Action Research Projects 2016
Jenny Feinmann and Carla Bach:
How can we diversify learning support?
The current model of learning support is restricted to a few fee-paying students. We trialed alternative approaches followed by structured interviews with secondary school students, parents, and teachers to discover what they found most useful. Your ideas and perspectives will be welcomed to create a more flexible system of learning support across the school.
Zoe Tarrach:
Does mindfulness have a positive impact on the learning environment?
I wanted to find a way to create a classroom environment which is more focused on learning, and which encourages the students to think about and engage, rather than being in the ‘free time frame’ of mind. I researched extensively about yoga and mindfulness in the classroom, and introduced them to one of my classes with positive results.
James Chedburn:
How can we use the time allocated to meetings at the secondary school at ISP in a more effective manner.
My starting point is that we have often wasted the few hours we have available for meetings each month and we therefore need to create a more efficient way of using this time.
Barry Cartwright:
How can I improve the teaching of global mindedness in the Without Walls Program?
This project focused on the teaching of Global Mindedness in the Without Walls program in the secondary school. Students focused on producing a product based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Following the two and a half day project, I considered ways of assessing the impact on students.
Raj Bolla, Marie-Cyrille Lavallé, Marie Lechantre: How can we introduce an Internship Experience into the Grade 9 Curriculum?
We wanted to see if it would be possible to successfully implement a meaningful internship program in Grade 9. We wanted to change the focus of Grade 9 and get them to begin to think about developing skills that would be useful for them outside of school. We also hoped that this type of program might give them some direction in terms of Diploma subject choices and future careers.
About the Leading Edge Learning Programme
The Leading Edge Learning Programme is an invitation to ISP staff to reflect on and investigate an area of their practice.
The programme is funded by ISP and is intended in the first instance to provide for three years of funded support for staff. The programme, currently in its third year, is supported by the Senior Leadership Team at ISP and three external supervising tutors with experience of international education, and school and university teaching.
The goal of the programme is to use research to change practice at ISP, as well as to inform strategic direction, vision and mission.
"...turning intuitive and spontaneous judgements into more systematic investigations, starting with the everyday questions which teachers ask themselves" (Handscomb, 2013)
Mariana Martini and David Nightingale:
How can we use student learning journals to develop deeper understanding and to provide effective feedback?
We asked Grade 6 students to complete learning journals in order to understand how they were thinking about science and math topics. We discovered that asking the right questions is an essential part of effective feedback to develop students' learning strategies.
Fiona Symons and Emily Ashley:
Sad to Smart – Home School Reading Partnership: How can improved parental involvement impact on young children’s reading?
We noticed that there was a discrepancy in reading between those children we thought were or were not receiving parental support. This encouraged us to intervene through a parent workshop, handouts, one to one parent meetings and recommendations to improve reading in young children.
Emma Dornan, Jenny Letard and James Morrist:
How can we encourage ISP secondary school students to read more?
This project is an exploration of the academic benefits of reading for pleasure. We experimented with different methods of increasing the amount of reading among ISP students and evaluated the effectiveness of these various interventions.
Assil Charara and Marianne Freire:
How can we refine our teaching practices and learning environments to better address our multicultural community?
ISP is a multicultural environment where students, teachers and parents come together from various places and backgrounds. We have inquired into some of our practices and environment to explore different possibilities that could further the inclusion of all members of our community.
Tuija Wallgren:
We’ve Got Your Back: Lessons from Support Letters – How can student connections between schools help process complex world events and how might these connections be used to enhance learning?
My action research project focused on how the student connections between schools may help process tragic events in the world, and how they may be used to enhance learning, in both sending and receiving schools. My individual professional goal is to improve my understanding of how administration can better facilitate these connections.