From Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, to Action Research in Improving the Programming Skills of Students

Abstract

Action research (AR) is often used when doing research about social phenomena in the real-world, when change is part of the researcher’s intention. The researcher participates in the research environment with the intention of improving the social phenomenon of learning to program, and to learn from it. AR typically follows an iterative process of five phases, namely diagnosis; action planning; action taking; evaluation and specifying learning. Although the incorporation of the work of critical thinkers is promoted, to guide the intervention, linking the methodology itself to Kantian thinking is uncommon. This paper demonstrates how the three questions from Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason: What can I know? What can I do? and finally, What can I hope? may guide the AR method. We show how these can be utilized within the phases of AR to deepen understanding of the social phenomenon of learning to program. By focusing on a Kantian systems approach, as discussed by Werner Ulrich in his introduction of Critical Systems Heuristics, various conditioned realities can be considered within a real-world situation. The paper presents an AR study which focused on improving the programming skills of students, demonstrating the incorporation of the Kantian focal points into the AR cycle. It demonstrates that Kant’s respect for the humanity of others and the resulting hope in justice can guide the AR practitioner to effect improvement. By making a conscious effort to listen to the affected and to incorporate as many conditioned realities as possible, we were able to improve student engagement and interest in the programming module.