METHODOLOGY
The research site and
setting
The student population in this seventh grade class in Cincinnati Public
Schools consisted of diverse ethnic groups including African American
(50%) and Caucasian (50%). For the purpose of the study, the group of
seventh graders will be designated by the name "Class A" and
the teacher of this class will be called Ms. Rose.
More than half of the teachers
in this school was directly or indirectly involved with computers. The
school's goal was to educate all students for the preparation of life
in the new information age. Each classroom had one or two computers;
usually one computer was attached to a big monitor for the presentation
of whole classroom instruction. Class A was next to the spacious well
decorated Math and Science Project Computer Lab. The walls were full
of various scientific pictures including animals, a contour map and
a regular map. On the left was a large rectangular blackboard with pictures
and graphs hanging on the left hand side. Almost everything that the
students may need was located in the classroom.
There were 30 chairs in the
left middle of the lab. The teacher's computer was connected to a large
monitor. This section of the lab was used for teacher presentations
or whole class instruction. There were 16 Power Mac computers in an
oval pattern under a big beach umbrella in the middle section of the
room. The room was full of different instructional tools such as toys,
musical instruments, hats, wooden crafts, plants, books, magazines,
shells, masks, and umbrellas. CSP Technology Coordinator, Mr. Admon,
who is the creator of these labs, describes the labs as:
"Hands-on, adventure
project-based classroom environments where students enter a world
of technology discovery. Looking at the two individual lab settings
you might think you are in a history museum.
Each lab has its unique focus; the project lab is made up of 16 multimedia
computer workstations with worktables located around the room for
the cooperative team to share their research. Elephants, wild painted
gym shoes, a wooden man, pigs, baskets, a motorcycle, historical items,
and much more are found around the outer room walls. The theme is
high tech vs. early man with a round umbrella and computer tables
to give the outdoor creative look in the center of the room. The writing
lab has over 28 computers on tables in two-combined horseshoe shapes,
allowing easy viewing of monitors from the main instructor's workstation.
The theme for the writing lab is travel, with a canoe, bike, western
saddle, tight rope, rain forest plants, African masks, Appalachian
mountain crafts/culture items, travel guides, suitcases, and more
spread around the room. This theme is to remind students that they
can write as well as go anywhere using their computers as magic carpets."
Sample
The purpose of sampling is to provide methods for allowing the researcher
to estimate how well the sample represents the population of the study
under investigation. The rationale for selecting Class A to participate
in the study was based on the teacher's enthusiasm and her eagerness
to contribute to this study. This class consisted of 17 males (53% African
American, 47% Caucasian) and 11 females (45% African American, 55% Caucasian)
with ages ranging from 12 to 15. This was the only class that used the
IPT software in their science learning and teaching.
The teacher, Ms. Rose, has
15 years teaching experience with the last nine years in the Cincinnati
Public Schools teaching seventh grade. She has some experience with
computer technology and is always interested in continuing to explore
new ways of using technology in her classroom.
Student interviews were conducted
using random sampling. This sampling technique is consistent with the
grounded theory approach. However, additional data informants were selected
using the cascading selection technique. Teacher referrals were used
to stratify this sample.
Instruments
In this study qualitative data sources included a computer background
questionnaire, classroom observations, face-to-face interviews, other
artifacts such as activity sheets and their instructions. The researcher's
reactions and impressions were also included. The data was collected
using audio and video recording devices to facilitate the analysis of
the data.
Data collection procedures
Classroom observations and interviews with both the teacher and the
students were the main method of collecting the data. I conducted my
observation sessions both in the classroom and in the computer lab with
a weekly phone contact with the teacher. Each observation session resulted
in written field notes with detailed accounts of the event observed.
This study included four observations. I videotaped the classroom sessions
using a portable camcorder with sound recording capabilities for the
data analysis. In addition to my classroom observations, I conducted
one in-depth interview with the teacher and eight interviews with the
students. The interviews were audio taped, and each tape was transcribed.
Each student and the teacher completed a brief computer background questionnaire.
Semi-structured interviews
were used to compare data from the informants. The interview with the
key informant took approximately an hour, but the interviews with the
participants were 20 to 25 minutes in length. The key informant and
the participants were encouraged to talk about the subject under investigation.
To elucidate doubtful points, rephrasing and probing interviewing techniques
were used toward the respondent's answers. During the interview, complex
and confusing questions including using leading questions that affect
the key informant and participants' answers were avoided.
Data analysis
This study has taken into consideration the guidance provided by the
literature on methods of data analysis. Bogdan and Biklen (1992) suggest
that data analysis is an ongoing part of data collection (p.154). In
this study, the data analysis was an ongoing process to provide direction
for the study. This ongoing analysis provided an opportunity to clarify,
modify and refine information.
In order to determine the
effectiveness of IPT the data was analyzed using grounded theory procedures.
For this study, four steps were taken to analyze the data. First, interviews
were transcribed verbatim, checked for accuracy by the researcher, the
key informant and the participants, and edited for identifying information.
Second, the interviews and field notes were coded based on the interview
dialogue three times. Third, the texts were read and reread by the researcher
with the goal of identifying categories, themes, and reoccurring processes.
Finally, to assure the validity of findings, the researcher used constant
comparative method, which is consistent with a grounded theory approach
(Glaser, 1978; Strauss, 1987; Strauss & Corbin, 1991; Annells, 1996).
Triangulation increases the
reliability of the data and the process of gathering it. Two types of
triangulation were used in this study:
- Data source triangulation,
when the researcher looks for the data to remain the same in different
contexts; and
- Methodological triangulation,
when one approach is followed by another, to increase confidence
in the interpretation (Denzin, 1984).
Combination of the methodologies
strengthened the study through triangulation. In addition, electronic
analysis FolioViews was used for the data analysis process. This provided
the researcher a very powerful organizational system for the data.
