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	2 hours

02.1 Stating The Problem

This experience builds on your Course Project Planning from the course introduction.

At this point, you should have posted a personal introduction (Week 1 Forum) and determined the following elements of the Evaluation Report (01.4 Course Project Planning):

• Name of Action Researchers - Yourself, the teacher or teachers and any fellow librarians from your district with whom you may have decided to work.
• School Affiliation - The school and district for which you work.
• Contact Information - The best way to reach you.
• Abstract - The essence of the work you wish to conduct.
• Purpose or Background - Two or more paragraphs describing the recent history which helps the reader understand the context for the research. (For example, what motivates this study? what is the need observed in students? what strategies has the teacher attempted recently and how well were these working?) It also helps to write a short description of the characteristics of the selected students or audience.

Now it is time to develop your Project Problem Statement. A problem statement takes a topic that you have identified and turns it into an operational question. This guides your progress and lets you know when you have found an answer or solved the problem.

IMSA's Problem-based Learning Network offers a tutorial on how to Construct Problem Statements. Follow the links on the PBL pages for associated background information, as needed. Use this information to format your own Problem Statement.

In general, the format for a problem statement goes something like this: "How can (name your audience) act upon (the main objective) in such a way that (the conditions listed here are satisfied)?"

Once you have a working problem statement, briefly search the Internet for possible resources that may address your problem statement.

Post your problem statement on the 02.3 Forum. You will be asked to comment on the following points in your posting:

• What is your problem statement?
• Note any difficulties or confusion encountered.

Looking ahead--a few sessions from now you will begin to research information needed to build a terrific lesson, unit, curriculum, webpage, professional development event or other practical application (hereafter called the Project). After investigating several expert search strategies, you will search for web pages containing information relevant to your project. Listing possible keywords to use during the search process is a good task for the next few lessons. Words may come to you when you least expect them. Keep that list handy.

Something more to consider -- What do you already Know, Think you Know but are not sure, and Need to Know to construct your project? Knowing the answer to this question will provide you with helpful context for exploring your problem situation and focus your efforts on developing a solution backed by solid evidence.