Classroom research opens up the classroom to a broader range of student voices. The traditionally quiet, shy student now has a channel for communicating opinions and ideas to the class as a whole. The class shifts from a teacher-centered to a student-centered classroom, and all students are included.
The unilateral, unidirectional power relationship encoded in the evaluation/grading system is modified to accept the suggestions and advice of the students. Instructors, however, do not give up authority, just authoritarianism.
In hearing regularly what their peers are thinking, students are able to overcome the isolated, individual student/teacher relationship of the past. They now can see themselves as part of a group (including the teacher) that is marked not by competition, but by solidarity in a common enterprise of understanding and using the subject matter with competence and confidence.
The positive effects of classroom research do not occur overnight; they are the result of instructor and student work over a period of time as each learns how to give and take feedback. Nevertheless, classroom research is so powerful and helpful that even the most modest attempt can bring provocative and insightful results.
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