TEP 233A: Topics in Education Research & Design

• Welcome!

• Four presentations over the Winter Quarter:– Jim Levin (today)– Ross Frank, Ethnic Studies (Monday, Jan 24)– Amanda Datnow, USC (Wednesday, Feb 9)– Brian Goldfarb, Communication (Monday, Feb 28)

Proseminar web page

• http://tepserver.ucsd.edu/courses/tep233a/wi05/

Coordinators for next 3 presentations

• Ross Frank, Ethnic Studies (Monday, Jan 24)

Jo & Daniel• Amanda Datnow, USC (Wednesday, Feb 9)

Ruth & Carrie• Brian Goldfarb, Communication (Monday,

Feb 28)

Krysti & Suzanne

Educational Research Expertise as Multiple Coordinated Research

Methods

Jim Levin

Teacher Education Program

University of California, San Diego

http://tepserver.ucsd.edu/courses/tep233a/wi05/levin/

Plan for this session

• Short presentation by Jim Levin

• Survey of research methods you use and why

• Small group discussion of methods

• Report to whole from each group

• General discussion and summary

Debate about research methods

• NCLB: "scientifically based research"

• Random-assignment

• Qualitative vs. quantitative

What is the nature of educational research expertise?

What is the nature of expertise?

• Studies of expertise

• What's the difference between an expert and a novice?

Mental models of the Web

• Survey study: "What is your mental model of the Web?"

• Novices with the web: 18 unique responses (from 44 subjects)

• Experts with the web: 27 unique responses (from 38 of the same subjects)(Levin, Stuve, & Jacobson, 1999)

Mental models of the Web

• Case studies of 10 people (2 novices, 4 intermediate, 4 experts)

• A novice had a single model of the Web

• An expert had several models and chose which model to use depending on the task

An expert is:

a person • with multiple coordinated representations of

a subject area and

• with the meta-knowledge of when to use which representation and when to switch.

Representational Toolkit Framework for Expertise

• An expert has a set of representational tools, and knows which tool to use for which task and when to switch from one tool to another.

Methodological debate among carpenters?

• Which is the best tool?

the hammer or the saw?

What's your goal?

• Do you have two pieces of wood and a nail and want to fasten them together?

or

• Do you have one piece of wood and a line along which you’d like them separated?

An expert carpenter:

• Has expertise with a wide range of tools

• Has the knowledge of which tool to use for which purpose

Educational research methods debates

• Which is the best research method?

What are your research goals?

Which research method best accomplishes your research goals?

Mixed Methods Research

• Johnson & Onwuegbuzie "Mixed Methods Research: A Research Paradigm Whose Time Has Come"

Educational research expertise

• Research methods toolkit framework

• The power of multiplicity - bringing multiple coordinated research approaches to bear on educational problems

• Multiple coordinated methods

Distributed educational research expertise

• A distributed network of coordinated educational researchers with expertise in a diverse set of research methods - a community of educational research practitioners

How to achieve educational research expertise?

• One step is to make explicit the range of educational research methods and the strengths and weaknesses of each method

Interactive portion of presentation

• Survey activity: take a few minutes to fill out the questionnaire being handed out

• Small group discussion activity: count off by twos and form three groups to discuss research methods identified by each member

• Whole group discussion: reports from each group and general discussion

Mental models of educational research (generated during the presentation)

Dinner party

Big blob

Luxor - pyramid with floors

Telescope - stars as students; observer as researcher ; stars as other researchers

Gardening - planting, watering, weeding, noting changes, changing

Debate forum - between practitioners and researchers

More mental models of educational research

Strengths and weaknesses (generated during the presentation)

More strengths and weaknesses

Yet more strengths & weaknesses

Summary

• An expert has multiple coordinated representations.– An expert educational researcher– An expert educator– A learner moving to expertise

• A community of educational research practitioners is a distributed network of coordinated educational researchers with expertise in a diverse set of research methods

Contact information:

Jim Levinjalevin@ucsd.edu

http://tepserver.ucsd.edu/~jlevin/

p.s. on Educational expertise

• Multiplicity of educational approaches to support to acquisition of multiple coordinated representations

How to support educational research expertise?

• New interactional frameworks

• Collaborative work across disciplines

• Integration of research and teaching; research and learning