AED 815: Action Research

My concept map has changed over time. At first, I knew the direction that I wanted to go in with my research but I didn't know how it all fit together. The ideas were scattered and jumbled because they were unattached to a problem that meant anything to me or my teaching. Now that I have taken time to reflect on what I want to change in my teaching, I have a more organized perspective of my work. My problem stems from questions of gender and classroom management. - Do male teachers experience less behavioral issues? - Do my male students respond to me differently than my female students, because of their perception of me as a female?

The field of research from the perspective of an artist is different from most. In her 2011 article Arts-Based Research as Social Justice Activism: Insight, Inquiry, Imagination, Embodiement, Relationality professor Karen Keifer-Boyd explains that it’s foundation lies in the visual, tactile, and kinesthetic nature of art itself (p. 5).  This means that when we conduct research through the arts we do so through all of our senses. With this idea comes the understanding that research is not just the end product of an experience but also the experience itself. This concept is illustrated in the study done by the dance teacher Amy Chavasse in 2015. She identifies the challenge of adapting her teaching strategies to meet the needs of her students. As a teacher-researcher, she looks to answer the question of how she can foster creative agency in her students. In her study she utilizes the methods of constructivism by sharing the problem with her class and making them beco...