CLASSROOM ACTION RESEARCH: A PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Prepared by Ida Bagus Nyoman Mantra, SH., S.Pd., M.Pd
Yayasan Karma Budaya Bali
[email protected]
1. Introduction
Classroom action research (CAR) begins with a question or questions about
classroom experiences, issues, or challenges. It is a reflective process which helps
teachers to explore and examine aspects of teaching and learning and to take action to
change and improve.
Classroom action research is used as one way to improve the quality of
teaching and learning. This is due to the fact that CAR is developed primary because
of the problems faced by the teacher in the classroom during teaching and learning
activities. It is very critical that more teachers understand the importance of CAR and
use this type of research as a tool to improve their teaching ability. CAR has a
tendency to give direct impact on the better teaching process and the development of
teachers’ professionalism in managing the class. In other words, through CAR,
teacher and educator gain “theory” which he builds himself, not by others “or given”
by other people – therefore the teacher becomes a implementer of a theory he builds
himself..
To achieve the objective of classroom action research, it is conducted in
cyclical process which consists of four phases, such as Planning, Action, Observation
and Reflection.
Figure 1: Phases of classroom action research
All the above phases of CAR is considered as one cycle of CAR which is
started from Planning, then followed by action, then observation and reflection. After
conducting reflection which includes analysis of the result of the observation process,
and the result of the action, usually problems occurred which need to be solved,
therefore revised planning, action, observation and reflection are needed. This revised
cycle phases is repeatedly conducted until the problem is appropriately solved. The
four phases of CAR can be shown in figure 2 below.
1
Planning Action Observation Reflection