Educ 904 Working CFFs FEBRUARY Monday 30 6 13 20 Tuesday 31 7 14 21 Wednesday 1 8 15 22 Thursday 2 9 16 23

Friday January 27

Friday 3 10** 17 24**

MARCH Monday 27 5 12 19 Tuesday 28 6 13 20 Wednesday 29 7 14 Spring Break 21 Spring Break 22 23**Last Day of 904 Thursday 1 8 15 Friday 2 9** 16

**Education 904 classes Consider when you should be collecting data given the due date in late March Data collection is okay to do even though the ethics process isnt fully concluded. Consider the days you see your students (which days, how many times in a day) because these deterimine the constraints in data collection Deadline for written work: 1 week after our last class (the very end of March)

Exploring the diversity of students perspectives How are students journal (exhibit connections) if they are disconnected from their parents (ie. homestay) Can you conceptualize how are lesson (Cold War) relates to our life of our plant. How did your plant become an indoor plant. 1

Educ 904 What did your plant do to support? Are there any articles that absorb nuclear weapons? What happens to those plants

Friday January 27

Changes the ecology and biodiversity how does that effect the land and agriculture (do their bodies and agriculture (see your unit on post-war Canada and changing landscape)

Marks question: Baseline data: What kind of data would be useful for you to have as soon as possible? Whats going in with your students before hand so that you could usefully compare it as the activity goes on? IE. a before and after That will inform the types of things that you do.

See plant as a way of thinking Tracing how plant and I ended up in classroom together

Before plants capitalistic model (individually) Now plants (communistic) (Emma) Think of topics teaching now, how are things done in human kingdom and how are things done in the plant kingdom (Mark) As the plants multiplied, theyve sort of lost their identity (Susan) Why are they so faithful to their plant? Ask Kiyan why he does it even though in the beginning (Sandra) Since the plant was abducted from Africa (could it be a protest voice) what about us what about the biosphere, what about the people of south-east Asia? (Mark) We are viewed as protangonist in defense of something else(wars are elsewherenow in the developed world (Mark) Well water you on Friday forget about you for the rest of the day??? Routinization (Mark & Sandra) Thats like democracy progress/mechanical care superficial.. Kind of like sponsoring a child (Sandra) sending the money but how much have they invested in themselves in that (Susan)

Educ 904

Friday January 27

See how you can incorporate both my value of concepts and tie it in with the plant in the room.

Educ 904

Friday January 27

Write down all the questions you would like to have answered in this project? Assume you have your students for hours, send them off on challenging experiences and then come back and tell you??? All the questions that you would really like to get insight into 1. What do you really think about having to take care of a plant in a provincially examinable course? 2. Are you only caring for your plant because of social pressure (classmates/teacher)? 3. Do you think youll remember this class when you graduate? If so, what do you think you will remember most about it? If you do at what age do you think youll begin thinking about it? 4. Why do you think Ms. Pagtakhan chose a plant? Student to facilitator? What differences do you notice between your class/cohort when you were a student and now the students you teach?

How might I gather data on these questions?

6 categories of data: Self-report (eg. Interview, survey) Insight in peoples way of thinking Not entirely reliable May tell you what they think youll want to hear Instruments used have to be used carefully Instruments determine what kind of responses you get Will you be able to make sense of the data you get You can ask closed or open ended questions Cloze, yes no Likart scale Get kids to interview each other because it changes the lens Its valuable to see things the way kids see them And then comment on it Observation (including photos, video) Can do it yourself or enlist help of others Try to find someone else (recommendation of Marks) but also be careful about how you are going to make sure that what you report actually refers to the same thing That means plan some debriefing time Be sure that what gets recorded reflects what actuall y happens at the end. One way of doing this is by taking data which then can be preserved and analyzed at length (i.e. video) Time consuming Do it thoughtfully take video of just the most informative units although you may not know Performance Oral presentation/written work This can be recorded and witnessed and evaluated later on Have kids comment on what was going on in their head

Educ 904 when this will happen (not great for aha moments) therefore have paper and pen ready Get kids to take images (disposable cameras) Have kids take pictures and then comment on it Commentary (self interpretation) of recorded performance, art work

Friday January 27

Focus group (shared interpretation) If successful, you end up with a collective understanding.. and educational None of them individually would have come to that conclusion on their own they form a cultural understanding of what youve been doing Can be helpful in addition to doing things individually They mediate their understanding of a concept (Vygotsky)

Representation (artistic interpretations) Have kids interpret what they see and think. You can have them compare with other kids work

Looking at my list of questions, file them in areas which ones would be best explored in these different data collection ways. Ideally you want a mix of these different kinds of things. There are limitations to self-evaluation/report so supplement with something that involves a judgment from someone else so not just text but also visual. Have different pairs of eyes and the students and others??? Other collaborators, colleagues or parents it brings a new dimension of understanding to your project As you explore your questions, how can I select in these what are most important for my research or are directly relevant, but also which ones could involve this kind of evidence for my students? Leave space for surprising things will happen. Think about what can emerge on the way. What other kinds of things are taking place that are interesting how has it adapted across the project. Journals in this case are very helpful and flexible. You can notice them and at the time, you dont see whether thats a patter on whatever and as things go on you see new things you werent aware of before.