Page 58 - Igor Ž. Žagar in Ana Mlekuž, ur. ▪︎ Raziskovanje v vzgoji in izobraževanju. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut, 2019. Digitalna knjižnica, Dissertationes 37
P. 58
r aziskovanje v vzgoji in izobr aževanju
which have shown to be useful to foster students’ understanding of the task
of positioning themselves.
Fostering Students’ Positioning
In this chapter we will present two metaphors we use for teaching. The
first, we will refer to it as the “space metaphor” is to foster a general un-
derstanding of the relation of the research question and the state-of-the-art
section, whereas the second, we will refer to it as the “tree-metaphor”, is to
support understanding the position of ones’ work in the field. Both serve
as providing a framework which eventually helps making decisions regar-
ding the ‘what must go in or out’ the thesis and the state-of-the-art secti-
on in particular.
The Space-Metaphor
The aim of the “space–metaphor” is to convey the complementarity of re-
search question and the state-of-the-art in research. As mentioned above,
students are often insecure regarding what needs to be described in the sta-
te-of-the-art section and even more so, what they can leave out. They may
be aware that they came up with the research question, i.e. they see that it
is a result of their own work, but this does not solve problem of placing this
“subjective piece” in an objectively existing research landscape.
Having reflected the problem, the didactic move we suggest here is
rather obvious: We need to convey to the students that the state-of-the-art
section is complementary to the research question in the sense that it de-
fines the space their research question works in. Furthermore, defining it
is active construction, rather than the result of searching and collecting.
The guiding principle for designing the space is to provide an environment
the research question works in. It is to be constructed by drawing on find-
ings in the field and major theories, findings, or schools may determine the
main axes. This allows for an intuitive heuristic concerning literature re-
search: “searching and collecting” is necessary in the sense that theories
and findings in the field provide the material the space is built of, but just as
adding more material will not always make a better house there is a point
where there is enough literature.
In class we support understanding the relation between research ques-
tion and what needs to go into the state-of-the-art section a by the visual-
ization of the “research space” as depicted in figure 10. The research ques-
58
which have shown to be useful to foster students’ understanding of the task
of positioning themselves.
Fostering Students’ Positioning
In this chapter we will present two metaphors we use for teaching. The
first, we will refer to it as the “space metaphor” is to foster a general un-
derstanding of the relation of the research question and the state-of-the-art
section, whereas the second, we will refer to it as the “tree-metaphor”, is to
support understanding the position of ones’ work in the field. Both serve
as providing a framework which eventually helps making decisions regar-
ding the ‘what must go in or out’ the thesis and the state-of-the-art secti-
on in particular.
The Space-Metaphor
The aim of the “space–metaphor” is to convey the complementarity of re-
search question and the state-of-the-art in research. As mentioned above,
students are often insecure regarding what needs to be described in the sta-
te-of-the-art section and even more so, what they can leave out. They may
be aware that they came up with the research question, i.e. they see that it
is a result of their own work, but this does not solve problem of placing this
“subjective piece” in an objectively existing research landscape.
Having reflected the problem, the didactic move we suggest here is
rather obvious: We need to convey to the students that the state-of-the-art
section is complementary to the research question in the sense that it de-
fines the space their research question works in. Furthermore, defining it
is active construction, rather than the result of searching and collecting.
The guiding principle for designing the space is to provide an environment
the research question works in. It is to be constructed by drawing on find-
ings in the field and major theories, findings, or schools may determine the
main axes. This allows for an intuitive heuristic concerning literature re-
search: “searching and collecting” is necessary in the sense that theories
and findings in the field provide the material the space is built of, but just as
adding more material will not always make a better house there is a point
where there is enough literature.
In class we support understanding the relation between research ques-
tion and what needs to go into the state-of-the-art section a by the visual-
ization of the “research space” as depicted in figure 10. The research ques-
58
