Pre-class musings: I've been thinking lately about one of those old
research adages, that being the "halo effect": that is, be cautions
about generalizing from research findings because the very process
of conducting research often causes the people involved to perform
better because they know something special and different is taking
place--it's not the same old classroom routine but something worthy
of study. Often, in fact, researchers are cautioned about ways to
reduce this effect so as not to distort the findings. Given the
arguments I've been making lately, I'd say that if the halo effect
is real, then we ought to make the opposite argument. That is, if
conducting research creates an environment in which people perform
better, then we ought to encourage classroom research more
frequently. What better benefit could there possibly be than
better learning and teaching? Why discourage this? I think it
ought to be a fundamental goal of education, and if research is an
instrument that contributes to the process, then we ought to find
more ways to encourage it. I see my own role in this classroom as
a researcher-teacher (a complement to the teacher-researcher)--that
is, I'm here to study the class but part of my role is
instructional, particularly when I work one-on-one with individual
students. I think they'll learn mo' betta' as a result of their
experiences in reflecting about their learning. A far cry from the
"contamination" I was urged to avoid when learning how to conduct
research as a graduate student.