How to integrate basic research skills in teaching and learning

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How to integrate basic research skills in
teaching and learning

• Developed by
• Dr Robert E Gerber

Centre for Teaching, Learning and Media
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Issues for discussion

• What can be classified as basic research skills?
• Why do our students need basic research skills?
• What does integration into teaching and learning
  mean?
• Why do we want to integrate?
• What are the essential elements needed to develop
  research skills?
• How do you integrate?

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What can be classified as basic research skills?

• Do literature searches
• Read to find specific and applicable information
  on a topic or problem
• Select relevant contributions to a specified
  topic from literature
• Analyse and compare contributions from literature
• Synthesise and evaluate literature views to
  establish premises which your arguments are based
  on in order to draw relevant and substantiated
  conclusions

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Research skills cont

• Identify problems within a specified context
• Identify sub-foci within an identified problem
• Set hypotheses
• Select a relevant research approach from known
  research methodology
• Identify the steps to be taken to compile
  information and data towards highlighting and/or
  solving the problem

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Research skills cont

• Select and develop relevant tools to gather data
• Analyse and evaluate data
• Make deductions from analysed and evaluated data
• Use deductions to formulate ways for solving the
  problem

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Research skills cont

• Select the most appropriate way to solve the
  problem
• Test the solution
• Draw conclusions
• Report on the outcomes of the testing of the
  solution
• Write short papers or articles on research
  findings

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Why do our students need basic research skills?

• To learn in an analytical, synthesising, problem
  solving and evaluative way.
• To use as scaffolding to assist learning.
• To be prepared for the demands of the world of
  work.
• To be able to learn actively, critically and
  reflectively.

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What does integration into teaching and learning
mean?

• Demonstrates the relevance of the research skills
• Encourages good learning habits
• Raises the standard of students work
• Encourages students to bring their critical and
  reflective skills to bear on the topic they are
  studying

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Why do we want to integrate?

• Encourage active learning
• Provide opportunities to practice, develop and
  apply research skills
• Provide opportunities to produce evidence for
  assessment and portfolios
• Encourage critical thinking and reflective
  learning

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What are the essential elements needed to develop
research skills?

• Knowledge
• Procedures and processes
• Techniques

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Essential elements to develop research
skills
Knowledge
Procedures and processes
Techniques
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How do you integrate?

• Supply relevant knowledge needed to master the
  procedures, processes and techniques
• Supply the steps for and an explanation of the
  procedure/process/technique(s)
• Supply a learning task to apply and hone/refine
  the relevant procedure/process/technique(s)
• Guided practice exercises to master the steps of
  the procedure/process/technique(s)
• Autonomous practice opportunities to refine the
  procedure/process/technique(s)
• Assessment of progress with feedback on level of
  mastery
• Opportunity to reflect on own learning
• Final summative assessment of mastery
• (NB Other peripheral issues like motivation,
  learning ability, etc are naturally part of the
  learning process.)

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Continuum of skill development
PROGRESSION
Demonstrate application of skills
Student Task
Acquire basic techniques
Practice and build skills
Facilitate learning monitor progress assess
Coaching providing guidance and formative
feedback
Lecturer Role
Directive teaching corrective feedback
Provide opportunities to practice apply aspects
of skills
Support the learning of aspects of a research
skill
Provide evidence for assessment or portfolio
Purpose of assignment
PROGRESSION
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How to build the development of research skills
into learning opportunities?

• Determine which of the skills are relevant for a
  specific assignment and determine how these
  skills can be part of the assignment
• Build assignments around specific research skills
  
• Make skills part of competence-based learning
  tasks in the classroom

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Make skills part of competence-based learning
tasks

• Supply structured guidelines on how to go about
  applying the skills
• Be clear about the outcomes you want students to
  realize.
• Do your students have the skills you think they
  do?
• DESIGN the assignment to incorporate the use of a
  range of information formats and search
  strategies and to encourage the evaluation of the
  sources that are used
• Break down the assignment into research strategy
  steps
• Break up the assignments into doable segments
  with set due dates that require the researcher to
  reflect on his process
• Consider alternative designs for the assignment
• Define the standards by which their final
  products will be judged. (Knowing what you want
  will help you communicate it to your students)
• Avoid common problems

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Be clear about the outcomes you want students to
realize.

• Here are five questions to facilitate the
  process
• What do you want the student to be able to do?
• What does the student need to know in order to do
  this well?
• What activity will facilitate the learning?
• How will the student demonstrate the learning?
• How will I know the student has done this well?

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Supply structured guidelines, eg

• Break up the topic into key words by
• Analysing your topic and define in your own words
  the main concepts of what you need.
• Selecting keywords.
• Considering alternative or variant spelling
• Considering related/other words (use subject
  encyclopaedias, subject dictionaries, glossaries,
  bibliographies, etc.). Note synonyms (Use a
  thesaurus).
• Translating your topic into the subject language
  of the catalogues and indexes that you use.
• Checking each keyword or search term
  systematically in each search tool until
  relatively satisfied.
• Using more general or specific terms if
  necessary.

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Do your students have the skills you think they
do?

• Analyze your instructions carefully.
• What research skills do students need to have in
  order to realize the outcomes you anticipate?
• Would a library instruction session help your
  students be better prepared to do the assignment?
• Do you see any opportunities to build
  transferable literacy skills into the
  requirements of the assignment?

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Breaking down the learning opportunity into
research strategy steps will help them accomplish
your stated learning outcomes

• Define your topic using an encyclopedia article
  or textbook chapter for background information
• Develop a list of relevant keywords and phrases
  to search in the library catalogs
• Use the library catalogs to find books on your
  topic
• Use periodical indexes and full text databases to
  find more recent information in magazines and
  journals
• Use Internet directories and "search engines"
  selectively to locate authoritative, high-quality
  web sites

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NB

• Break up the learning opportunity into doable
  segments with set due dates that require students
  to reflect on their process
• Encourage evaluation of the process and the
  results at each step
• Give credit for and grade each step
• Require students to create a portfolio or
  research log of his/her process

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Define the standards by which their final
products will be judged

• Assessment example Student will include a
  paragraph that describes the scope of the book
  they used, how it is organized and why it was a
  good choice for their topic
• Sample criteria to be used to judge student work
  
• Books cited are reference books
• Description of the book includes at least 3
  factors that describe the scope of the work
• Organizational pattern for the book is accurately
  stated
• Student states a minimum of 4 reasons why the
  book was a good choice for their topic. One may
  be opinion and 3 must be from the evaluation
  criteria list developed in class (or justified to
  be included in a list such as the one developed)

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Cont / another example

• Consider your learning task instructions.
• Find an article in an accredited journal relating
  to your learning task and review the article to
  be able to indicate
• how the article fits in with your selected
  problem area,
• how it helps you understand your problem area
  better,
• how it can help you to focus your problem, and
• what the value of the article for your research
  will be.
• CRITERIA
• Level of structure
• logic
• being to the point
• extensiveness of literature research
• insight into the problem
• bringing forth new views/scope
• appropriateness, and
• the level of incorporation of relevant literature
  in the final product

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Criteria by which their final products can be
judged

• The essay is clearly sub-divided.
• It starts with an introduction setting the scene
  for the discussion on the review of the selected
  article and indicates what the discussion will be
  about.
• The introduction is followed by separate
  paragraphs each
• discussing an issue about the review of the
  selected article, and
• explaining how the reviewed selected article can
  be of benefit in researching the selected problem
• with substantiating arguments and references.
• The essay is concluded with at least a summary of
  the main points made or synthesis of the writers
  views.

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Criteria by which their final products can be
judged
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cont
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Avoid these common problems

• An entire class looking for one piece of
  information or researching the same specific
  topic especially difficult when printed
  materials are involved.
• Students required to use printed materials the
  library does not own (or does own, but not in
  sufficient quantity), or online sources they are
  not licensed to access.
• Students working from incomplete/incorrect
  information.
• Students assigned excessively vague or general
  topics, e.g., "women in America," without
  guidance on narrowing a topic.
• Students given obscure trivia questions and told
  to find the answers.