Memo 7: Classroom Research

Luckily, I have been able to find a great deal of research pertaining to the effects of group learning and non-traditional instructional techniques.

One article that I have found particularly engaging is called, "Supporting Autonomy in the Classroom: Ways Teachers Encourage Student Decision Making and Ownership" by Stefanou et al. (2004). This article explains that autonomy support can me manifested in the classroom in three different ways: organizational autonomy (allowing students to take decision-making role in terms of classroom management), procedural autonomy (offering students choices about the use of different media to present ideas) , and cognitive autonomy support (allowing students to evaluate their work). The authors explain that whereas organizational autonomy support may encourage a sense of well-being in the classroom and procedural autonomy may encourage initial engagement with learning activities, cognitive autonomy support may foster a more enduring psychological investment in deep level thinking (Stefanou et al., 2004). I really liked how this article broke down "autonomy" and analyzed student decision making from a variety of different angles.

One area I hope to find more research on pertains to one of my sub-questions: How does a more student-lead classroom affect who I am as a teacher and how my students perceive me? While there is a great deal of research that looks at student autonomy and how it affects students, I want to find more that looks at the effects of the instructor in the room. This does not necessarily have to be in the form of a study; I would love to even find some personal narratives from teachers who have tried to change the structure of their classroom from a teacher-centered one to a more student-led environment.

Finally, I am hoping to find more research that has been done in urban, public school environments. While the research I have discovered has been very insightful, I find that most of the analysis has been done in schools that do not share the same socioeconomic and racial compositions as my students. Most studies have focused on suburban schools or college students. While I do think that these other studies offer great insights into my research question, I am interested to see if there are any differences in techniques or results that focus on urban, public schools.