A Case for Story: Learning Technologies in K-12 Environments

Points on the Qualitative Path

Sharon L. Comstock

Graduate School of Library and Information Science

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

From Folktales to Tales of Folk

It all begins with a story…. Research opportunity as an evaluator on a NSF project in high schoolsEureka! There are folk in them there hills…Story as authenticating evidence that fills gaps in data gathering: where science and story meet.

Research Realty: Location, Location,

Location…Graduate Fellows In K-12 Education (Funding agency: NSF)

Multiliteracies: Cybraries in K-12 Libraries (Funding: Australian Research Board)

Center for School Improvement, University of Chicago, Web Institute for Teachers (Funding:U of C, CSI)

What is “GK-12?”Nation-wide, NSF initiativeAdvanced graduate students in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Technology (SMET) disciplinesSMET teachers in K-12 settingsTechnology-enriched classrooms, integrating computer-based modeling, visualization, and informatics Photo by S.L. Comstock

Computer scientists in pre-calculus and biologyMolecular biologist in honors biologyBiologists in advanced placement and regular biology Mathematicians in after-hours, vocational school math classes

So, Who are the GK-12?

Photo by S.L. Comstock

Evaluation: A Mixed-Method

On-site observationStructured formative online surveys (http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Divisions/eot/gk12/evaluation.html)On-site Video and photographyArtifactsUnstructured interviews

I thought you said something about a story?

Surveys are limited tools

Unstructured interviews, coupled with site visits, seem to answer the “how” of technology integration

Story fills the gaps in formative evaluation

Storytime

The narrative approach: notes taken, later written, reviewed with subject

The taped interview: transcribed verbatim

Sample of online data this year…

Interpretative ArtCase study as “bounded” objectEthnographically informedThe holistic researcherResulting narrative and creating of meaning: reader as co-discovererBalancing paradox: participant/observer; teacher/learner; scientist/storyteller

Photo by: S.L. Comstock

“Tit, tat, tout…”

Reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries: “If you partition a problem along discipline lines, your solution can be wrong,” Prof. Peggy Miller.

LIS’s role in studying how technologies are being used in real-world situations

My role as a collector of stories…

…this tale has yet to be played out!”

Textual analysis of data, using ATLAS software and motifs/tale types to more deeply identify patterns and significanceMore in-depth interviews with widening circle of students, fellows, teachers, and administratorsInclusion of learning in K-12 cybraries and teacher development initiatives

Selected References

Ceglowski, D. That’s a good story, but is it really research? Qualitative Inquiry; Thousand Oakes; June 1997; Vol. 3, Issue 2, pp 188-201

Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Glesne, C. & Peshkin, A. (1992). Being there: Developing understanding through participant observation. Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction. White Plains, NY: Longman, 39-61.

Mixed Methods Handbook for Evaluations (1997). Frechtling, J. & L. S. Westat, eds. Division of Research and Evaluation, NSF. Washington, D.C. (http://www.her.nsf.gov/HER/REC/pubs/NSF97-153/START.htm.)