Well, we've made it through the first full week of classes here at Ohio State! Feels good to be moving forward with a new term! My classes (all THREE of them) seem like great groups of students. I'm excited to be able to work with them this term. I'm teaching a course in research methods, one called teaching as a profession, and one in adolescent development--the same courses I taught last Autumn quarter. I'm particularly excited to be able to share lessons from my most recent research projects with my research methods students. I've found that the students at OSU are eager to be involved in the many research opportunities that present themselves. Two of my former research/stats students have joined my research projects and I've been able to teach research in a new and exciting way...
These two former students are serving as research apprentices on our middle school transitions project research team. These students are taking 3 hours of research apprenticeship credit with me and I am mentoring them. I've found that, in some ways, I enjoy this process as much and, at times, even more than classroom teaching. As their research mentor, I get to work with students on research problems in an in-depth and truly meaningful way. For example, we've collected the first round of data for the middle school transitions project and now it's time for my sub-team--the quantitative group--to start entering and analyzing survey data and examining school records data. Exciting stuff!
When I first realized I would be leading a team of students, I decided that I wanted to involve them in the decision-making process as much as possible. I don't believe that being Dr. Momma Researcher and making all the decisions is the best way to help my students learn. It's the thinking process involved in research that matters most--thinking through the problems and challenges is what truly makes one a better researcher. I've learned tons just from the new projects I've been working on over the six months--both of them have had lots of problems to solve and challenges to work through! It reminds me of how one becomes a savvy computer user: the more technical issues you encounter and solve, the better you are at solving the new ones you encounter. That said, I'm looking forward to learning even more as these projects continue!
Cool stuff, people! Cool stuff!
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