n contents A Message from the Centre 02

Can Students Hack It? 03 Research Schools International 04

Call for Proposals 05 Learning Opportunities 06

Research Highlights 07

a publication of the Centre for Inspiring Minds Number 1 n January 2015

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 Welcome to the first issue of in-house, our newsletter designed to keep you informed about the Centre for Inspired Minds’ efforts to support the practice and use of research to inform teaching, learning and school development across ACS International Schools. In September 2014, the Centre for Inspiring Minds began its third year of operation, and new Head of Centre, Ben Hren, joined Programme Manager, Latifa Hassanali, following the retirement of founding head, Tom Lehman. Ben previously taught High School Science at ACS Cobham and Lower School Science at ACS Doha. For the last two years, he served as Special Projects Coordinator at ACS Doha, where he initiated and managed the newly opened school’s Professional Learning Communities. Writing for the Council of International School’s on-line journal at the end of his tenure, Tom Lehman observed that:

If teachers could push a “pause button” to temporarily suspend many of their responsibilities and tasks, they could use the opportunity to investigate their own pressing questions - including those that are more complex and tougher to resolve. Their own questions are of great interest not only because of their immediacy and relevance to the demands of their students, but also because many teachers have great interest in some questions that arise in areas of practice. In fact, many teachers carry with them a particular interest and focus within the broad set of issues connected with practice. With more time and access to other key resources to support reflection and research, they could arrange opportunities to explore questions and ideas with other teachers - especially those who share a strong interest in the same topic. They could review current research, communicate and consult with outside experts, broaden their collaboration to include practitioners in other organisations, spend more time thinking about alternative solutions to problems, and test them. They could share more of their learning experience and findings with others, especially in stages of embedding new practices. As with all learners, when teachers have the chance to explore relevant questions, exercise their curiosity, pursue questions in depth, and test new ideas in practice, they enjoy a deeper, more connected, meaningful and sustainable learning experience.

The Centre for Inspiring Minds remains committed to supporting practitioner-led collaborative action research, and welcomes all opportunities to discuss and explore teachers’ questions. To read Tom’s entire article, visit the cim website at https://cim.acs-schools.com/index.php/publications/item/141-reflection-action-research-and-purposeful-collaboration-elements-of-effective-school-improvement

Ben and Latifa

    Can Students Hack It? 03  

Cultivating independent learners is at the heart of formal education. On Monday, 24 November 2014, members of the European Council of International Schools’ Research-Engaged Schools Committee – including cim staff members, Ben Hren and Latifa Hassanali – travelled to LAS International School in Leysin, Switzerland to get a first-hand look at the school’s new Hack School Lab in action. The Hack School lab is a physical space, designed for 21st Century, self-directed, independent and collaborative learning. The large airy lab features a combination of mobile hard and soft furnishings and integrated technology. The philosophy of the Hack Lab is that it is a space where students are responsible for their own learning, from goal setting to organisation of learning (individual or collaborative), to practice, to mastery, to reflective self-assessment. The teachers act as resources, assisting with student learning as requested. The purpose of the project is to challenge students to actually self-direct their own learning – a skill most schools claim their students have, but one that few schools provide the opportunity to practice or demonstrate. The school is currently trialing two Hack School electives. They meet once a week for one hour. One focuses on computer coding and the other on second language learning. At the start of the term, the teacher explains the purpose and expectations of the programme; the opportunities that participation in the Hack School offers; and the ICT-based and other learning resources available. Then the teacher steps into the role of coach and learning resource. The process for coaching students to become self-directed learners comes from the work of Sutherland and Schwaber (2013), developers of Scrum. A school-adapted version, called eduScrum has been developed by Wijnands, van Rossum and Reehorst (2013). eduScrum is a ‘framework in which students tackle complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively achieving learning goals and personal growth of the highest possible value.’ For more information visit eduScrum at http://eduscrum.nl/en/ The eduScrum guide can be found at http://eduscrum.nl/file/CKFiles/The_eduScrum_Guide_EN_December_2013_1.0.pdf

The Hack School Lab at LAS International School offers students a choice of contemporary or traditional technology-rich work spaces.

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Research Schools International is a new project led by Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty member, Dr. Christina Hinton. The project bridges the gap between research and practice by partnering Harvard-based researchers with schools around the world to carry out cutting-edge research aimed at improving teaching and learning. Through this collaborative work, Research Schools International supports schools, teachers and researchers by:

• Promoting the use of research evidence to inform effective approaches to teaching, learning and school development.

• Empowering teachers as innovators in education who have a voice in shaping research directions and school development; and

• Inspiring university researchers to engage in impactful school-based education research that creates usable knowledge.

The Research Schools International model has three components: research, professional development, and dissemination.

• Research is conducted in schools through partnerships with researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Researchers collaborate with administrators, teachers, and students at each partner school to formulate research questions that are important to the school, and carry out a study to address these questions.

• Professional development is led by Harvard Graduate School of Education researchers. The research team works with administrators and teachers to build their knowledge of relevant research and hone their action research skills.

• Dissemination of research findings is a key aspect of the model. Researchers and practitioners collaborate to create “usable knowledge” that is shared freely with educators around the globe.

In October 2014, the Centre for Inspiring Minds signed a memorandum of understanding with Research Schools International, and agreed a programme of work that includes the development of:

• Evaluation Tools that will be used to assess the unique contributions of the Centre for Inspiring Minds to teacher professional development and school improvement; and

• An Action Research Course that will be available to ACS teachers interested in enhancing their research skills.

For more information about Research Schools International, visit www.gse.harvard.edu/researchschools

Dr, Christina Hinton is co-founder of Research Schools International, which currently works with 10 schools in six countries.

    Call for Proposals 05  

If you have a burning research question that you believe is linked to the ACS core purpose – ‘through learning inspire all to make a difference’ – and relevant to other education professionals in ACS International Schools, use the Project Proposal Form as a first step to begin its exploration with cim staff members. The proposal is initially drafted by you, but once shared cim staff members will guide you to ensure the proposal is completed to a standard that the four-campus Head of School Committee can evaluate. If you are a teacher, it is important to ask yourself the following when forming an action research question:

• What do my students need me to do to improve teaching and learning? • What would I like to do to improve teaching and learning in my classroom? • What concerns do parents have about student development or

achievement? • What concerns do my colleagues have about student development or

achievement? These questions are offered to help you define the problem or need that lies at the heart of the research question. A good action research question:

• Gets at explanations, reasons, or relationships • Is manageable and achievable • Is embedded in your own practice • Provides an opportunity for everyone involved to stretch and learn • Provides a deeper meaningful understanding of the topic; and • Builds our understanding of ways to improve teaching, learning and

student outcomes. cim’s collaborative action research model favours an inter-school project team of two or more people from at least two different ACS International Schools campuses, typically employed in roles that are relevant to the research project. The project team must be identified at the project proposal stage, and cim staff members are available to help identify and recruit potential team members from other campuses. The completed proposals and the scoring rubric are sent to each Head of School and are reviewed prior to the HOS meeting that most closely follows the 15 April proposal deadline. CIM staff members prepare a summary of the scored rubrics and present this at the meeting. The Heads of School will select the projects that will go forward, using the averaged rubric scores to prioritize the proposals, and based on CIM staff members capacity to support projects in the coming year. You will find copies of the Project Proposal Form and Scoring Rubric at https://cim.acs-schools.com/index.php/project-management/326 Please contact cim staff members if you have any questions regarding the project proposal process. The deadline for project proposals for the 2015/2016 school year is 15 April 2015.

   Ready Steady Charrette ACS Cobham, Wednesday, 25 Feb, 3:30 p.m. ACS Doha, TBD ACS Egham, Wednesday, 4 Mar, 3:30 p.m. ACS Hillingdon, TBD This fast-paced 90-minute workshop is for teams of two or more people who work or would like to work collaboratively, using a creative process to develop innovative approaches to teaching, learning and school development. The workshop will introduce participants to ‘Design Thinking,” a creative collaboration technology developed at the Stanford University Design School to promote innovation driven by users’ needs – in our case students and the wider school community. The collaboration technology has been adapted for use with students of all ages, educators and design professionals.

To register, please contact Latifa Hassanali by e-mail at lhassanali@acs-schools.com at least one week prior to the workshop date (see above). Please let us know why you want to work collaboratively.

Getting Started with Action Research - Pilot Tuesdays, school days from 3 Mar through 19 May, 3:30 p.m.

This on-line course has been developed collaboratively by the Centre for Inspiring Minds and the Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty. Participants will learn action research methods for education that can be used to explore questions arising from everyday teaching and practice in schools. The course will prepare educators to use a formal research approach to the Stronge Professional Development Evaluation System’s Standard 8, which involves setting, measuring and anlaysing student learning objectives. The course will be delivered on-line and includes weekly independent reading and manageable tasks, opportunities for on-line collaboration and interaction with other course participants, and weekly webinars with the course tutor.

The pilot is limited to 12 participants. To register your interest, please send an e-mail to Ben Hren at bhren@acs-schools.com on or before 18 Feb. Professional Development Opportunities offered by the London-based

Institute of Education’s (IOE) Research and Development Network:

Tuesday, 17 March 2015, 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., IOE, Russell Square, London Developing and Leading Research in Schools This seminar features presentations by IOE faculty members, David Godfrey and Dr Chtris Brown.

Tuesday, 5 May, 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., IOE, Russell Square, London Evidence-based Math Curriculum This seminar is presented by the London Knowledge Lab and explores Cornerstone Maths, a new Key Stage 3 math curriculum.

For registration information, please contact Latifa Hassanali at lhassanali@acxs-schools.com

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    Research Highlights 07

 Sharing emerging research in education is at the heart of our efforts to support educators committed to refining and redefining the ways we teach, learn and make decisions about school development. The following references to emerging areas of education research have been selected on the basis of their relevance to new and emerging areas of work and interest at ACS international Schools. If you would like us to share an article that you have found informative, please contact cim Programme Manager, Latifa Hassanali at lhassanali@acs-schools.com The following articles address action research as a form of professional development and a tool for identifying effective practice.

Bradshaw, Pete; Gallastegi, Lore; Shohel, Mahruf and Younie, Sarah (2014). Formalised action research as an emergent form of teacher professional development. In: 2nd International ProPEL Conference 2014, 25-27 June 2014, Stirling, UK, p. 21. On-line at http://oro.open.ac.uk/41463/1/Propel%20paper%202014%20Bradshaw%20et%20al.pdf Hine, G. S. C. & Lavery, S. D. (2014). The importance of action research in teacher education programs: Three testimonies. In Transformative, innovative and engaging. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Teaching Learning Forum, 30-31 January 2014. Perth: The University of Western Australia. Online at http://researchonline.nd.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=edu_conference

The following freely accessible journals focus on action research in education. Inquiry in Education A freely accessible peer-reviewed online journal published by the Center for Practitioner Research at National-Louis University. The journal features original practitioner research studies, theoretical articles pertaining to practitioner research, descriptions of practitioner research centers and book reviews. On-line at http://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie/ Networks A freely accessible journal, published by the University of Wisconsin. The journal features articles and reports from teachers at all levels, kindergarten to postgraduate. On-line at http://journals.library.wisc.edu/index.php/networks The Canadian Journal of Action Research A freely accessible, full-text, peer-reviewed electronic journal intended for elementary, secondary, and university teachers who are concerned with exploring the links between educational research and practice. On-line at http://cjar.nipissingu.ca/index.php/cjar

                                         

a publication of the Centre for Inspiring Minds ACS International Schools West Lodge, Portsmouth Road Cobham, Surrey KT11 1BL, England http://cim.acs-schools.com On Twitter @acscim

Save the date! Celebration of Learning

Saturday, 16 May 2015, 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., ACS Cobham This event will feature presentations by the 2014-2015 cim project teams, followed by brunch at noon. The event is open to all members of the ACS International Schools community. To register, contact Latifa Hassanali at lhassanali@acs-schools.com

in - house