Hi Ruth
It sounds like a meaningful activity for the lucky children in your kindergarten. The answer is it could be but curriculum projects in and of themselves are not teacher research. This is a good question; many teachers are confused by the difference. Teacher research begins with a question, interest or problem a teacher has about his or her own teaching practice. A curriculum project usually begins with the children’s interest or something the teacher has chosen for a myriad of reasons.
However a curriculum project can offer valuable opportunities to observe and collect data around a teacher research question that you have. For example, an early childhood teacher in San Francisco, Michael Escamilla, was interested in learning more about how he was listening to children and what he actually learned about what is on their minds. So he conducted a teacher research study during a project on shadows. He started with the questions…how do I listen to the children…what do I learn about what is on their minds and how they think? Then he read some articles in the early childhood literature to see what others had to say about the topic. During the project he tape recorded his group discussions and individual conversations with the children about shadows, and used his documentation of the project that included children’s drawings, photos and quotes to analyze his own listening approaches and the way he was soliciting the children’s thinking.
Sometimes a teacher research question comes up as the curriculum project proceeds. Diane Spahn also was engaged in a project around sunlight and shadows. Her school participated in a workshop led by a local scientist on the properties of light. Diane was very excited by her new learning and wondered how the three and four year olds she worked with actually experience and understand a complex concept like the properties of light and how her own expanded understandings of light and shadow would translate into her practice and subsequent ability to support children’s explorations and construction of knowledge. She uses videotape to capture the children’s interactions with sunlight, their peers and herself, a reflective journal children’s and discussions on the phone with the workshop leader to answer her questions.
A short summary of Michal Escamilla’s study-- “A Dialogue with Shadows” can be found on the Voices of Practitioners NAEYC’s online journal. The full length teacher research study by Diane Spahn “Encounters with Sunlight and a Mirror Ball can be found in the above book Our Inquiry, Our Practice as well as on Voices of Practitioners where you can view her videos with the children. Both authors would be happy to answer questions by email see that can be found on the above sites.
We encourage you to give teacher research a try.
Gail Barbara and Daniel

You've raised a common dilemma in doing high-quality and valuable inquiry work in ECE. Since most ECE sites involve teams of teachers and caregivers all teaching and working together, this situation has great potential for inquiry work to improve collaboration, dialogue, and teacher knowledge. And to do this, as you note, involves conversation and time away from teaching to communicate our philosophies and ideas as raised via teacher research and inquiry. This may, as you also mention, entail the raising of some potentially uncomfortable ideas and feelings around teaching goals, curriculum, and in your case, the particular forms and functions of play in the classroom. So part of inquiry work, and of improving education, is speaking up (in diplomatic and supportive ways!) with our colleagues. It greatly helps, as our other responses mention in other postings, that sites have in place an ongoing forum and structure for sharing teacher research and commenting on and understanding each other's work. We need a safe and trusting environment and structure from which to make public ideas and thoughts that might be difficult for us to express. You can always invite colleagues to extend the research and to form a collaborative team to focus on play, its functions and forms, and what ways you all can structure play so that it benefits all children. Best of luck as you move forward!! Daniel, Barbara, and Gail

As for your first question, there's really no single way to create good researchable questions, but several possibilities. I offer two here. . .

First, it's finding a question that really inspires you to carry out a research and inquiry project, a question that is highly motivating to you on a personal and professional level. For example, I am working with a teacher of toddlers who have some special needs and who are also bilingual language learners. The teacher is interested in learning more about how to promote bilingualism for these children. The teacher, at the core of this project, wants to do this project because she herself has discovered the power and value of bilingualism and cultural identity for herself as an adult learner. Her inquiry question is -- "What strategies can I use to support my children's bilingual talents both in the classroom and in the home?" And her underlying personal/professional question is -- "How can this inquiry project enrich and deepen my understanding of the links between language and culture and identity for children and for myself as a lifelong learner and teacher?" So the first question is the operational, researchable question while the second question is the underlying question driving her motivation and interest in the project.

Second, the finding of a research-able question may not be so apparent at first when starting an inquiry project. It may well come to you on down the line, once you've collected some initial data and start thinking about the potential significance of the data--what's interesting? what stands out? what's an emerging pattern? what does not fit into a pattern? Then a question (or two or three) often pops up at this point-- ah hah, we might say, now this is what I am really interested in. I was talking with a preschool teacher yesterday, Michael Escamilla, and he told me about some birds that are nesting outside his classrooms' door, on top of a plastic light covering. And the birds are having a hard time making their nest of twigs to stay since it slides off the plastic. Michael knows that this scenario has the potential for a research-able project for himself, his colleagues, and his children, but he's not quite sure yet (after several days of his own observing of the birds and reflecting on the potential of this emerging story for inquiry work) what is the key question (or questions) to ask as something re-searchable. He finally decided that he needs to bring the situation to the attention of his children -- for them to help him find the question (or set of questions) that they, together, will find to embark on this potential inquiry project and endeavor.

As for your second question, ECE inquirers often determine they have enough data to make reasonable conclusions when they have a pretty solid new understanding of and perspective on their inquiry focus. It's a feeling of "Well, now I really do see this child or this issue or this question in a whole new light and from a whole new vantage point. It's reaching a place where the collected data is "talking" to us and telling us to move in a new teaching direction, to change our curriculum, to reorient our interactions with a certain child, and so on. Of course, we reach this point only through several rounds of analysis and reflection and dialogue with others on the potential meaning and significance of our data.

Thanks and best of luck with your inquiry work,

Daniel, Barbara, and Gail

Hello,
Information on lead poisoning in certainly important. I just chatted with Gail Perry and she would not recommend it as a topic for teacher research inquiry because it requires a medical background. For information on lead poisoning you could start here:
http://www.nih.gov/

I believe this is why collecting data on kids' behavior and academics is so important, so we can talk to families about what we in terms of data, but, again, so many schools don't want to approach parents on that.

We agree that collaboration is one of the most important elements of the quality and longevity of teachers’ engagement in teacher research. Collaboration allows teachers to keep doing the hard, yet rewarding work of on-going inquiry, allows changes in practice to really take hold, and allows each of us to check our biases in how we interpret the observational data that we have collected from our work with children and families.

Collaboration can start small, as with a group decision to focus on the learning and development of a particular child you and your colleagues have in your classroom. Choose a child you are wondering about, maybe to help you develop deeper rapport, maybe to support the pace of learning and development, maybe to understand and address behavior challenges, or maybe because this child is just not visible enough in your classroom (perhaps a child you feel you overlook because s/he does “just fine”). The focus on a child allows all of you to coordinate your observations and think concretely about how things can change.

Using focused observations on particular children can be a good entry into teacher research, because a child study provides a window into your practice, your classroom environment, and the quality of relationships. Yet your goal is not to complete a child study on each of your children. Instead, use a few deep and extended child studies as a process to help you meet the larger goals of reconceptualizing your overall practice, and reframing the nature of your work together as a team.

Another way to begin collaborative reflection is with a shared journal. Create some kind of protocol to keep each other accountable for writing in the journal, to begin, maybe just set an expectation of time. So for example, you might decide that each person needs to spend 10 minutes each day writing an entry, or instead, that each person should spend 30 minutes each week. You might set other suggestions, such as expectations that you will link or build across entries, and awareness of the language you use to write about children and their families (for example, that you use a lens of strength). Every other week hold a meeting where you discuss the issues arising in the journal, the changes you are beginning to make based on these reflections, and the direction of the inquiry or inquiries you plan to pursue over the next two weeks.

As it sounds like you already have completed teacher research projects written in association with a course, or simply because your own professional practice prompts you to undertake on-going teacher research projects to improve your work, you should definitely share your findings with your colleagues. You’ll find they will be very interested to see your perspective on issues that affect all of you, and providing a model of inquiry is the best way to draw others into the work.

You can start your sharing at the level of your classroom. If your classroom has regular meetings, offer to lead one so that you can present your work. If you don’t usually meet, use this presentation as a way to start. We’d suggest that when you present, you take the stance of someone asking colleagues for their input on emerging findings, say in contrast to presenting in a lecture format and taking on a role as expert. Your goal, after all, is to draw your colleagues into your work, and to improve the quality of your current study by getting input from those closest to you professionally. Share an excerpt of your data (for example: a set of 3-5 photos, a transcript of children’s speech, or an example of a child’s work) with brief notes about what you think it means. Then in the meeting, set up small groups and provide time for your colleagues to make their own interpretations, and then provide you with feedback.

Another way to begin collaboration on your work is talk with your Center Director to find a time that you could present at a site level meeting. To support and extend the level of collaboration, as you might have more limited time than in your classroom level meeting, you could also create documentation panels for teachers to look at to preview and then extend on ideas shared at the meeting. You might consider the format of ZOOMS that Mardell et al. suggest in the Voices of Practitioners article at http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/Voices_Zooms.pdf.

A bigger idea for how to deepen collaboration is exemplified by the work at schools like San Francisco’s Cow Hollow, where teachers present their work for families at a teacher research event each year. It is a very well attended event, and really brings everyone together to prepare, to be part of the event, and to celebrate what it shows about the high quality ECE program that is so integrally supported by on-going teacher research by all the school’s faculty. Take a look at some of their inquiry projects as a curricular way into the teacher research that fuels this amazing work http://www.cowhollowschool.org/program/project-example.

Finally, you can begin long-term collaborative groups either within or across your school site. We have examples of some of these at Voices of Practitioners in the section “Teacher Research Initiatives: Teacher Communities of Practice” that can be found at http://www.naeyc.org/content/teacher-research-initiatives. Two examples are the teacher research collaboration at the San Francisco Unified School District Child Development center, Las Americas, written about by Isauro Michael Escamilla, and the group RECESS written about by Jeff Daitsman.

Your question about collaboration is really at the heart of strong teacher research. There are some other issues related to this that we touched upon in our response to the question “Teacher Research for Staff Development,” for example a discussion of protocols to shape collaborative exchanges.

Thanks for your question and good luck building strong collaboration at your site.
-Barbara, Daniel, and Gail

Hi Sandy,

The NAEYC Accreditation Standards and Criteria do not specifically address this topic. The Standards and Criteria are available on our website at  http://www.naeyc.org/academy/primary/viewstandards. You could ask other teachers what they do during rest time on the NAEYC facebook page: www.facebook.com/NAEYC.

Or suggest the question for the Teacher's Lounge feature in Teaching Young Children:

http://www.naeyc.org/tyc/lounge.

Hi Sara,
I wanted to let you know that we recently added a list of teacher research websites to our Voices of Practitioners journal that we will be updating periodically and also a new teacher research initiative. I think you have raised a good idea for us to consider. Susan Friedman has replied to your question about the RSS feed.
Thanks for the question.
Gail, Barbara and Daniel

Hi Sara,
Thanks for your interest. We'll look into setting up an RSS feed to let people know when new content has been added to the Voices of Practitioners area.

What does inquiry look like for different roles?

You’ve asked a great question because you’ve addressed all the potentially key players in promoting inquiry-based teaching at an early childhood site. It is so important, both in the short-term and the long-term, to have all professionals on-site involved and playing key roles in inquiry-based teaching, collaboration, and professional dialogue and change. And here’s what it might look like for:

** Program Directors: Taking the administrative and curricular lead, program directors are pivotal for setting the tone and the direction for inquiry work at an ECE site. They can provide the key to the intangibles of such work—to provide the motivation and the interest, to get “buy-in” from faculty, to do inquiry and teacher research. Second, directors can organize the structures for inquiry to happen in classrooms, allowing teachers the time and space to collect and analyze data, to meet and talk about ongoing data collection, and opportunities for dissemination with each other, parents and families, and other community members.

**Teachers: Teachers are the heart and soul of doing the “heavy lifting” of data collection in inquiry-work; they are the ones leading and directing teaching and caregiving in the classrooms, and often take the lead on inquiry projects as tied with curriculum and children’s learning and development. Teachers benefit from starting to do inquiry in “baby steps,” starting small with short-term projects and then building up to more long-term and involved inquiry projects. We need to look no further than Reggio for examples of wonderful, involved long-term in quiry projects.

**Para professional and assistant teachers: We need to utilize and maximize our ratios in ECE classrooms and settings (as opposed to K-12 education), and work with paras and assistants to form a research team in the classroom. In this team approach, everyone collects data and helps each other out in the hard to juggle process of collecting data while teaching and caregiving at the same time. Inquiry often works best when there are multiple viewpoints and perspectives on the same data set, and so including paras and assistants is so central in this effort.

**Student teachers: We owe a special effort to this group, for it is in preservice education that we can inculcate teachers to be with an inclination toward and an understanding of inquiry and practitioner research early on in their careers. There are a number of university and college based lab schools that promote inquiry for student teachers and which are tied to their child-centered and inquiry-based teaching and curriculum.

Daniel, Barbara, and Gail

Teacher research involves teachers in serious investigation of children’s learning and development, and an examination of how they are addressing those issues. Directors can play a key role in promoting teacher research through a professional development program focused around the teachers engaging in collaborative reflection on their on-going inquiries. In fact, high quality centers that are invested in teacher research are that way exactly because of their interested and involved directors.

When teachers at a center are invited to consider and study issues that matter to them, it increases their motivation and energy to improve their practice. As teachers share their studies at staff meetings, it focuses the discussion on the most important goals of our work -- how best to support children and families.

Overall, teachers engaged in teacher research develop a level of professionalism that can allow them to improve all parts of their practice, from responsiveness to children, to communication with families, to improving collaboration with their colleagues. Although individual teachers may engage in teacher research, Center Directors are in a unique position to improve practice across the school, as they can arrange professional development time to support teachers in collaborative reflection on their inquiry.

In fact, the use of collaborative reflection appears to be one of the most effective ways to help teachers feel confident and supported as they improve their practice. It outstrips simple peer learning, for example, where teachers are given time to share and discuss a book. Further, collaborative reflection is far more effective than giving the teachers broad leadership responsibilities at a site, for example, where teachers are expected to hold the vision for a center, and are then held accountable to child outcomes.

One straightforward way to build forms of teacher research into staff meetings is to make use of “protocols” to guide oral inquiry. Protocols are essentially a set of agreed upon guidelines for how to talk and listen to each other to build a systematic and shared inquiry around a topic of mutual interest. Protocols can be a particularly useful to establish a culture of inquiry at a an early childhood site, as engaging in the protocol allows the group to make immediate progress with a topic of study. Furthermore, protocols work to build trust and accountability as the roles for preparation, speaking, listening, facilitating, recording, and debriefing are built in.

There are two Voices of Practitioner articles on this practice of oral inquiry, where the site directors are using staff meeting time at ECE sites for such professional development. One of these articles is entitled “Co-Inquiry” and is by Shareen Abramson. It can be found as a pdf at http://journal.naeyc.org/btj/vp/pdf/Voices_Abramson_Co-Inquiry.pdf. The other is entitled “Zooms,” by Ben Mardell and his colleagues at Tufts Lab School and is available as a pdf at http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/Voices_Zooms.pdf.

A range of other ideas for how to use protocols with groups of teachers within timeframes like staff meetings, or at longer professional development meetings can be found in materials available on the Prospect Center Descriptive Review Process through the Prospect Center website, or in books by Patricia Carini (2010; 2001) and Margaret Himley and Patricia Carini (2000) available through Teachers College Press. There are two other useful texts on protocols published by TC Press. One is The Power of Protocols: An Educator's Guide to Better Practice (2003) by Joseph P. McDonald, Nancy Mohr, et al., and the other is Looking Together at Student Work, (2nd ed.) by Tina Blythe, David Allen, et al.

We think that when an Early Childhood Site director takes a stance to support inquiry and then makes the concrete decision to regularly use a part of each staff meeting to help the teachers meet these goals, it can go far to make teacher research a reality at your center.

Thanks for your question.
Barbara, Daniel, & Gail

Another thought on this - Teacher Research is a great way of honoring and appreciating teachers.

Hello Leticia,

Thanks so much for your question. The topic of this Q&A is teacher research. For ideas related to teacher appreciation day, you could post your question on NAEYC's facebook page (www.facebook.com/NAEYC).

You can also find ideas related to thanking teachers in stories about how programs have celebrated Week of the Young Child: www.naeyc.org/woyc/news.

Best of luck with your plans,
Susan Friedman