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  ‘But what can I do about it?’ How using Design Thinking in the classroom can increase advocacy in Year 11 girls

  Adam Giblin (2021) 2021

  This action research project introduced design thinking as an approach to problem solving with two classes of Year 11 students studying GCSE Religious Studies in an all-girls’ environment. Students were supported in developing skills of empathy, redefining problems of social injustice, exploring (or ideating) potential solutions, and planning their future actions. This was done with the aim of increasing their confidence to advocate for others. Student feedback, in the form of online surveys and focus group interviews, was used to show that after using Design Thinking, students felt greater confidence to advocate and had even begun to take small steps towards acting on behalf of marginalised groups. It was evident that students found engaging in personal acts of support, such as signing petitions or educating themselves, to be doable but needed greater support to engage with the more active advocacy behaviours, such as protesting.
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  “Not Too Formal”: Strategies to Support Grade 6 English Students to Strengthen Collaboration and Relationship Skills

  Liz Joyce 2022

  There is a commonly held belief that girls avoid confrontation and engagement in “hard” conversations with peers. In this action research project, I set out to challenge this assumption, while also looking to understand what communication strategies and relationship skills the students already had and regularly employed. This research was conducted over the course of approximately eight weeks in late Fall 2021, with 10 Grade 6 students in their English class of which I was not the assigned teacher. By focusing on how teaching specific strategies impacts the abilities to strengthen collaboration and relationship skills, lessons were designed and implemented to target self-awareness and interpersonal communication skills. Students were taught strategies that enabled them to communicate more directly with peers as well as challenge their own thoughts and perceptions. Student feedback was regularly solicited in the form of surveys, writing prompts, class discussions, and a focus group midway through the project. The students’ feedback was critical to the process as it guided and molded the presentation of lessons as well as the format of the last classes. Findings from this project reinforce the importance of creating a safe and supportive environment for girls to share their thoughts and feelings. Overall, girls need to feel a connection with materials and security in their relationships to give meaningful feedback, engage in deeper discussions, and access their problem-solving prowess.
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  Academic Buoyancy: Empowering Year 9 and 10 Girls to Take Risks and Own Their Learning as They Problem-Solve in the Science Classroom

  Linda Douglas (2021) 2021

  This action research project sought to explore how supporting Year 9 and 10 girls’ understanding of their personal academic buoyancy and associated strategies impacted their academic risk-taking and ownership of learning when problem-solving in Science. In July 2021, a class of 23 Year 9 and 10 girls at Ruyton Girls’ School commenced a one semester Science elective entitled Marine Encounters. Early in this course, they were introduced to the concept of “academic buoyancy” through a bespoke workshop delivered over two fifty-minute sessions. The workshop focused on understanding cognition, behaviours, and emotions to support personal academic buoyancy, particularly during problem-solving exercises. The students then engaged in a series of authentic scientific problem-solving activities as part of their scientific study, which provided opportunities to put the academic buoyancy strategies into practice. In a mixed methods research design, data were collected through a pre-activity and post-activity survey, written student and staff reflections, and focus-group interviews towards the end of the elective. Analysis of the data indicated increased students’ awareness of negative thoughts about their own learning, recognition of their own personal signs of anxiety and worry, and greater recognition of the aspects they could control and develop. Student agency emerged as a strong theme, with students identifying not only how the action supported them in taking greater control of their own learning, but also how it could be improved in the future to support younger students. The results of this project indicate that a deliberate and embedded approach to teaching girls’ academic buoyancy and associated strategies enhanced openness to academic risk-taking and increased ownership of learning.
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  Examining the impact of a project based learning approach to teaching French how does it encourage confidence and self efficacy in girls independent problem solving

  Jo Orgill (2021) 2021

  Over the course of 15 lessons from September to November 2021, I undertook a project-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching French with 15 Year 8 girls. They worked independently to produce a video tour of their school for our partner school in France. In a mixed-methods research design, I examined the impact of this student-centered approach to language learning on the girls’ self-efficacy, confidence, and independent problem-solving skills. The PBL approach resulted in high pupil engagement, increased self-efficacy over time, as well as enhanced attainment and ability to problem-solve independently. The results led me to reflect on the importance of collaboration for girls in my setting as well as my use of pupil voice in my practice. This study contributes to the literature on self-efficacy in language-learning, with a particular focus on the benefits of a PBL approach for girls.