During Term 4 this year, I worked with my HOD to work through the current appraisal process. It is currently a work in progress but was a great place to start looking at what the appraisal system will look like next year.
I really wanted to look at using questions and group work to improve student research when they were using the internet.
Two key things we have been working on are:
- Formulating questions and using them to research a particular topic
- Having distinct roles within their groups to help them work collaboratively
Questions
In Science we use brain cell questions. 1 brain cell questions usually starts with what or when and requires a short answer, 2 brain cell questions require the student to explain an idea and 3 brain cell questions involve detailed answers around comparisons or discussions.
I would normally pose a big idea/key question and then we would discuss what things we needed to find out in order to answer the key question. From here I would help them identify 4-5 questions they needed to answer in order to understand the main idea.
Group Roles
The class worked in groups of 2-3 students. There were 3 different roles recorder, researcher and
reporter. The recorder was responsible for writing down the answers to the questions using the information that the researcher had found out. If there was a 3rd member in the group they were responsible for sharing what their group found out with the class but if there were only 2 people in the group then the researcher was also the reporter.
Next Steps
During the appraisal process, I identified that I need to find some academic readings on group work and other strategies to encourage effective research. I also want to gather some student voice on how my class felt about the use of questions and group work.
Attached below is my appraisal documentation.
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