PdF:SZk1003a Educational Methodology - Course Information

SZk1003a The Introduction into Educational Methodology

Extent and Intensity

0/0/.3. 1 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

doc. Mgr. František Tůma, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Vlčková, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
doc. Mgr. Jana Kratochvílová, Ph.D. (assistant)
Mgr. Radek Pospíšil, Ph.D. (assistant)
Mgr. Tereza Škubalová, Ph.D. (assistant)

Guaranteed by

doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Vlčková, Ph.D.
Department of Education – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Vlčková, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Education – Faculty of Education

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Teacher Training in Foreign Languages - English Language (eng.) (programme PdF, B-SPE)

Course objectives

The aim of the course is to make students familiar with the specific form of research and its realization which is related to pedagogical staff (teachers, teachers’ assistants) and to acquire basic methodological knowledge and skills.

Learning outcomes

• Students will know fundamental approaches to school reality research (especially research of behaviour and attitudes of agents of school education and educational outcomes). • They will be able to plan, realize, and evaluate a simple project of action research. • They will be able to choose a suitable method of data collection, research sample, and process of data analysis. • They will be able to analyse and interpret observed results and to present them both in written and oral form in a comprehensible way.

Syllabus

• Main topics (syllabus) TEACHING BLOCK 1 (LESSON 1 – 3 ) 1. Research related to school practice. Basic approaches towards school reality research. Examples of realized research. Who are agents of research conducted in schools? Respondent, research participant, researcher as a visitor, participant observer, agent,... Data in school practice (pupils’ creation, test results, essays, discussions, portfolios, notebooks,...). How does research help to improve the quality of pedagogical work? Examples of application of research findings in teacher’s everyday work. Research participation of a school, class, pupil (international, national, purposeful – students, etc.). Designs and types of research. Qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method research design. Examples of research designs: • Case study (life stories/biographies, pupils’ or teachers’ portraits, case studies of schools). Literature study: multiple case studies, etc. • School ethnography and other. Literature study: school ethnography. • Pedagogical (quasi)experiment. • Evaluation. Literature study: TIMSS, PISA, etc. • Action research, characteristics, phases, examples of conducted research. 2. Research project (researcher’s work plan) – what I want to research (research question, hypotheses, variables), where, whom (selection and size of research sample), how (selection of data collection tool based on research design, process of data collection, data analysis and evaluation using software), and when (time schedule). Validity, reliability. Exercise 1 (skill to understand research findings and to elaborate them for one’s own aims): according to the specified criteria, students will create an APA annotation of maximally 1standard page from recommended or own sample of research. An annotation contains a topic, research question, methods, selection of research sample, research sample, applied analyses, information about validity and reliability, main results, recommendation for practical implication, and citation of the specific research according to the APA. TEACHING BLOCK 2 (LESSONS 4 - 6) 1. Observation (observation schemes, evaluation, work with video-recordings, shadowing of teacher’s, headmaster’s or pupil’s work). Interview (interrogating techniques, functions of questions). Exercise 2 (observation – coding or interview – data collection): Student choose either observation or interview; afterwards, they realize a semi-structured interview between each other (max. 20 min) about a specific topic, they transcribe their interview literally according to transcription rules, they suggest adjustments in the interview structure, improvement for guiding other interviews, or they record chosen interactions in a classroom (1 lesson) into a selected observation sheet, and they suggest a way of work with the acquired data. The report of the qualitative data analysis according to IMRAD structure is to be submitted into the IS. 2. Collection of documents and products of activities – content analysis. Exercise 3 (content analysis conducted in a lesson, reflective writing – enhancing self-reflection in teacher assistant’s job). Work with own reflective notes in diaries from assistant’s practice, reflection on practice as one of the self-evaluation instruments... Work with diaries from practice, ideas for support of lower secondary pupils’ writing, work with pupil’s portfolio, etc. 3. Questionnaire, survey... (construction and evaluation). Exercise 4 (questionnaire): Students can find in the IS several scanned questionnaires reaching from these that are very well formulated and well-prepared to these that are not appropriate and breaking all the rules. Students are to comment, where they can see mistakes, if the questionnaire observes what the author intended, etc., they suggest other question formulations or the whole questionnaires. Students complete this task before the lesson with the Questionnaire topic, where it will be discussed. 4. Quantitative data analysis in SPSS or Statistica. Data distribution, normality test. Graphs (box-plot), tables - frequencies. Data presentation in poster. The report of the quantitative data analysis according to IMRAD structure is to be submitted into the IS.

Literature

required literature
• Field, A. (2013). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
• APA (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. APA.
• Creswell, J. W. (2014). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Pearson.

recommended literature
• Gall, J. P., Gall, M. D., & Borg, W. R. (2006). Educational Research: An Introduction. Pearson.
• Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
• Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (2007). Basics of Qualitative Research:Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

not specified
• PISA: https://www.oecd.org/pisa/
• Yin, R. K. (2013). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
• Johnson, R. B., Christensen, L. B. (2010). Educational Research: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Approaches. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
• TIMSS: http://timssandpirls.bc.edu

Teaching methods

- theoretical preparation in the form of a lecture with independent study of specialized sources and electronic distance-learning materials

Assessment methods

Students fulfil exercises (individual tasks) and submit them into the learning environment of the IS in electronic form. On their basis and on the basis of activities in lessons (reading for the specific teaching sessions and engagement into discussion, preparation for lessons), students collect points and for their responding number, credit is gained.

Language of instruction

English

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 4 hours.

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