Classroom Observation Study

Classroom observation is not only a main method to collect data, but also an independent approach in education research. It plays an important rote in classroom research. Classroom observation as a research approach in education was noted by researchers in the early 20th. And it has developped from then on. Although classroom observation has been popular and has had a more systematic theory in some west countries, it has not been paid enough attention in our country. So my article try to do some thing about it and aims to give some help to someone who wants to do classroom research using classroom observation.At first, my article explore some principles of classroom observation, including its development in history, its key features, its important role, its different types and the basic three phase in doing classroom observation, In general, classroom observation is systematic, selective and contextual, so it is a scientific observation different from the observation everyday. It can gather the raw information as tilings are conducting. So Classroom observation is important in doing classroom research, guiding the professional development of teachers and improving the decision-making and evaluation in education. From different viewpoints, it has different types. Especially to say, I classify classroom observation in tow parts: quantitative observation and qualitative observation, which based on the method the researcher use to collect information. At the end of this part, I give a general research framework, namely plaining before the observation, doing observation records and analyzing the data.Secondly, the article focused on the quantitative observation. This observation is based on the view of positivism. It emphases on structured observation. Category systems are its techniques to gather data, and it has three forms: coding system, tally system or checklist and rating scale. They all produce some numbers as the form of the data The data are analyzed by the way of statistics.In the last part, the article talks about the qualitative observation. This kind of classroom observation is based on the view of interpretivism. It emphases on interpreting the meaning behind the activities and the events. We mainly use descriptive systems, narrative systems and figure records and technological records to gather information. In simple words, field notes is primary way to record information. So lots of words will be produced and we use a very different method to analyze the information. The quantitative observation and the qualitative observation both have their own advantages and disadvantages. They often are used synthetically in practice. At the end of the last part, I talk something about this.When I talk about these questions, I also give ample examples in classroom research. Most of the examples come from researches made by someone else, and some of them are my efforts in classrooms.