Sunday, September 9

AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611): Assignment No. 2

Q.1 As a teacher or a head teacher which topic can you choose for action research? Why do you think this should be studies in an action research instead of applied or basic research? Elaborate on the on the basis of need and scope of the study? 

Answer: 



Action research is either research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. There are two types of action research: participatory and practical. Denscombe (2010, p. 6) writes that an action research strategy's purpose is to solve a particular problem and to produce guidelines for best practice. Action research involves actively participating in a change situation, often via an existing organization, whilst simultaneously conducting research. Action research can also be undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies, practices and knowledge of the environments within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its work practices. 
Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term "action r 2 in 1944. In his 1946 paper "Action Research and Minority Problems" he described action research as "a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action" that uses "a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action". Action research is an interactive inquiry process that balances problem solving actions implemented in a collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis or research to understand underlying causes enabling future predictions about personal and organizational change (Reason & Bradbury, 2001). After six decades of action research development, many methods have evolved that adjust the balance to focus more on the actions taken or more 2 on the research that results from the reflective understanding of the actions. This tension exists between: 

1.    those who are more driven either by the researcher's agenda or by participants; 
2.    those who are motivated primarily by instrumental goal attainment or by the aim of personal, organizational or societal transformation; and 
3.    1st-, to 2nd-, to 3rd-person research, that is, my research on my own action, aimed primarily at personal change; our research on our group (family/team), aimed primarily at improving the group; and 'scholarly' research aimed primarily at theoretical generalization or large-scale change 

Action research challenges traditional social science by moving beyond reflective knowledge created by outside experts sampling variables, to an active moment-to-moment theorizing, data collecting and inquiry occurring in the midst of emergent structure. "Knowledge is always gained through action and for action. From this starting point, to question the validity of social knowledge is to question, not how to develop a reflective science about action, but how to develop genuinely well-informed action – how to conduct an action science". In this sense, performing action research is the same as performing an experiment, thus it is an empirical process. 

What types of problems are addresses in action research? 

Many of the principles enunciated by Baker & Proudford are principles which are fundamental to the theory and practice of action research. Three terms in particular are of significance. These are ‘participatory decision making’, ‘collaborative planning’ and ‘reflexive processes’. All of these are key terms for action research. Kemmis & McTaggart (1988, p. 5) provide the following definition of action research which emphasises its participatory, collaborative and self-reflective nature and firmly locates it as a form of social action oriented towards improvement. Action research is a form of collective self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of these practices and the situations in which these practices are carried out. 
The importance placed upon the improvement of understanding as well as practice and upon the improvement of the situation in which the practice takes place as well as the practice itself, points to the appropriateness of action research as a school improvement strategy. In the improvement principles enunciated above the importance of schools “identifying their own problems” and having “knowledge of alternative models” suggests that changes in knowledge and understanding are as important to school improvement as are changes in practices. Furthermore, the recognition that “altering the culture of the school is a critical aspect of the improvement process” highlights the link between educational improvement and improvement in “the situations in which [educational] practices are carried out”. While there are various methods to conducting action research, there are also various types of action research in the fields of education, including individual action research, collaborative action research and school-wide action research. For example:  
  • Individual action research involves working independently on a project, such as an elementary school teacher conducting her own, in-class research project with her students. 
  • Collaborative action research involves a group of teachers or researchers working together to explore a problem that might be present beyond a single classroom, perhaps at the departmental level or an entire grade level. 
  • School-wide action research generally focuses on issues present throughout an entire school or across the district. Teams of staff members would work together using school-wide action research. As you can see, action research can be used in many educational settings. We'll explore two examples of action research being used in the field of education. The first example discusses observation as the method of choice for collecting data in the classroom. The second example discusses using surveys as the method of choice for collecting data. The cycle of action research is emphasized in each of the examples. 

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611): Assignment No. 1



Q.2 Write down a critical essay on the current science syllabus taught at grade 4-6. 

Answer: 

Curriculum is typically a phenomenon which includes many dimensions of learning, including rationale, aims, content, methods, resources, time, assessment, etc; which refers to various levels of planning and decision-making on learning (for example, at the supra-, macro-, meso-, micro- and nano-levels); or, international, national, local, classroom and individual levels; and which relates to multiple representations of learning (for example, as already mentioned, ‘intended’, ‘implemented’, ‘attained’, etc). Curriculum can be understood as the totality of what children learn while at school – including what they learn through classroom activities; in interdisciplinary tasks; across the school, for example, in the playground, at lunch time when eating (civic responsibilities, etc.). This curricular totality also includes opportunities for wider achievement through sport, music, debating, and the like. For the purposes of this paper, curriculum is defined in a holistic, process-oriented way. This definition is based on the belief that, while curriculum might commonly be perceived as a set of documents, the quality of those documents is closely connected to the processes used to develop them and to the means through which they are put into practice. In other words, judging the quality of the curriculum itself cannot be done in isolation from the broader processes of curriculum development, implementation and evaluation. 
The syllabus has been structured to cover each of the three years of Primary 1-3. Each year·s work has been grouped under five sections or themes (Diversity of matter, Cycles, Systems, Energy and Interactions of matter). Each of these themes is related to everyday experiences of the child, and to commonly observed phenomena in the child·s environment. The main aim is to enable pupils appreciate the links between different scientific topics and thus help them to integrate scientific ideas in dealing with phenomena. The sections/themes cover a core of concepts which provide broad based understanding of the environment upon which the foundation for further study could be built. 
The topics under each theme are not to be looked at as separate or isolated blocks of knowledge. In general, there are no clear borders between these themes. There are some topics that are common to different themes. A conscious effort should therefore be made 5 by the teacher to let pupils see the link between themes whenever possible. In particular, it will be noted that Systems, Energy and Interactions of matter are closely related. Another feature of the syllabus is the Spiral Approach. This is characterised by revisiting concepts and skills at different levels with increasing degrees of depth at each stage. The spiral approach has the benefit of matching scientific concepts and skills to pupils· cognitive development. It therefore helps pupils to build a gradual mastery of scientific skills. 

Diversity of matter 

Pupils should recognize that there is a great variety of living and non-living things in the world. Humans seek to organise this great variety to better understand the world in which they live. There are common threads that connect all living things. There are also unifying factors in the diversity of nonliving things that scientists use to classify them. The study of the diversity in the world should also help pupils to appreciate the importance of life·s diversity and therefore take necessary steps for maintaining this diversity. Topics covered under Diversity of matter include the following: 
- Variety and characteristics of living things 
- Materials 
- Classification of organisms and materials 
Cycles Pupils should recognise that there are repeated patterns of change in nature and should seek to understand how these patterns occur. Examples of cycles are the day and night cycle, life cycles of living things and the recycling of resources. Studying these cycles helps humans to understand the Earth as a selfsustaining system and secondly, helps humans to be able to predict events and processes. Topics included under cycles are as follows: 
- Life cycles of the mosquito 
- Water cycle 
- Day and night cycles 
- Convection and ventilation 
- Reproduction in plants and animals 
- Land and sea breezes etc.


AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611): Assignment No. 1



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Q.3 Explain with examples why do we need assessment schedules as well as peer support and mentoring? 

Answer:

Peer mentoring is a form of mentorship that usually takes place between a person who has lived through a specific experience (peer mentor) and a person who is new to that experience (the peer mentee). An example would be an experienced student being a peer mentor to a new student, the peer mentee, in a particular subject, or in a new school. Peer mentors are also used for health and lifestyle changes. For example, clients, or patients, with support from peers, may have one-on-one sessions that meet regularly to help them recover or rehabilitate. Peer mentoring provides individuals who have suffered from a specific life experience the chance to learn from those who have recovered, or rehabilitated, following such an experience. Peer mentors provide education, recreation and support opportunities to individuals. The peer mentor may challenge the mentee with new ideas, and encourage the mentee to move beyond the things that are most comfortable. Most peer mentors are picked for their sensibility, confidence, social skills and reliability.

Critics of peer mentoring insist that little is known of the nature of peer mentoring relationships and that there are few consistent studies indicating the outcomes of peer mentoring beyond good feelings among peers and the development of friendships. Peer mentoring led by senior students may discourage diversity and prevent critical analysis of the higher education system. 

Program design characteristics 

The frequency with which peer mentors and mentees meet varies according to the particular mentoring program. Some pairs may make contact once a month, while others may meet 3-4 times per month or more. It is usually advised that mentors and mentees meet more often in the beginning of the relationship in order to establish a good foundation. Mentors and mentees may maintain contact through email, telephone or inperson meetings. Peer mentoring organizations may also set up social events for those participating in the program. These events provide good opportunities for increased social interaction between mentors and mentees. 
The compatibility of mentor and mentee is a factor that should be taken into consideration when choosing pairs. Mentors and mentees may benefit from having similar backgrounds, interests and life experiences. Age, gender, ethnicity, language preferences, and education may be taken into consideration when pairing mentors with mentees. 
The quality of the peer mentoring relationship is important for mentees to experience positive results. A mentor relationship is more successful when the mentor cares for the whole person and not just the academic or career side of a person. Successful mentors tend to be available, knowledgeable, educated in diversity issues, empathic, personable, encouraging, supportive, and passionate. Although this is not an exhaustive list of qualities, they have been shown to be important for successful mentoring relationships. It is important to keep qualities like this in mind when recruiting and training mentors. 
The objectives of a peer mentoring program should be well-defined and measurable. The effectiveness of the program should be monitored to ensure that the objectives are being met. One way to monitor the effectiveness of a program is to administer evaluations to the mentors and mentees. 
In education Peer mentoring in education was promoted during the 1960s by educator and theorist Paulo Freire: 
"The fundamental task of the mentor is a liberatory task. It is not to encourage the mentor’s goals and aspirations and dreams to be reproduced in the mentees, the students, but to give rise to the possibility that the students become the owners of their own history. This is how I understand the need that teachers have to transcend their merely instructive task and to assume the ethical posture of a mentor who truly believes in the total autonomy, freedom, and development of those he or she mentors." 
Peer mentors appear mainly in secondary schools where students moving up from primary schools may need assistance in settling into the new schedule and lifestyle of secondary school life, however peer mentoring can occur at the grade school level, the undergraduate level, and the graduate school level. The goals of the program may vary according to the level, the educational institution or the discipline. 
Peer mentors in secondary schools aid in the transition of younger students from primary school to secondary school. They may assist mentees with their school work and study skills, peer pressure (such as pressure to use drugs or have sex), issues with attendance and behavior, and typical family problems. Youth mentors are persons for children or adolescents to spend time with, often to compensate for absent family members or an inadequate home environment. Mentoring programs for youth can be especially useful for students who are suffering from a lack of social support, and who therefore may be susceptible to delinquency. 
Peer mentors for undergraduates may assist newly admitted students with time management, study skills, organizational skills, curriculum planning, administrative issues, test preparation, term paper preparation, goal setting, and grade monitoring. Additionally, such mentors may provide other forms of social support for the student, such as friendship, networking, and aiding the student's adjustment to college life. A peer mentor at the graduate school level may assist new students in selecting an advisor, negotiating the advisor/advisee relationship, preparation for major examinations, publishing articles, searching for jobs, and adjusting to the rigors of graduate school life.

In higher education 

Peer mentoring in higher education has enjoyed a good name and is seen favorably by both educational administrators and students. During the last decade, peer mentoring has expanded and is found in most colleges and universities, frequently as a means to outreach, retain, and recruit minority students. Peer mentoring is used extensively in higher education for several reasons
  • Benefits attributed to classical mentoring (when an older adult mentors a younger person) can translate to peer mentoring relationships, mainly when the peer mentor and the mentee have similar backgrounds; 
  • The lack of role models or volunteers forces administrators and student leaders to use students as peer mentors of other students—usually first year students, ethnic minorities, and women—in order to guide, support, and instruct junior students; 
  • Because peer mentoring programs require a low budget for administration and/or development, they become a cheap alternative to support students perceived as likely to fail. 

Advantages in education  

Peer mentoring may help new students adapt to a new academic environment faster. The relationship between the mentor and mentee gives the mentee a sense of being connected to the larger community where they may otherwise feel lost. Mentors are chosen because they are academically successful and because they possess good communication, social and leadership skills. As a consequence, mentors serve as positive role models for the students, guiding them towards academic and social success. Mentors provide support, advice, encouragement, and even friendship to students. Peer mentoring may improve student retention rates. 
Mentors also stand to benefit from the mentor/mentee relationship. Mentors develop friendships through their participation in mentoring programs and usually derive satisfaction from helping a younger student, and possibly shaping his or her life in a positive way. Mentors may also be paid, and they may receive other benefits such as prioritized registration, course credit, and references. 
In higher education tutorial settings, the benefits of peer mentoring programs also extend to class tutors. Using grounded theory techniques, Outhred and Chester found that five themes underlie their experiences: role exploration, sharing responsibility, regulation of the peer-tutored groups, harnessing the peer tutors’ role, and community. 

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611): Assignment No. 1



Q.4 On any of the social media that you use - facebook, twitter or whatsapp, make group teachers. Initiate a discussion regarding classroom issues and write down a report of what was the topic. What did different people said what is your conclusion? 

Answer: 

I’m a big fan of social media. Facebook, Twitter, blogging platforms and other ‘web 2.0’ sites offer users the ability to publish their thoughts and exchange ideas with a global audience. In this article I will be discussing ways that you can use social media in your classes and courses. 
You can use them in the following ways: 
1.    Building a class blog, where students can take it in turns to write posts on topics of interest. Other students can then add comments. The teacher will probably need to moderate, as comment threads can sometimes become heated and if you are representing an educational institution, this could become a tricky issue. 
2.    Creating lessons based on blogs. I once devised a reading task taking four types of blog- one academic, one on the life of an ambulance driver, one personal blog and another on current affairs. I had students skim read each blog and answer thematic questions. They then exchanged their opinions on each blog and decided which one seemed most interesting. We then had a language analysis task, with samples of text from each blog. Students examined differences in style (i.e. formality), lexis and tone, before focusing on the personal blog, which used more colloquial language. After a matching task where some key phrases were identified, students were set the task of writing a blog entry on something they had done that week. 
3.    Having students start their own blogs. For this to work, they will probably need support, as blogging is a habit that has to be kept up consistently and it takes time to get good at it. Teachers can do this by examining the discourse features of personal blogs and producing a structured lesson that enables learners to mimic these features in their own writing. Common discourse features of personal blogs are: 
  • Short posts 
  • Informal or colloquial language 
  • First person perspective 
  • Contemporary topics 
  • Taking on the form of a dialogue with readers (especially in comment threads) 

Twitter 

Twitter is a microblogging site. Microblogging involves writing very short updates on what you are doing, your ideas, activities, links to interesting sites and so on. Twitter limits updates to 140 characters, and these updates are known in the Twitter community as ‘tweets’. 
When you join the site, you can ‘follow’ other users’ tweets, which appear in a kind of news feed when you sign in. They have the option of following you back. There is the same culture of regular updates as with regular blogging- and some users are very prolific, tweeting many times per day, while others are less active. 
The short length of tweets is linguistically interesting because it forces the writer to be very concise, and to focus very specifically on the readers’ interests. 
Some ideas for using Twitter in a course: 
1.    Twitter warmer: Focus on a Twitter feed from a news source such as the BBC or CNN. In small groups, learners can read one tweet and try to predict the broader details of the story. They can then exchange ideas with another group before checking fuller details online. 
2.    Twitter search activity: Twitter has a powerful search tool that allows users to look for specific search items in the ‘twittersphere’. Learners can be given an item of new vocabulary, for example, and search for authentic examples of use in real time. They can then derive the meaning from context (with appropriate support from the teacher). 
3.    Practice of short forms- the concise nature of Twitter lends itself to this 4) Practice of the present continuous- the immediacy of Twitter suggests the present continuous, e.g. ‘writing an article on social media in the EFL classroom’ 

Facebook and other social networking sites 

Social networking sites allow users to make connections and keep in touch with other users, who become ‘friends’. As there is the possibility to interact via messaging (both instant and via a form of email service) and status updates (you say what you are doing), there is the opportunity for language practice. 
Some sites are more or less ‘serious’ than others. LinkedIn, for example, is a social networking site for professionals, and has an appearance and functionality to match. How these sites can be used in class totally depends on the level to which your class members are willing to interact with each other in a (relatively) private space, and how suitable that is. 
Some ideas: 
1.    Create a class group on a social networking site. Groups are a form of virtual club. If the group has a clearly defined purpose, which can be defined in class (perhaps as a task making use of various language items), this will encourage online activity. The teacher can act as an administrator, suggesting topics for discussion and posting links. This can become more exciting if members are attracted from outside the class by class members inviting their friends to join. 
2.    Your school can create a profile on the site and students can become friends with the school. Teachers can then answer students’ questions online and engage in discussions. This will also have the effect of boosting the school’s profile. 

Conclusion 

Teachers must be aware that while it’s easy and exciting to put your thoughts all over the web, you must be aware of the law in the country you are working in. You must also be particularly careful if you’re working with minors and ensure that no sensitive information is revealed online. Remind your learners never to share addresses or location specific contact details with people online who they don’t know. You can help protect them by making blogs password protected, protecting Twitter updates and creating hidden profiles on Facebook. 13 You should also check terms of use and privacy statements to make sure you know what the owners of the sites are doing with any information they collect and to check that the services are suitable for the age group of your class ( Many don’t allow users below the age of 

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611): Assignment No. 1



Q.5 Write a reflective essay about your B.Ed 1.5 years program via distance education - what were you expectation, how do you compare this experience from your experience at formal institutions and how useful is this program for you as a teacher. 

Answer: 

My expectations were not only met, they were exceeded. Before this class, I had no idea what engineers really do. I knew they help make all of modern society function, but I had no idea in what way. Besides revealing what my future has in store for me, this class helped me find my true passion in aerospace engineering. When I applied for school I had no idea why I wanted to be in aerospace other than it sounded like a challenge. I now realize that I am studying aerospace because not all the “big questions” in this field have answers. Space is essentially the last frontier, and I’m the kind of person that wants to take part in conquering it. 
Coming into this class, I learned of the strict expectations, and was slightly intimidated. However, once the course began, I relaxed when I realized all the benefits I would receive from the course. Like we were forewarned, the class was very time-consuming and challenging. However, it was definitely my favorite course this semester, and I’m disappointed that I will not have the opportunity to take another course of this experience until my senior year. Building a satellite was more than I expected when I came to CU, and I had so much fun along the way. I might not have slept much, but it was definitely worth it. Therefore, this course exceeded my expectations. 
My expectations for this class were completely met. I was worried about all the work at first, but it all paid off and the launch was really great. I had a few problems of not getting along with team members but it didn't prove to be a huge problem. 
Considering that I did not really know what to expect coming into this class, I would say that my expectations were vastly exceeded. I began my freshman year without any inkling into what was truly in store for me or what Aerospace Engineering was really about. All I knew of this course was that it was a substitute for freshmen projects and dealt with space. It was a win-win. However, I did first believe that this class would be easy due to that fact that it is only worth two credits. 
This assumption was soon proven to be false as the workload was said to rival that of a five credit class. Awesome. At first the class did not appear to be too difficult and I thought that all those stories I heard were exaggerated or possibly lies to trick us into working harder than was necessary; only a few homework assignments were initially due and all that had taken place were lectures. 
As soon as our teams were assigned, however, this all changed. The pace seemed to increase weekly, as our overall launch deadline inched closer and closer. Many a nights were spent compiling and revising proposals (I think that Aden Lounge has actually claimed a good two weeks of my adult life) and stress levels were always at peak before due dates. I began to see that this class did entail much work and required some hard-core dedication (if you want to do well, at least). I didn’t like this part, the whole work super hard for a two credit class. 
But I would not exchange the experience for anything. Out of all of my classes, this one has given me the best idea of what a career in Aerospace Engineering entails and what it requires. I have come to learn that, while it is a rigorous and demanding discipline, it is also very rewarding. Many of my friends enrolled in other majors actually came to envy me and my workload because they wished they were as involved in their majors as I was. No other class thus far has given me any hands on experience and apparently no class in the future will until I reach upper division courses as a junior and senior. 
Although I often complained of the difficulty and amount of time this class consumed, I did enjoy it. And the workload really wasn’t that bad. I was just being a whiner. If anything, the workload gave me an idea of what is in store for me in the future, which I can appreciate. 
I came into my freshman year unsure if I wanted to pursue this major, but after completing this class my doubts have been eliminated (if only temporarily) as I can actually imagine myself doing this line of work in the future. 
Plus, from what I’ve heard, there’s a huge job demand for Aerospace Engineers and they make bank. What more could you possibly ask for? Yes, all my expectations were met. I thoroughly enjoyed the class, expected a lot of hard work, and got to launch something into space. 
Yes, my expectations were met. Everything on the syllabus and in the first few classes was done as planned. This really helped me to see where I am going with this educational pursuit. It has also helped me to determine that I made the right decision. There are always small changes that can be made to any class/situation that can make it better, but overall the class is set up well. The students learn quite a bit about what they should expect in the future, but it starts them off with something they are capable of completing on their own. 
My expectations were definitely met. At the beginning of the class, I was unable to imagine that we would actually be able to construct a working BalloonSat. Along the way, I also picked up many different skills/pieces of knowledge that I feel will benefit me as an aerospace engineer. Of course, one of these skills was the not as fun writing of the proposal and DD revisions. Even though that process was not as enjoyable as the actual construction, it gave me valuable insight into how actual aerospace projects progress and showed how many things evolve throughout the process. Through this class, I felt that I learned much more about the aerospace industry and what it means to be an aerospace engineer than I did in Intro to Aerospace Engineering. The guest speakers were very interesting, and I found myself even more excited about aerospace after each lecture. I have learned so much through this class, and am truly thankful that I had the opportunity to take it. 

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611): Assignment No. 1