Interventions at any stage can be reflections like surveys, journals, and exit slips, but reflections can also lead to interventions. If we don't provide students with the opportunity to share their thoughts with us, we will miss opportunities like these:
I showed [my father] what I was doing and he would be able to guide me. He would actually help me to organize it. He'd take out a piece of paper and say "OK, these are the ways you are headed, now which one do you want." He would just lay it out for me, but he would try not to influence me. (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 108).
Being able to go to the teacher and say, "This is my topic what do you think." I don't know if anyone did that. I did it with friends, but friends don't know what the possibilities are....They don't know what information is available. You could say to the librarian, "This is my topic. Do you think I could find enough information? Where should I go?" That would help at the beginning. (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 110).
But [teachers] should say, "OK, tomorrow we'll talk about what you found, if you have any problems, or what point you are at." Not pressure you. "Well, if you haven't started just forget it." Sometimes you haven't started because you don't know what you're about. it would help to know if everyone else was lost, too. (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 110-111).
I had a general idea not a specific focus, but an idea. As I was writing, I didn't know what my focus was. My teacher says she doesn't know what my focus was. I don't think I ever acquired a focus. It was an impossible paper to write. I would just sit there and say, "I'm stuck." There was no outline because there was nothing to complete. If I learned anything from the paper it is, you have to have a focus. You have to have something to center on. You can't just have a topic. You should have an idea when you start. . I had a topic but didn't know what I wanted to do with it. I figured that when I did my research it would focus in. But I didn't let it. I kept saying. "This is interesting and this is interesting and I'll just smush it all together." "It didn't work out." (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 40).
By working with you [and the information search process] I learned not to panic if it doesn't all fall in together the first day you walk into the library....I'll worry about a paper because things don't fall into place but it's not the kind of thing I lose sleep over. I've learned to accept that this is the way it works. Tomorrow I'll read this over and some parts will fall into place and some still won't. If not I'll talk to the professor. The mind doesn't take everything and put it into order automatically and that's it. Understanding that is the biggest help. (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 132).
In various research and inquiry processes, our own students have even reflected on their learning:
"This unit challenged traditional student apathy to the subject material - fully engaging us in the process. The process is what is essential to learning. Then, you can react to what you have learned and gain a greater understanding of the issue."
“No [I did not ask for help], because I'll just look it up on Google or ask.com.”
“In the beginning, I was afraid of this process because it demanded a lot of responsibility and independence from me."
"In the future if I were to do another research project like this I would approach it differently by not waiting until the last minute. By giving myself more time I would be able to go further in depth with the research I collected."
"A change I would definitely make to the project is having to hand in bench-marks in the research. I think this would make the project a lot less stressful when the due date came closer and you would get better results."
"This project definitely changed my view on how research is done in the real world. For the last 8 years of schooling we have been taught a single way to right a paper: write a thesis and prove it. This standard went out the window in the formulation of this paper. Having to go about proving a new idea, or hypothesis, involves research that I was not particularly familiar with. ... First, I would definitely generalize my research. When I was looking for data I was stuck in the mold I had been for every other paper I ever wrote, I was trying to prove myself right. It I was able to get a clearer picture of both sides of the hypothesis earlier in my research I feel that the end result would have been much different. I think I could have complied more meaningful and conclusive data if I had come to that realization earlier."
"The creation of the hypothesis was half the battle, if your hypothesis was lacking, or way too broad, the realization would come late while your attempting to gather information, forcing you a step back."
"I found in the beginning of my research project before I even wrote my first hypothesis, I wanted to look at the whole country as my scale. However, I realized that it would make more sense in the amount of time that we had to only look at the east coast. By narrowing down my project scope, I was able to delve deeper into what I wanted to prove in my paper."
"Another alteration in my research approach is that I would take greater advantage of asking questions."
"This class has required much more extensive research then any other class I have taken so far. While I am usually just required to gather data or information and put it on a powerpoint or into a paper, I have learned to make sure I completely understand and analyze any piece of data that I decide to use."
Reflections
Interventions at any stage can be reflections like surveys, journals, and exit slips, but reflections can also lead to interventions. If we don't provide students with the opportunity to share their thoughts with us, we will miss opportunities like these:
In various research and inquiry processes, our own students have even reflected on their learning:
"This unit challenged traditional student apathy to the subject material - fully engaging us in the process. The process is what is essential to learning. Then, you can react to what you have learned and gain a greater understanding of the issue."
“No [I did not ask for help], because I'll just look it up on Google or ask.com.”
“In the beginning, I was afraid of this process because it demanded a lot of responsibility and independence from me."
"In the future if I were to do another research project like this I would approach it differently by not waiting until the last minute. By giving myself more time I would be able to go further in depth with the research I collected."
"A change I would definitely make to the project is having to hand in bench-marks in the research. I think this would make the project a lot less stressful when the due date came closer and you would get better results."
"This project definitely changed my view on how research is done in the real world. For the last 8 years of schooling we have been taught a single way to right a paper: write a thesis and prove it. This standard went out the window in the formulation of this paper. Having to go about proving a new idea, or hypothesis, involves research that I was not particularly familiar with. ... First, I would definitely generalize my research. When I was looking for data I was stuck in the mold I had been for every other paper I ever wrote, I was trying to prove myself right. It I was able to get a clearer picture of both sides of the hypothesis earlier in my research I feel that the end result would have been much different. I think I could have complied more meaningful and conclusive data if I had come to that realization earlier."
"The creation of the hypothesis was half the battle, if your hypothesis was lacking, or way too broad, the realization would come late while your attempting to gather information, forcing you a step back."
"I found in the beginning of my research project before I even wrote my first hypothesis, I wanted to look at the whole country as my scale. However, I realized that it would make more sense in the amount of time that we had to only look at the east coast. By narrowing down my project scope, I was able to delve deeper into what I wanted to prove in my paper."
"Another alteration in my research approach is that I would take greater advantage of asking questions."
"This class has required much more extensive research then any other class I have taken so far. While I am usually just required to gather data or information and put it on a powerpoint or into a paper, I have learned to make sure I completely understand and analyze any piece of data that I decide to use."