ACTION RESEARCH(AR)

Introduction Action research is a reflective process for solving a problem that led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of community of practice to improve the way they addresses issues and solve problem. It is an iterative inquiry process that balance problem solving action implemented in a collaborative context with data driven collaborative analysis or research to understand underlying causes enabling future prediction about personal and organizational change.

Action Research in Science Education. Action research in educational study can be define as systematic inquiry by practitioners (teachers, students, or principals for example) in order to improve teaching and learning process. Teachers always playing a role as researcher, either studying their own methods of instruction and assessment, examining the cognitive processes of learning or participating in the process of curriculum research and development. Teachers may design action plans that incorporated the use of innovative pedagogy integrated classes. Through reflection on their own practice in collaboration with other teachers, the teacher as researcher may came to new understanding of how students should learned science effectively. Often the hardest part in classroom research is deciding on a focus. Teacher research does not require a precise hypothesis. In fact you do not have to begin with a problem. All we need is a general idea that something should be improved. Your general idea may stem from a promising new idea or the recognition that existing

practice falls short of aspiration. Once the focus of the research has been decided, planning for data collection, followed by actual data collection and analysis occurs.

Phases of Action Research Before any action can be taken or plan, the first step that must be done is identify the problems or issues in the early stage of observation. This is to determine research main focus; important to help the researchers to plan further action. A few important things before doing the action research which are; 1) Problem identification a) problem or issue in the school context may be arise in various aspects; teaching and learning itself, science panatia, administration, discipline of the students or parents. b) ask yourself; why do you want to do it? Is it an important and practical problem, something worth your time and effort, something that could be beneficial to you, your students and others? c) determine whether the AR can develop and implement a new strategy and approach to address our question. d) determine the timeline to accomplish the AR. 2) Instrument/device used for identifying the problem or issue (a) such as interview, paper test, pencil and investigation question (b) determine what types of data you try to collect in order to answer your question. (c) ensure that you have multiple perspective

(d) find out what resources that may exist and what information from others might be useful in helping you to frame your question, decide on types of data to collect, or to help you in interpreting your findings. (e) by paying close attention to the students and your teaching through the use of videotape, audiotape and interviews can help you to uncovered common misconception and devised methods for helping students develop deep conceptual understanding of science subject.

3. Analyzing of Data a) Find out what can you learn from the data; the patterns, insights, and new understandings and examine their meaning for your practice and your students. 4. Determine the Focus of Research/Plan for Future Action a) focus of research obtained from the analyzed data will give you a picture of the real problem or issues occur. b) determine what will you do differently in your classroom as a result of the study and what might you recommend to others. c) plan on how you will write about what you have learned so that the findings will be useful to you and to others.

Closure Action research has the potential to generate genuine and sustained improvements in schools. It gives educators new opportunities to reflect on and assess their teaching; to explore and test new ideas, methods, and materials; to assess how effective the new approaches were; to share feedback with fellow team members; and to make decisions about which new approaches to include in the team's curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans. Action research certainly isn't the only research process. It isn't even the only process for researching change. However, it is a process well suited to situations where you wish to achieve change (the "action") and understanding (the "research") at the same time.