Action Research Plan

The ultimate goal of a school is to provide all students with a safe and effective environment to learn. The state mandates the information that every student should know by the time that they graduate and they offer many other courses with suggested curriculum. Our task as teachers and administrators is to figure out the best way to accomplish this. This fact is the reason that I have chosen my specific action research topic. The goal of my action research project is to improve instruction in the science classroom and to increase the efficiency of teaching the science curriculum through writing techniques.

A committee will be formed to discuss writing techniques that can be used in the science classroom. The committee will determine the best writing techniques that will be most successful in the science classroom. The techniques will be tested in science classrooms at all three levels (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) for success. The committee will meet periodically throughout and after the testing period to discuss modifications that may be needed.

The only resources that I will need are the English- Language Arts (ELA) teachers and science teachers. The research will come from the experience and knowledge already possessed by the ELA teachers that will be included in the committee. The wealth of knowledge possessed by the teachers on the committee will offer a plethora of techniques to consider implementing in the classroom. As the science coach, I have access to student scores on assessments from all levels, but I will have to rely on teachers to acquire class grades.

The committee will be selected the first week of January 2012 and will meet together for the first time the second week of January. Writing techniques will begin being used the first week of February 2012. Each month the committee will meet to discuss modifications. The committee will meet for the final time in May to analyze the effectiveness of the alignment.

The biology, chemistry, and physics teachers in the science department are responsible for implementing the action research plan. These are the teachers that will be using these techniques in the future and they are the ones that know their student’s needs the best. Each teacher will also determine the specific writing technique that they will use relative to their style of teaching and the dynamics of each individual class.

Writing samples will be administered to all students in tested classes and will be graded as part of their class grade. Writing samples from students in each class will be selected at random. The samples will be analyzed for effectiveness of writing by randomly selecting writing samples which will be used as an evaluation tool to guide the research process. The student samples will be compared to course grades, common assessment scores, curriculum based assessment scores, and state assessment scores. Correlation will be evaluated and possible causation will be assessed to determine the effectiveness of the action research study.

The final committee meeting will discuss the success of the action plan. Effective writing techniques will be identified for use in future science classes and a collection of successful techniques will be created. This collection will serve as a reference for the science department for coming years. The effectiveness of writing in the science classroom will continue to be monitored in future years and ELA teachers will be utilized as further reference when needed.