning in which children are involved. Nevertheless, I found a series of informative resources at the offered sites. For instance, the site of Education Northwest offered valuable sources on the evaluation of learners in specific situations, such as the striving readers’ evaluation, application of CCSS in various subjects, and interpretation of test score trends and gaps for the effective and objective evaluation thereof.

The InfEd site (http://www.infed.org/ideas/index.htm) also offered a great number of ideas for research in the field of learning patterns in group and individual learning; it offered articles on such topics as action research, capacity building, conversation, curriculum, experiential learning, group work, individualization, and learning organization. I intend to use those articles in my action research paper, since they offer an extended, rich image of the educational patterns and the ways in which they should be arranged for the sake of making education enjoyable and effective for learners of all levels. The Indiana University South Bend resource also offered some resources, though they pertained to higher education more than for secondary education; however, the instructional resources and the emphasis on the integration of innovative technology are the core of my interest at that resource.

After studying the resources, I found support for my problem statement that can be formulated as follows: children learn differently in groups and individually, which depends on personal characteristics, learning styles, and the levels of academic proficiency. Grouping learners of various and similar academic levels results in diverse learning outcomes, at times facilitating learning at a quicker tempo, and at times – making the learning process stagnate. As a result of improper understanding of the learning peculiarities, and improper grouping of students during studies, the current observable tendency is for low achievers to remain at the low level, and for high achievers – to group together and advance quicker in their learning. The effect of heterogeneous learning groups is still under-researched, which creates the need to establish the learning patterns in such groups to create the atmosphere of learning and achievement for all kinds of learners.