Burton Design Process

Back to Inspiration

Digital Inquiry Standards Megan Burton Home Learn More Standards Inspiration About the Author

Action Research Design

Using Stanford's Design Thinking and the SITE models, I analyzed my students' needs to determine the path for my Action Research.

Design Thinking

SITE Model

Description of the Educational Context:

Student inquiry is one of the most powerful ways for students to take ownership of their learning and develop skills that they need in the 21st century. For students to conduct their own inquiries, they must do their own research.
Many American teachers (as seen through research studies) have tried to implement student inquiry, including student research, but have struggled and ultimately returned to traditional ways of teaching (Maniotes & Kuhlthau, 2014).
John Dewey has inspired many education models, yet when teachers are so overwhelmed by the demands placed on themselves and their students, there is not enough support to sustain student inquiry.
If students are to become independent researchers, they must be guided through the Inquiry Process by teachers who understand the processes involved and have digital and in-person support immediately available.

Site Model Description of My Learners' Needs:
Sociocultural:

My middle school students are largely interested in learning and are willing to try new things. I teach at a “school of choice” that is unique in that families choose to send their students there (as opposed to a neighborhood school). Many of my students help maintain and drive the culture of learning that other students are willing to experiment with and support.
My students need clarity, success criteria, and work samples in order to know what is expected and to try their best to meet and exceed expectations. Most of their learning takes place inside the classroom where they can do the hardest work. Their homework time allows them to finish their work and/or expand their understanding.

Technical:

My students use Google Classroom to organize, complete, and submit work. They all have their own devices (mostly Chromebooks issued by the school district).
They have access to and are beginning to use various websites, tutorials, apps/extensions, etc. to support their technology needs and learning.
Human support is available through fellow students, teacher(s), and increasingly through library services.

Informational:

The Common Core State Standards and the History-Social Studies Framework have research skills woven throughout the standards as they outline how students need to gather sources, comprehend, and evaluate them, then synthesize and report on the information and ideas so they may then answer questions or solve problems.

Empathy Map
Understanding our students' needs is paramount in being effective teachers. To help with this, I modified this Empathy Map from World Savvy to incorporate the relevant portions of Stanford's Design Process.

Designing Prototypes for My Action Research
7th and 8th grade students in my Medieval World History classes needed support with effectively and efficiently finding reliable resources to answer their questions about a civilization they were studying. Here are my prototypes for student work and teacher support.

Video explaining my Action Research to NapaLearns:

Logo Design

In designing my logo, I envisioned including the following elements:

computer - representing research
globe - alluding to abundance of information about the world, from all over the world
lightbulb - referring to ideas, insights, additional knowledge

The phrase "Good Questions Deserve Reliable Answers" speaks to the value I place on students having solid questions that deserve real answers. Yet, when my students conduct research, many struggle to effectively and efficiently find reliable sources in which they can find answers to their questions. The feedback I received about my logo suggested that the word "deserve" could be interpreted too strongly. I agreed and replaced "deserve" with "need." I believe the phrase "Good Questions Need Reliable Answers" gets straight to the point of my action research and capstone project and invites readers to inquire more about my project.

I experimented with various images, color palettes, and four graphic design programs - LogoMaker, LogoMakr, Canva, and Google Drawings. Of course there are different constraints as well as interesting concepts within each program. As I am quite unfamiliar with creating my own digital graphic design, I kept questioning how I could create a logo that would truly be effective. Here are three versions I thought could work:

At the same time I was experimenting with logo design, my husband (Johnathan) kept wanting to jump in and help. He's a very experienced and creative designer, so I knew that if I just let him at it, he'd create something that I would love and would normally pay a graphic designer to do. However, I was determined to try it myself first and see what challenges I would naturally experience. This way, I am better prepared to teach my students how to incorporate digital graphic design into their projects.

Sure enough, I shared my ideas and the feedback from my cohort with Johnathan and then he quickly developed the logo below using Photoshop and Procreate. I love how this logo captures my ideas of students gaining ideas and insights about the world through their own research. The color palette used for the lightbulb and globe match my previous logos, but I really like the brighter purple and green that are specifically meant to catch attention when a person is looking at various logos/images at the same time. The font is intended to be simple and to pull the words and images together.

Research

Support and Next Steps