Common Goals = Productive Teams

A common analogy used to visualize a productive team is this one: all of the members of the team are in the same row boat and rowing in the same direction. This article tells of one such e... See More

A common analogy used to visualize a productive team is this one: all of the members of the team are in the same row boat and rowing in the same direction. This article tells of one such effective team. It was composed of scientists, science educators, teachers, and both graduate and undergraduate students. The Purdue University action-based research team was established in order to focus on improving the teaching of introductory science courses for preservice teachers and science, math, engineering and technology majors. By working collaboratively toward their common goal, members of the team were able to come up with ways to improve instructional delivery of their programs. There were a few disadvantages to the action-based research team model. One issue was the time commitment of each individual in the team to the action-research process. However, faculty members in particular found that the work (and results) of their action-research became a way for university to implement positive change.