Researching, Teaching and Learning Assessment 1

This assessment requires you to demonstrate your ability to read and interpret empirical
findings and associated recommendations from a research article and applies these to a
learning activity/element of a lesson plan for improved pedagogical practice.

In order to complete this assignment, you will need to select one research paper from a set
of provided papers as well as a learning activity/element of a lesson plan from (one of your)
chosen key learning areas (KLAs).

The purpose of your essay is to demonstrate how your chosen article, and the
recommendations for teaching practice therein, influences your chosen learning
activity/element of a lesson plan.

ASSIGNMENT 1 DETAILS

In order to complete this assignment you need to:

1. Choose and critically read of one of the provided research articles for application and
consideration

a) All articles may be relevant for all KLA areas and secondary stages. There is no right
answer in terms of your article choice.

b) While reading, use what you have learned from throughout the semester to develop your
informed understanding of:

- The research that has informed the study being reported on (e.g. the literature review
section of the paper)

- The method by which data was collected and analysed

- The findings and where these supported/contradicted other findings from similar researc

- The recommendations for practice. NB: Papers might not have an explicit
“recommendations” section. Rather, recommendations for practice may be interspersed
throughout the article as the author(s) present and discuss the findings. Some
recommendations might also be included within a “conclusions” section. Be aware of this, and
read your chosen article carefully.

2. Locate a learning activity/element of a lesson plan

a) Some suggestions for online sources include:

- BOSTES resources (http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/supportmaterials/programming/)

- Australian Curriculum Lessons (http://www.australiancurriculumlessons.com.au/)

- Cool Australia (http://www.coolaustralia.org/curriculum-materials/#bodywrapper)

- ABC Splash (http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/resources)

- OR may be drawn from lesson plans you are working with in other units of study.
b) Isolate a manageable learning activity (or small set of activities) which would be used
within a single lesson.

3. Use insights from your chosen article to reconsider and revise your chosen learning
activity/element of a lesson plan. You may add or revise elements related to classroom
procedure, physical layout, materials, medium of delivery, content, differentiation, and/or
groupings/organisation of students. All changes/additions must be explained and justified
using insights from your chosen research article.

Your final essay should:

1. Briefly introduce the educational issue addressed in your chosen article.

2. Explain how this issue is relevant both broadly and specifically within your KLA.

3. Provide a critical summary of your article, discussing how the cited background research,
methods used and findings lead clearly to the author(s)’ recommendations for practice.

4. Introduce your chosen learning activity/activities (don’t forget to reference the resource!)
and highlight areas where pertinent information may have been missing or oversights
relevant to your educational issue may have been made.

- You may include screen shots of elements of your learning activities to highlight areas
where revisions may be needed. Images will NOT be counted in the overall word count of the
essay.

5. Discuss the revisions you would make to your chosen learning activity and, most
importantly, justify these using your chosen article.

6. Your assignment will reference (at minimum for a Pass):

a) Your chosen article

b) The source for your chosen learning activity/element of a lesson plan;

c) Your textbook – particularly sections relevant to interpreting research recommendations

and/or critical reading of research articles.

7. Students working towards a higher mark (Credit/Distinction/High Distinction – see

marking rubric) will also incorporate additional empirical journal articles into their
justification for revision, weaving these into their support for their additions and/or editing
of their chosen research activity. These additional references do not guarantee a higher
mark but they are a necessary prerequisite for obtaining one.

- ProQuest Education is a good place to start for peer-reviewed journal articles from an
education journal in a subfield of your choice
(http://subjectguides.library.uws.edu.au/education).

8. Present your work professionally, demonstrating appropriate academic literacy including

APA 6th edition referencing.

WHAT DO I NEED TO SUBMIT?

Electronic file to be submitted via the relevant Turnitin assessment link.

You must name your file in the following way: Student Number/Underscore/Unit
number/Underscore/Semester/Assessment (e.g. 999999_102096_1HAssessment1).

Assessment Order:

- Describe bullying as an educational issue, why it’s relevant to teaching practice, first
up! (400)

- Evaluate the research process of the article. Show that I understand how the
recommendations are generated. Take note of the articles reasoning for his/her
recommendations (400)

- Clearly describe learning activity, can include pictures and imagery, linking it to the
educational issue and my KLA through other research texts.(400)

- Provide cohesive revisions/additions to the learning activity using article

recommendations and other research texts as reasoning for these changes.
Acknowledge the wide-ranging possibilities of such considerations across their
chosen KLA (500)

Essay Start:

Lesson: https://www.coolaustralia.org/activity/flipped-classroom-find-your-rhythm-7-
10/?login=yes

Article: https://vuws.westernsydney.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-2657963-dt-content-rid-
22276921_1/courses/102096_2017_1h/SEL_ReducingBullying.pdf

Introduction:

As argued by Morcom (2015), the issue of bullying should not be addressed only by the
victim and the perpetrator, but by social groups. In this way it is critical to address and best
eliminate the issue of bullying through the increased development of sociological learning in
the classroom context. Music provides a welcoming avenue for the increased development of
social learning, and will addressed with reference to a pre-existing lesson plan. A critical
analysis of Morcom’s article will be necessary in best addressing how to effectively improve
the lesson plan in order to cater for sociological learning.

Understanding bullying:

Bullying is clearly defined as the use of “superior strength or influence to harm or intimidate
those who are weaker”. Unfortunately, even this definition produces flaws within itself, such
as the definition of “weak” here is practically entailing physical weakness, however there are
many examples of those who are physically strong receiving verbal bullying from someone
who is not. However, so to efficiently progress, this definition will remain as it’s meaning in
this writing. So it is important to understand that students who are in a weaker physical or
mental condition are at risk of bullying (Slee, 2003). Once their weakness is exposed, a bully
is unlikely to refrain from constant harm to the victim (Spears, Slee, Owens, & Johnson,
2009), which leads to serious maladjustment as school, fewer pro-social behaviours
(Arseneault, Walsh, Trzesniewski, Newcombe, Caspi, Moffitt, 2006), bad temper, and a vast
array of emotional issues as well as physical issues such as headaches, back-aches, sleeping
issues, and difficulty in arising in the morning (Due, Holstein, Lynch, Diderichsen, Nic
Gabhain, Scheidt, Currie, 2005). Disturbingly, many of these issues will continue into the
students adult lives (Rigby, 2007). A critical force in the prevention of bullying in the
classroom is effective social development (Bodrova & Leong, 2007), and if these social
development skills are not met, the student is far more likely to suffer in his/her ability to
learn collaboratively with other students (Boyd, Barnett, Bodrova, Leong, & Gomby, 2005;
Ladd et al., 1996). So it is clear to see how the issue of bullying is directly relavelt to teaching
practice. It’s negative academic effects are only one in an enormous list of potential issues
that arise from bullying. So primarily, it is important to implement an early intervention
strategy through the use of research in order to find the best solution to bullying.

Scaffolding social and emotional learning within ‘shared affective spaces’ to reduce bullying:
A sociocultural perspective by Veronica Morcom (2015), aims to solve this issue through a
focus on effective sociological practice in her article. Despite the use of a full range of
literature to support her claims of the importance of sociological learning and the negative
effects of bullying, Morcom fails to effectively link the importance of social learning as a cure
or factor that should be directly related to bullying, which appears form the beginning as her
crucial argument. Morcom does effectively explain the practical benefits of this type of
learning as a means to assert its relevance, and clearly describes how her research, focussed
on the collective in bullying research rather then the individual (victim and perpetrator), is
the stand-out unique feature of her research. Morcom highlights the importance of pro social
emotional learning in order to create ‘shared effective spaces’, effectively building her
argument off a sociocultural theoretical argument first coined by Soviet psychologist Lev
Vygotsky, in which education is purposed as a means “to pass on cultural tools such as
language to enable children to think clearly and creatively and develop self-confidence in
their abilities to express their point of view.” Morcom also defines Vygitsky’s Zone of
Proximal Development, and links it to his theory, thus using ZPD as an element in which to
base her research, promptly adopting ZPD as a basis for scaffolding, which she explains that
when used together within the ZPD, shared effective spaces are created, where both the
teacher and listener contribute to the potency of this space through a caring interpersonal
relationship. Morcoms practical explanation of these three elements allows for a sufficient
basis for her methodology, which effectively addresses each party member involved in
detail, backed by other research, in consistency with the theoretical framework, in order to
persuasively present her reasoning in her methodology as to why she chose a qualitative
research method primarily through interviews and a wide range of observation
methodology. A key factory in which Morcom highlights in her background is that the
students had already been a part of an anti-bulling program as well as another research
based program, but bullying still persisted. This increases the validity of Morcoms results,
which are clearly linked to the effectiveness of the methodologies involved in the classroom
level, such as the daily social circle and weekly meetings, promoting a direct change over
time to key students who demonstrated bullying tendencies over long periods of time via
these pro-social avenues. Despite a reasonable small test scale as highlighted fairly late in
her conclusion, Morcoms study proves effective as it produced amazing results in individual
students over long periods of time, as well as positive group results when previous methods
failed. Henceforth, it is ill-advised to ignore Morcoms recommendations made in this article
(not explicitly, but outlined in the conclusions section); we must consider the benefits of
socio-centric learning for a teachers pedagogy as an important tool for students growth, so
to best facilitate positive social advancement, best influencing a considerable portion of a
students education and wellbeing.