Week 20 - Inquiry Topic

Teacher Inquiry Topic
This week I have been asked to choose a topic area that I am passionate about or interested in investigating in my teacher inquiry. I will also explore the principles of Kaupapa Māori and how they relate to educational research and my inquiry.

Choosing a Topic
I started by watching a video from Dr David Parsons in unpacking Research and Research Questions. He has identified 5 aspects of research:

• Aims - challenge thinking, apply, test assumptions, justify, discovery, investigate etc.
• Ways - research methods, approaches, reasoning, data etc.
• Sources - books, journals, experts, conferences, websites, blogs etc.
• Problems - personal agendas, funding, ethics, bias, peer review etc.
• Outcomes - increasing knowledge, finding answers, multiple views, infer new understandings and future work etc.

We should choose what fits best with the topics, interests and desired outcomes of the research. Research can also be defined as original investigation to contribute knowledge and understanding to a discipline, culture or social context. Research is important in feeding back into our own professional development.

Educational Research as defined by the American Educational Research Association - “Education research is the scientific field of study that examines education and the learning processes and the human attributes, interactions, organisations, and institutions that shape educational outcomes."

John Creswell (www.johncreswell.com) suggests an approach for scripting inquiry questions. Agile stories can also be used. Here is a basic structure that could be followed for qualitative inqiry questions:

1. How/what
2. story/meaning of/theory of process/culture sharing pattern/issue/case/ of
3. the central phenomenon for
4. the participants at
5. the research site.

This reminds me so much of developing a concept statement as part of brief development in the Technology development process curriculum which basically covers who, what, where, why and how for an issue or problem to solve as the starting point of technological innovation.

Here is an example that Dr David Parsons gave “What is the impact on engagement in learning of device addiction for students at my school?”

For quantitative inquiry questions that are a bit more focused the following structure is suggested by John Creswell:

1. Does (the name of the theory)
2. explain the relationship between (the independent variable - stable)
3. and (dependant variable - moves by management independent variable)
4. controlling for the effects of (control variable/s)

An example of this kind of inquiry question from Dr David Parsons - “Does social constructivism explain the relationship between student activity and learning outcomes, controlling for the effects of prior learning?”

Integrating the Principles of Kaupapa Māori Research into My Teacher Inquiry

Katoa Ltd has some great information about Kaupapa māori - http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori. Kaupapa Māori is literally ‘a Māori way’. Graham Smith describes Kaupapa Māori as:

• Related to ‘being Maori’,
• Connected to Maori philosophy and principles,
• Taking for granted the validity and legitimacy of Maori,
• Taking for granted the importance of Maori language and culture, and
• Concerned with the ‘struggle for autonomy over our own cultural well-being’.

Katoa also describe the potential of Kaupapa Māori being based upon six intervention elements or principles:

• Tino Rangatiratanga - The Principle of Self-determination
• Taonga Tuku Iho - The Principle of Cultural Aspiration
• Ako Māori - The Principle of Culturally Preferred Pedagogy
• Kia piki ake i ngā raruraru o te kainga - The Principle of Socio-Economic Mediation
• Whānau - The Principle of Extended Family Structure
• Kaupapa - The Principle of Collective Philosophy

Therefore, I should consider how these elements might be integrated into my Literature Review and Teacher Inquiry project plan.

There are also interesting points made by Macfarlane, H., Glynn, T., Grace, W., Penetito, W. & Bateman, S. (2008), about our NZ Curriculum Key Competencies not being consistent with Maori world views as they don’t really take into account these competencies in the bigger picture of how they are impacting on the natural world and survival. Also some other interesting points made about the early childhood curriculum Te Whāriki being more inline with a Māori perspective. There is probably much I can learn by including further investigation into these contexts.

My Inquiry Topic Selection
In my teaching and leadership practice I am still grappling with how to best support and inspire teachers and learners to drive their own learning and development in the area of digital fluencies as everyone is on such a different journey in this respect. So for my broad topic I would like to look into Learner Agency and Engagement.

I think this inquiry would link in well with the principle of Tino Rangatiratanga (Self-determination). This is all about having meaningful control over one’s own life and cultural well-being.

I look forward to diving into this in more detail over the next few weeks.

References
Creswell, J. W. (2009) Research Design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Katoa Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori