What should research and enquiry look like?
The challenge for us is to look at our curriculum and to see where we already have strengths in research-enhanced teaching. Are we, for example, good at providing students with opportunities to learn about our research? And then to consider where we might develop our curriculum and our practice. Could we, for example, provide more structured and progressive opportunities for students to be involved in the research process itself, developing the necessary skills along the way? Taking care to ensure that we utilise the strategies appropriate to the learning outcome of our curriculum and that we articulate to students the ways in which research enhances their curriculum and contributes to their employability.
Research and enquiry should be:
- Authentic to the discipline
- Appropriate to the learning of our programmes
- Planned
- Progressive
- Across all Parts
- Articulated to students
- Engaging students in undertaking research as well as learning about and from it.
Models of research and enquiry
Your specific context will cause differences in the ways in which you conceive of the linkages between research and teaching.There are a number of models that conceptualise the linkages between teaching and research that might provide helpful tools to guide your thinking. Three of these are:
- Healey, M. & Jenkins, A. (2009)
- Levy, P. & Petrulis, R. (2012)
- Brew, A. (2013)
Perhaps the most commonly cited model is that of Healey and Jenkins (2009).
From Healey and Jenkins (2009,7).
The vertical axis presents a continuum from a more teacher-focussed approach in which students are the audience of research to a more student-focussed approach in which students are active participants in research. The horizontal axis classifies approaches according to the extent to which the focus is on the substantive content of research or on the research process.
They outline four main ways of engaging undergraduates with research and enquiry.
- Research-led: learning about current research in the discipline;
- Research-oriented: developing research skills and techniques;
- Research-based: undertaking research and enquiry; and
- Research-tutored: engaging in research discussions.
There are obvious overlaps and these are all interlinked.
This model is useful as it gives us a framework for discussing different pedagogies in relation to research and enquiry in the curriculum and for analysing our own practice.
References
- Brew, A. (2013). Understanding the scope of undergraduate research: a framework for curricular and pedagogical decision-making. Higher Education, 66: 5. 603-618.
- Healey, M. & Jenkins, A. (2009). Developing undergraduate research and inquiry. York: Higher Education Academy.
- Levy, P. & Petrulis, R. (2012). How do first-year students experience inquiry and research, and what are the implications for the practice of inquiry-based learning? Studies in Higher Education, 37:1. 85-101