Reviewing Feedback

After reviewing my feedback from the previous module I have picked out the areas that were lacking in information or clarity and gone through them to make sure that I am clear about what is needed to be done to improve upon these.

Ages and Language

Although it was clear in my plan that my research will involve working with minors it was unclear exactly how old the students were going to be. This is important as language used to inform students of the research and during observations, interviews and surveys needs to be appropriate.

When designing my survey I struggled with this a little bit as the ages of the students asked to fill out the surveys range from 6 to 16. Language and layout used had to be simple and easy to understand particularly for the younger students but then I did not want it to become too babyish for the older students.

By keeping language simple and by using a mixture of words and pictures I hope to have achieved a child friendly survey for all ages.

 

Students involved in observational research are between the ages of 9 and 12. I made the decision to inform the students about the research so they were aware of what I was doing and so they also had the choice not to be a part of it should they not want. Language used to disclose this information was kept simple in an informal group talk where questions were welcomed.

Surveys

One point raised in my feedback was to be clear about the different types of data and topics covered by using both surveys and interviews. 

This puzzled me slightly as I knew that some of the topics covered with both tools would be similar and would overlap slightly. I clarified this with my advisor by saying:

“I was going to use surveys at the very beginning of my research and then from looking at some of the results i was going to use interviews on some of the same groups of people to probe further for deeper explanation and more detailed information. This would mean i would be covering similar topics with both research tools but be using the two to gain a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data.” Cerys Dixie, 2011

This is now clearer and the data I gather from my surveys should help me to set questions for my interviews and explore areas in greater depth.

Ethical Benefit

Although I had addressed a number of Ethical issues in my plan which is particularly important as many of my participants are minors, I overlooked some of Ethical Benefits of my inquiry.

Through my inquiry I hope to achieve a better understanding of how I can use differentiation within a dance class to ensure that all children are learning in a way that suits their needs and is challenging them at a suitable level. 

The ethical benefits of this mean that all children will feel included and are taught equally through a variety of teaching strategies and as a teacher I will not be undertaking a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Looking at students as a whole through a person centred approach takes in to account a person’s feelings and emotions and gives a rounder learning experience ensuring individual differences are recognised and valued.

Criteria to be Observed

I had wanted this to be set before undertaking any observations but have since approached it slightly differently (mainly due to lack of time and planning on my part). I wanted to start observations early in the term but had not set out my criteria so instead I began observing lessons and making filed notes afterwards about the session in general. I introduced some visual aids and have tried different tasks and ways of doing things with regards to differentiation and have seen some interesting results. What I plan to do as the next step is look at what I have already found and from here set criteria to observe the rest of the sessions in a more structured format