EDUX 441 – Research Plan

Written by: Kim Scott Date: July 2010

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Research Question:
What components of Inquiry programmes improve student engagement in
the primary school and why?

Defining Engagement

Stovall (2003) suggests that engagement is defined by a combination of

students’ time on task and their willingness to participate in activities.
Krause and Coates (2008) say that engagement is the quality of effort
students themselves devote to educationally purposeful activities that
contribute directly to desired outcomes. Additionally, Chen, Gonyea and
Kuh (2008) say that engagement is the degree to which learners are engaged
with their educational activities and that engagement is positively linked to a
host of desired outcomes, including high grades, student satisfaction, and
perseverance. Other studies define engagement in terms of interest, effort,
motivation, time-on-task and suggest that there is a causal relationship
between engaged time, that is, the period of time in which students are
completely focused on and participating in the learning task, and academic
achievement (Bulger et al., 2008).

A basic tenet of the research into student engagement is that students’

activity, involvement and effort in their learning tasks is related to their
academic achievement. While there does not appear to be a single definition
for engagement, the following definition represents an aggregation of the
literature. “Engagement is seen to comprise active and collaborative
learning, participation in challenging academic activities, formative
communication with teachers, involvement in enriching educational
experiences, and feeling legitimated and supported by learning
communities.” (Coates, 2007). This definition suggests that engagement is
the amalgamation of a number of distinct elements including active learning,
collaborative learning, participation, communication among teachers and
students and students feeling legitimated and supported. While it is not
possible to provide universally accepted interpretations for the elements that
comprise the definition, it is possible to provide an overview of their
meanings.
Defining Inquiry Learning

Inquiry-based learning is often described as a cycle or a spiral, which

implies formulation of a question, investigation, creation of a solution
or an appropriate response, discussion and reflection in connection with
results (Bishop et al., 2004). IBL is a student-centered and student-lead
process. The purpose is to engage the student in active learning, ideally
based on their own questions. Learning activities are organized in a
cyclic way, independently of the subject.

Literature Review

Although there has been considerable research completed in the areas of

‘Inquiry Learning’ and ‘Student Engagement’ there is little research
completed that looks specifically at the improving of student engagement
through the use of Inquiry Learning programmes. There is however an
underlying assumption in the research when outlining the components of
Inquiry Learning that increased student engagement will occur as a result of
these components being evident within the process (Wilson and Murdoch
2003, Clarke 2001, Scott 2010).
Klem (2004) states that an emerging consensus exists in the school reform
literature about what conditions contribute to student success. Conditions
include high standards for academic learning and conduct, meaningful and
engaging pedagogy and curriculum, professional learning communities
among staff, and personalised learning environments. Schools providing
such supports are more likely to have students who are engaged in and
connected to school.
Integrated Inquiry programmes focus heavily on meaningful and engaging
pedagogy and personalised learning programmes and I intend to extrapolate
the key components and themes of Inquiry Learning further within this
research process.

Plan of Action:

Initially I intend to research extensively to identify the key components of

the Inquiry Learning process and the key indicators for increased student
engagement. Using this information I will then develop a survey that
includes the key components of Inquiry Learning and their correlation with
student engagement levels in classrooms. I intend to include a section for
each teacher to define what they envision student engagement includes. I
haven’t included this for the Inquiry Learning definition because all of the
teachers within these schools have worked extensively at defining this as
part of their professional development programme with me (as an
educational consultant in Inquiry programmes). I consider that a survey
format will ensure that there is little influence by the researcher (as I am a
passionate advocate of Inquiry Programmes) apart from the structuring and
vocabulary used in the survey.
I intend to survey teachers from three different primary school settings (from
different Deciles), on the components of the Inquiry programme that
improve their student’s engagement and why they think each of these things
‘work’ for them. These surveys will be completed within their schools as
part of their professional development programme and the teachers will have
the survey for a week to complete to ensure they have time to consider each
of the questions. I intend to use a post modernist perspective with this
research and therefore the variables for consideration will be broad and
many and hopefully the survey questions will be open ended enough to
ensure this.
When these are all completed I will analyse and correlate the key themes and
messages that come from these surveys which will then be discussed in
greater depth by a cohort of 8 to 10 experienced teachers from within the
study in a ‘focus group interview’ format. The survey forms will be
destroyed after this focus group process is completed and the collated data
will be used in an online wiki for presentation purposes both for this paper
and also for the teachers from within the study to use as the basis for self-
study.
I expect that this research will show the variables that teachers have
identified that improve student engagement and to increase the awareness of
other teachers to the width and importance of these variables. This research
will also inform my personal practice as an educational consultant in Inquiry
Learning (working mainly in primary schools) to ensure that teachers
consider these variables when planning their programmes.

Ethical Considerations:

Although I am not asking for identification of teachers and they will not be
able to be identified in any way I appreciate that I am surveying teachers and
therefore I believe that this will need a category B ethics application and I
have just resubmitted this with alterations after suggestions, as I hadn’t
completed one of these before. I consider that this component of the process
is vitally important to the integrity of the research and also to ensure the
ethical guidelines support both the research and the participants whom in
this case are the teachers.
References

Australasian Survey of Student Engagement. (2009). Engaging Students for

Success. Camberwell, Victoria.

Beane, J. (1997). Curriculum Integration. New York: Teachers College

Press.

Bishop, A.P.,Bertram, B.C.,Lunsford, K.J. (2004). Supporting Community

Inquiry with Digital Resources. Journal of Digital Information, 5 (3).

Bulger, M. E., Mayer, R. E., Almeroth, K. C., & Blau, S. D. (2008).

Measuring Learner Engagement in Computer-Equipped Classrooms.
Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(2), 129-143.

Chen, P.-S. D., Gonyea, R., & Kuh, G. (2008). Learning at a distance
[Electronic Version]. Journal of online education, 4. Retrieved October
2009, from http://innovateonline.info/index.php?
view=article&id=438&action=login

Clark, L. (2009). Where Thinking and Learning Meet. Victoria, Australia:

Hawker Brownlow Education.

Coates, H. (2006). Student Engagement in Campus-based and Online

Education. Retrieved 23rd October 2009, from
http://www.cqu.eblib.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/EBLWeb/patron/

Coates, H. (2007). A model of online and general campus-based student

engagement. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 32(2), 121-141.

Dawson, S., Macfadyen, L., & Lockyer, L. (2009). Learning or

performance: Predicting drivers of student motivation. Paper presented at
the Same places, Different spaces. Proceedings ascilite Auckland 2009,
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Douglas, I., & Alemanne, N. D. (2007). Measuring Student Participation

and Effort. Paper presented at the International Conference on Cognition and
Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, Algarve, Portugal.

Huitt, W. (2001). Motivation to Learn [Electronic Version]. Educational

Psychology Interactive. Retrieved 31st October 2009, from
http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/motivaton/motivate.html
Jennings, D. (2005). Virtually Effective: The Measure of a Learning
Environment [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 1st November 2009, from
http://www.aishe.org/readings/2005-1/jennings-Virtually_Effective.html

Klem, A.M. (2004). Relationships matter: Linking teacher support to

student engagement and achievement. Adelaide: AARE

Krause, K.-L., & Coates, H. (2008). Students’ engagement in first-year of

University. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(5), 493 – 505.

Kuh, G. D. (2001). Assessing What Really Matters to Student Learning.

Inside the national survey of student engagement. [Electronic Version].
Retrieved 22nd October 2009, from
http://cpr.iub.edu/uploads/Assessing_What_Really_Matters_To_Student_Le
arning_(Kuh,%202001).pdf

Macquarie University. (2009). Student Engagement Principles [Electronic

Version]. Retrieved 15th November 2009, from
http://www.mq.edu.au/ltc/pdfs/Engagement_Principles.pdf

Nicholas, A. J. (2008). Perferred Learning Methods of the Millennial

Generation. International Journal of Learning, 15(6), 8.

Scott, K. (2009). Inquiry Guide for Schools. Invercargill, NZ: Essential

Resources.

Stovall, I. (2003). Engagement and Online Learning [Electronic Version].

UIS Community of Practice for E-Learning. Retrieved October 2009, from
http://otel.uis.edu/copel/EngagementandOnlineLearning.ppt

Wilson J., Murdoch K. (2008) Learning for themselves: pathways to

independence in the classroom. Australia: Curriculum Corporation.