ACTION RESEARCH

A (usually cyclic) process by which change and understanding can be pursued at the one time, with action and critical reflection taking place in turn. The reflection is used to review the previous action and plan the next one. (Dick 1997)

http://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/learning/literate-futures/glossary.html

Action research is a fancy way of saying let’s study what’s happening at our school and decide how to make it better place. Emily Calhoun (1994)

Action research is a three-step spiral process of: 1 planning which involves reconnaissance;
2 taking action; 3 fact finding about the results of action. Kurt Lewin (1947)

Action research aims to contribute to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to the goals of social science by joint collaboration within a mutually acceptable ethical framework. (Rapoport 1970: 499)

Action research is a method that as a Design teacher I am always using. When I plan a class I will make the item that I have set as their project, (“planning which involves reconnaissance”) the I will teach the lesson, (“taking action”), then I study the results of the lesson through it’s effectiveness, evaluating the way I have constructed the lesson, the way in which they have responded to the instructions and the results of their projects. Then I start again with the action of how I would do it differently when teaching the same lesson or another one. As a teacher we should be going through this process everyday.
As a learner one also follows this cyclic process of ‘action research’.
This whole blog has been just that Action Research.