Preservice science teachers’ challenges in doing classroom action research and learning activities to cope with the challenges

Abstract

     Although action research has a good reputation in teacher professional development, a small number of studies in Thailand have addressed the issue of the challenges preservice teachers experience in conducting action research and what teacher preparation programs should do to support them to overcome these difficulties. Thus, this study attempted to address this issue. Data were collected from 36 preservice teachers, 26 cooperating teachers, and 8 university advisors in a large public university in Bangkok, Thailand. The respondents completed an open-ended and checklist questionnaire. The questionnaire was validated by three experts in the field of research in education. The Index of item-objective congruence in each item was between 0.67 and 1.00. The data analyses used in this study were thematic analysis as well as the frequency and percentage. The findings showed that Thai preservice teachers confronted a number of difficulties in trying to complete their action research projects. However, possible solutions that could help them overcome the challenges were: peer critique, a sample action research review, a data analysis laboratory, and an action research clinic. This paper provides suggestions for teacher preparation programs and stakeholders supporting the preservice teachers to conduct high quality action research.