Course: (Department of EPPSL)

Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022

ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

(Department of EPPSL)

Course: Critical Thinking and Reflective Practices (8611)

Semester: Autumn, 2022

Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years)

ASSIGNMENT No. 2

Student Name: Saba Naz

Registration # 0000391691|09|16BH|1012

Q1 How action research is different from applied research? When will action
research be more practical?

Ans:

In international development cooperation, there is an increasing focus on adaptive

management, intentional and resourced learning, and the use of learning to improve activity
implementation and impact. Programs are being called on to incorporate operations or action
research into their Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) plans. Recognizing that there is a
continuum of what can be considered "research"-- from self-discovery with individual action to
randomized control trials--this post is focused on action or applied research which we identify as
having the following characteristics:

• Practical and collectively undertaken

 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
• Locally defined and carried out

• Quick turn-around, low cost

• Designed to address an immediate and specific challenge.

How, practically, can this be done? Two examples from USAID supported and RTI implemented
education activities in Uganda are used to illustrate a key finding from our experience: including
those who are expected to “act” upon findings to define the issues and carry out the research takes
us further towards adapting for better implantation and outcomes. The first is an action research
training for the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) carried out by the USAID/Uganda
Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity (LARA), the second is action research of different
modes of teacher training carried out by the USAID/Uganda School Health and Reading Program
(SHRP).

Think about the last research endeavor you were involved with. Who articulated the research
questions? Who carried out the research? Who was expected to act on findings? Did they? Did
anything change as a result? As a way to increase engagement of MoES and district officials to
support Early Grade Reading, LARA introduced the concept of action research. In September,
2018, the team brought together 72 Ministry and district officials to discuss action research as a
way of

• expanding collective learning

• co-creating new knowledge and

• building leadership skills.

Officials gained a deeper understanding of how they could use this type of research to
improve implementation and sustainability of the MoES’ Early Grade Reading program, shift the
“status quo” and demystify research. Building on previous appreciative inquiry work, LARA staff
designed the action research to expand collective learning, co-create new knowledge and build
leadership skills. Participants planned individual and group action research initiatives with the
overall goal of improving educational learning outcomes and reflected on how they could use
action research to improve children’s reading performance. In addition, participants learned how
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
action research could be used as a tool for quick, interval learning and understanding what is
working within the context of the Ministry and their districts.

Facilitators coached participants to develop action research proposals that emphasized

teamwork, collaboration and critical thinking following the iterative pattern of reflecting, planning,
acting, and observing. Participants recognized that action research could be undertaken with
available resources and as part of their oversight role. Ministry participants noted that the action
research skills could help them contribute to the current debates within the MoES around
improving the quality of education. At the end of the training, participants working in district
groups and working as individuals, identified action research topics, developed draft proposals,
and shared their proposals with their colleagues and supervisors for input. Action research plans
were carried out by district staff using their own funds.

Recommendation: Action research can be undertaken with available resources and as part
of oversight role

Action research is simple, workable, and hands-on and up to the point. It helps teachers to
improve teaching skills and competences” Robert Muwhezi-Centre Coordinating Tutor, Bishop
Brown Coordinating Centre, Kayunga.

“Action research is participatory realistic and dependable in fostering effective and efficient
teaching & learning in schools”. Alice Doya- District Education Officer, Kayunga.

The School Health and Reading Program (SHRP) had been training teachers in the
program’s Early Grade Reading (EGR) methods since early 2013. At the program’s peak in 2016,
SHRP trained over 8,000 teachers over a 2-week period. As of 2018, all in-service teacher training
(initial and refresher) had been large-scale, residential trainings at the teacher training colleges.
These central trainings are expensive and, given the observed level of proficiency in teaching EGR
in classrooms, perhaps not as effective as they could be. In May, 2018, SHRP piloted smaller scale
teacher refresher training as a viable, cheaper (and more sustainable) alternative.

The research was conducted by program staff, as they were monitoring the teacher training
sites (both residential and non-residential). The research was designed to be undertaken by staff
supporting the training venues. The outcome of the research was to determine if the smaller,
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Coordinating Centre (CC) /non-residential training was more effective, or at least as effective, as
the larger trainings in terms of teacher attendance, content coverage and learning, answering the
following questions:

• Are teachers present? Are we training the right teachers?

• Is the training lasting as long and covering the same amount of content?

• Are teachers learning (at least) the same amount as they are in the larger trainings?

Research was conducted at five coordinating centers (the local, non-residential sites) and
3 residential training venues. Views of participants, facilitators, SHRP and MOES officials was
also sought on the pros and cons of local, non-residential compared to residential training vis a vis
content coverage, participant engagement and other issues related to the training. Importantly, the
impetus for this research came from the teacher training technical team, the technical team worked
with program M&E staff to develop data collection instruments and protocols, and all data were
collected by program staff while overseeing teacher training at no additional costs.

Major findings and recommendations to action: Findings from this study showed that CC-
level, non-residential trainings were an equally and, potentially, more effective structure for
training delivery, and that the key component to ensuring high quality trainings lies in the content
delivery and individual trainers. In general, CC level training is better for ensuring that teachers
attend and the “right” teachers are trained. Class sizes are smaller and teachers may be learning
more (they do not appear to be learning any less). Fears about CC level training (that teachers
would not attend, content would not get covered, teachers would not learn as much) were not
supported by the data (See Graphic below depicting teacher’s attendance).
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022

Q2 Using Gibbs model, write a reflection report of an interaction between a

student who failed in exam and a parent.

Ans:

Gibbs cycle indicates that scholars can associate theory and exercise by maintaining them in
a cyclical order of activities namely describing, sensing, assessing, or evaluating, analyzing, conc
luding and then action planning.

Gibbs Reflective Cycle inspires people to ponder analytically about the practices they had during a
precise situation, happening or activity. By using a circle, reflection on those practices can
be organized in phases. Gibbs' reflective cycle is very suitable in making people ponder through
all the stages of an experience or action.

Explanation

Professor Graham Gibbs in 1988 published the Reflective Cycle in his book named „Learning
by Doing‟. It is a guide book for teaching methods and techniques and by
the teachers. The reflective learning cycle offered in the book copies that how students can link t
heory and exercise through sequencing in a cyclical form of accomplishments named as:

 Describing
 Feeling
 Evaluating
 Analyzing
 Concluding
 Action planning.

This model known as the Gibbs‟ Cycle has been particularly prominent in teacher
education platforms. Usually the Gibb's Cycle has its elementary usefulness and benefits are for
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
the people who acquire from different conditions from which they go through, utmost possibly
when they are incapable to go about with their strategies.

Gibbs Reflective Cycle

Gibbs 1988, reflective cycle is impartially open and encourages a clear description of the conditi
on, examination of feelings, assessment of the experience, analysis to make logic of
the experience, deduction where other selections are considered and reflection upon practice
to inspect what you would do uncertainty if the situation get up again. This cycle can be used for
our reflective inscription, but if you are expending it then we need to regulate the cycle so
that examination fills through each stage.

Advantages of Using Gibbs Cycle

There are several advantages associated with Gibbs' Reflective Cycle.

o The model is easy to understand and easy to use.

o It allows you to learn over time based on your experiences.

Using the Gibbs Model for Perspective Teacher

Following are the steps that a teacher can follow using Gibbs cycle practically:

Description

At first, teacher can ask the student to describe the situation in detail. At this stage, teachers simp
ly require to know what occurred and helps in drawing conclusions.

Feelings

Next, the teacher will encourage student to talk about what he believed and felt during the practic
e. At this stage, teacher should avoid commenting on the feelings of students.

Evaluation
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Now the teacher need to inspire the student in students coaching to look quantitatively that what
approaches worked, and which ones didn't.

Conclusions

Once the teacher evaluated the condition, he can help his students to draw conclusions about wha
t happened.

Action

Here teacher should now have some conceivable actions that his students can take to deal
with comparable situations more efficiently in the future. In this last stage, teacher need to come
up with a strategy so that he can create these changes.

Helpful Question:

1. What happened?
2. When and where did it happen?
3. Who was present?
4. What did you and the other people do?
5. What was the outcome of the situation?
6. Where were you?
7. What did you want to happen?
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Q.3 Take English syllabus of grade four and five. Critically analyze the
continuity of concepts, complexity of concepts and newness of concepts in both
syllabi.

Ans:

Ralph Tyler and Curriculum Design

Ralph Tyler was a 20th-century American educator who played a large role in guiding how
curriculum would be developed. He identified the importance of three key principles in this
process: continuity, sequence, and integration. If you know the TV show CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation, this may help you remember the first letters of the terms. Now let's look at how you
would apply Tyler's principles to your U.S history curriculum.

Continuity

Teaching curriculum by focusing only on following a textbook is a bit like having students
walk down a narrow hallway. For example, let's say lesson one of your class covers events from
1865-1870. Your next lesson covers events from 1870-1875. Using this approach, your students
never revisit the events of lesson 1 again. They simply move ahead from event to event as though
they're walking down that narrow hallway. They don't get a good look back at the material until
it's time to study for a test.

Continuity involves revisiting material more than once. This reinforces students' learning
by allowing them to practice skills they learned earlier and to consider old information in a new
way, reinforcing it.

This approach is more like a spiral staircase where a student can look around them as they
make passes around the center. They can see what has come before and how it relates to what's in
front of them now. This idea of curriculum that revisits learning over time is also referred to as
spiral curriculum, per American psychologist Jerome Bruner.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Sequence

The historical events in your textbook don't go in a spiral, so how are you supposed to order
the information in your curriculum? The answer lies in the principles of sequence, or how material
is organized when presenting it to students. The goal of a good sequence? The information you
present today should build on information that you presented yesterday.

Chronological order is one valid way of organizing the information. The problem with only
focusing on chronological order is that you may miss out on other ways of organizing the material.
Here's an alternative approach that uses different ways of sequencing to improve continuity. You
decide to organize your curriculum by time period (chronologically) and by complexity. For
example, you plan to first cover the key events of Reconstruction. Then, you cover the time period
again from the perspective of how the lives of everyday people were affected by these events.
When you discuss Civil Rights in the 1960s, you circle back again to revisit how the
Reconstruction era period related to civil rights of black Americans into the late 20th century, an
even more complex topic.

There are also other options for organizing your curriculum. You could also focus first on
giving an overview, prior to diving into specifics. You broadly describe the key eras within the
timeframe of 1865 to the present. Then you could go back to dig into each era in more depth.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022

Q.4 Identify five activities from your daily life which demand critical
thinking?

Ans:

Critical Thinking

While making your academic assignments or thesis, you are required to do some research
and analyze various things, or for making a career decision or any other decision you are required
to think of all pros and cons of that decision. Well, the most important thing that helps us to
effectively take these decisions is what we call critical thinking. Critical thinking is very important
in both personal and professional life. The process of critical thinking involves the analysis of the
various facts and figures in a particular situation before straightaway acting on that situation.
Critical thinking demands keen observation, creativity, problem-solving skills, which helps the
individual to thoroughly evaluate the gathered information and then use this available information
as a guide to making accurate decisions. From doing academic works or regular activities to
solving various large scale problems, critical thinking is required in everyday life. In this article,
we will learn about some real-life examples where critical thinking plays an important role.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
1. Critical Thinking in Problem Solving

Suppose your manager asks you to find an effective solution to a problem that is affecting
the business. What would be your first step? Like most people, you may also start looking for
potential solutions to deal with that situation. Well, one requires the use of critical thinking here.
Before looking for the solution one needs to take a step back and try to understand the cause of the
problem first. One should ask for the opinions of the other people that how does this particular
problem impact them and the overall business. If you arrive at a solution, you should not only just
rely on one solution, instead, you should always have various backup plans in case the first solution
does not work as expected. Most people feel that they are great at problem-solving, but if one is
not following all these above discussed steps before making a final judgement, he/she is not a
critical thinker. Critical thinking allows people to find the best possible solution to any problem.
Critical thinking is an important factor of problem-solving skills, one needs to look at any situation
from multiple perspectives because in some cases, your decisions not only impact you but also the
people in your surroundings.

2. Critical Thinking in Self-Evaluation

Critical thinking plays a major role in self-evaluation. The knowledge of critical thinking
skills allows you to accurately analyze your performance by controlling various subjective biases.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
People should always evaluate their reactions towards any situation and the way they think, this
may help them to get a deep insight into their thought processes, hence improving their thinking
abilities to take accurate decisions. Self-evaluation is very important in professional life too.
Suppose your manager has set a new target for the company. Every employee is thus required to
analyze his/her contribution to the company and try to accomplish the set target. If you know your
contribution to the company, it will help you to analyze your performance, and you can try to
improve your performance in the areas where you lag.

3. Critical Thinking in Choosing the Career

Almost all of us face various dilemmas in our lives such as choosing the stream, the type
of job, choosing between the regular college degree and the online programme. Whatever you
choose, every option has its pros and cons. However, critical thinking allows us to accurately weigh
the positives and negatives of each option and choose the one that offers more benefits than
drawbacks. The best way to do this is to make a list of the pros and the cons and then analyze.
Well, this is not just limited to choosing the career path, it can be used in other situations also such
as professionally, and financially. One can list the pros and cons of selecting to work in a specific
company or choosing the right insurance plan. It is often seen that our choices are greatly
influenced by the choices of our friends or known, but one should understand that every
individual’s beliefs, desires, and ambitions are different so, if the particular career or job is best
for the others it does not mean that it would be the best option for you also. Hence, to choose the
right career path, one requires critical thinking.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
4. Critical Thinking in Analyzing the Fake News

Suppose, one of your friend’s shares a piece of news with you. Do you bother to analyze
that whether this piece of news is real or not? Many of us just believe in the news and shares this
with others too without thinking that this can be fake news too. A study conducted by Stanford
University showed that around 82 per cent of the teenagers failed to distinguish between the real
news and the advertisement with the ‘sponsored content’ label. This problem arises because the
standard education curriculum does not emphasize much on critical thinking skills much because
of the assumption that critical thinking is inbuilt in every person. By introducing certain lessons
or activities that may help to increase the knowledge or overall thinking skills, the critical thinking
of the children can be improved. Well, it is also seen that not only children, but adults also fall for
these fake news and articles that circulate on various social media platforms. Before believing any
piece of information, one should think of various questions like the source of the publication, the
intention of the article, the author of the article, and the agenda behind the article. Critical thinking
helps us to precisely evaluate any information before straightway believing it.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
5. Critical Thinking in Distinguishing between Right and Wrong

Most people, especially teenagers are very much conscious about what their friends or
relatives think of their behavior. You may have had been through the situation, wherein if your
friends think that certain behavior is cool then you start acting in that way to fit in your friend’s
circle without even considering that what you are doing is good or bad, and is your actions are
related to your beliefs or not? One should understand that if a certain behavior seems cool to some
people, it may also seem bad to some others. One should not change his/her actions depending
upon the approval of certain people, rather one should look at the broader aspect and should deeply
analyze that whether their actions are morally right or wrong.
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Q5 Describe principles of building communities of knowledge and practice.

Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice as a concept is relatively new in the NHS, but as a learning approach is
more recognized in the corporate world. You might recognize the term ‘Learning Network’
which is used more frequently for the same type of approach.

“Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something
they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.”

There are three key Characteristics of CoPs:

1. The Domain of Interest – where there is shared competence between peers, in relation to a
specific practice. This is not about strategy or other people’s work; it is about the granularity of
the CoP member’s work. Members are passionate about the issue, they come together because
they care about it.

2. The Community – with members who help each other in service to their domain of interest,
though sharing knowledge and experience. The key here is repeated interaction and supportive
learning relationships. There is depth to these interactions that includes reflective skills.

3. The Practice – practice in this context means creating meaning (why we do this work together),
creating coherence (how we do our work together), and for learning (what works and why – and
how do new members learn about our work). Practice is the application of knowledge, and in this
process this practice is shared, i.e. all members are developing their shared approach critically.
Therefore CoP member instigate and join a CoP because:

1. They care about the domain

2. They have shared competence and practice

3. They want to learn together how to develop their practice (at a detailed competence level).

Communities or Practice are knowledge seeking, both from the tacit knowledge within the
members, and as all learning networks, by seeking out knowledge about their shared domain and
practice. (Looking for best practice, published evidence).
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Principles of Communities of Practice

The basic principles for communities of practice are:

1. Participation – everyone in the community has a voice, can be heard and can contribute to the
practice. Difference explored.

2. Commitment to practice – to uncovering what the work it, why we do it, how it’s done, and to
reciprocity with others wanting to learn.

3. Understanding boundaries and scale – what works here and does it change as the scale changes
for instance if the boundary to the community changes.

4. Reflection using evidence-based conversations as a core practice in itself.

5. Creativity as a source of energy for practice – using imagination, permission to explore, finding
new ways of exploring work.

So Communities of Practice are networks of members committed to learning how to do the best
they can in their domain of interest creating relationships for learning and development, and
clarifying what information needs to be generated and shared across the community.

The CoP Process

Communities of Practice like all networks need nurturing. There is usually someone who takes the
lead in setting one up – because they care about the issue enough. They invite colleagues to learn
together. There are two types of convening that take place:

1. The lead member in the CoP who takes the role of a network leader – being a good host, bringing
members together, making sure the conversations are adding value to everyone, helping members
work well together. Here the network leader facilitates the CoP process

2. A facilitator. Where there are a number of CoPs taking place, these might happen in the same
space, in which case a facilitator can be helpful in supporting the process of the learning
conversation – bringing in an element of reflection and review, and helping the CoP sustain the
principles of shared learning and the focus on practice. Once established CoPs are often self-
organizing. The learning conversations take an inquiry approach – working together to deepen the
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
members understanding of practice, seeking out the best evidence to help them improve their
practice (in relation to their domain of interest).

They interact regularly. Once the first meeting or two has taken place CoPs usually ‘take off’ with
members talking online as well as face to face. CoP members often go visit each other’s place of
work to deepen their understanding of practice; they might set up a knowledge sharing platform
(Trello, Slack) or a space to chat together e.g. a What’s App group or Linked in Group, so they
can talk between meeting up. They will be sharing resources (e.g. protocols; articles).

The Success of CoPs One of the key principles in terms of the success of CoPs is: ‘You own what
you create’

As with all networks CoPs will thrive if:

• There is clear shared purpose and identity

• They are creative and innovative

• They meet member needs

• They are supported by adapted leadership

• They have strong relationships and ties

• They generate helpful outputs

Critical to this at the outset of a CoP is to determine how to track impact – what are

Members learning, how are they applying that and what difference is it making. In

Effect members need to be able to answer the question ‘So what’?

Convening

Convening CoPs isn’t difficult, the biggest issue for the NHS is that this is an unfamiliar
conversational learning process in an NHS dominated by hierarchy and project management. The
convener needs the following:
 Course: (Department of EPPSL)
Level: B.Ed. (2.5 Years) Semester: Autumn, 2022
1. Knowledge

• The difference between CoPs and other group learning processes (e.g. Action

Learning Sets) or group project delivery processes (Task and Finish groups)

• What a CoP entails, the design and trajectory of CoPs

• How to lead a network approach to learning

2. Skills

• Reflective and Reflexive Practice

• Facilitating groups to hold onto the key principles of a CoP for instance how to support CoP
groups as they form to ensure everyone participates. These are basic organizational development
and group facilitation skills, but the work here is knowing which of this broader set of skills apply
to CoPs.

• Securing impact – how to gather data on and demonstrate CoP impact

The best way to learn about convening CoPs is to:

1. Secure a good understanding of the process (read all about it, talk to people who have done it)

2. Start the work of convening a CoP and review your practice as a convener.