Week 2

The Research Process


When I started out reading this chapter at the start of the course I was pretty sure I was all about the Big 6 model. I had to take in what was being written and discussed within our class. I then asked a couple teachers at school some of their thoughts on the topic too. I'm working in an elementary school.

What it took for me was to switch my head from student to teacher. When I am a student I prefer the Big 6 model. Tammy Le said it best in her posting about it, "it gives them the most flexibility within each step" and as student I like this. I think if I was teaching in high school I would also prefer this.

However in an elementary setting, the students really need their hands held in going through step-by-step on doing anything. This is why I think I have changed my view point over to the Research Process. There are so many other issues in the class, behaviour, ESL, learning disabilities, mixed grades etc. That giving the students a slow step process where they can check off each step as they go through them. That visual of the steps on the board or on a hand out would really help some of the learners in a class. This way the teacher can also help them with the next step with ease, less explaining to do.

Depending on the grade, I would even change some of the wording. Instead of "formulate question" I might use "create question". I feel the Big 6 is good for more mature learners, but the vocabulary would be too hard for elementary students. As a teacher I would get tired of having to explain over and over again "task identification" or "synthesis". Younger students or ESLs would never understand this. Some younger students sometimes have troubles just copying from the whiteboard to their notebooks. So, from a teaching standpoint I would also use what is easier for me in order for the students to learn and I feel that the language used in the Research Process would be better for an elementary school setting.