Edg 690 - Teacher as Researcher - Reflections on Action Research

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Another issue that Mertler broaches in his chapter is experimentation. This could be used by teachers to test a teaching strategy on a group of students, with the students who receive the new teaching strategy called the experimental or treatment group, and the students who receive the traditional method of instruction the control group. Being a history person, I especially enjoyed Mertler giving an example of history teacher, who teaches half the class the traditional past to present approach, and the other half teaching history backwards. This method seems too radical for me, in that I feel that history has to be taught in chronological order to make sense. I feel that Mertler could have gave better examples. After forming the experiment, it is then the responsibility of the teacher to compare the different educational methods, using statistics from the two different groups of students.

The methods and strategies that Craig Mertler described in chapter one of Action Research many of us can agree with. There is no question that educator’s must conduct experimentation and scientific research in order to find out the most effective way students learn content. I certainly feel that this is true for my subject area, history. In chapter one of Action Research, Mertler I feel provides educators with concrete proposals on how to effectively communicate content to students, and how to effectively identify problems that students in the classroom may be having that is preventing them from learning. I find myself in agreement with Mertler’s methods described in his book thus far, and I especially appreciate the significance he places on research in order to improve teaching.