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Throughout the study, methodological procedures were dependent upon the decisions and perspectives experienced by each teacher. As such, the processes and tools used to collect data were guided by an Interpretivistic standpoint, a world view that assumes there are multiple versions of reality, contingent on the person experiencing it. The knowledge construction process is necessitated by background beliefs, values that are evident in the teacher’s decision-making process as well as prescribing meaning to the events that actually take place within a community of practice. According to the literature (Crotty, 1998), social constructionism postulates that researchers can utilize interpretive strategies to reveal the nature of how culture functions. In this light, culture is a mechanism of society and is largely made up of symbols that a community of people share.
Through ethnographic data collection methods of semi-structured interviewing, conducting non-participant observations of active classroom teaching, and collecting photos of student writing and teaching artifacts, I was immersed into Denise’s and Philip’s respective classrooms. In field notes, expanded memos, and in final writing I strived to describe both teachers’ perspectives about integrating science and literacy. Audio recordings of interviews were later transcribed and analyzed for patterns and themes. Additionally, as impromptu, candid conversations took place with teachers, the interactions were recorded in field notes.
Insert Table 1 here.
To focus the data collection, interview questions were aligned with the overarching research questions (DeMarrais, 2004) and the theoretical assumptions outlined in the socio-cognitive interactive model. A sample interview guide is illustrated in Table 1.
Likewise, I conducted non-participant observations of both participants’ teaching. Records were collected in field notes about the characteristics of the setting of the classroom-- the wall coverings, the desk groupings, and/or any visible evidence of ongoing instruction. The teaching activity and physical positions of teacher and students were recorded. Additionally, discourse between students and teacher verbatim were captured in field notes.
Additional to interview and observation data, I collected documents that constituted unobtrusive data that could provide important information about the social workings of science and literacy teaching without interfering in the act of science and literacy teaching. Photos of artifacts of student work and items used by each teacher during instruction, such as class charts, science lab materials, student pages in science notebooks, student and teacher writing samples, or other pieces of paper related to the work that was taking place in the classroom during active instruction. To triangulate the data sources, document analysis was employed. Researchers have found it helpful to employ activity theory, a sub-concept of socio-cognitive theory in document analysis. Research that employs this theory posits, “…cognition and learning are mediated through tools, that these tools are dynamic and shift as learners interact with them….” (Lenski & Thieman, 2013, p.64). In this light, I considered all documents as evidence of teachers’ thinking and intention. Documents were analyzed according to how they intersected with teachers’ prior knowledge about curriculum and pedagogy. Documents such as lesson plans, photos of books used in lessons, and photos of student work were collected and analyzed to understand more about the thinking processes involved within a specific context.
Data Analysis Procedures
Merriam & Tisdell (2016) wrote that oftentimes, researchers are spurred to begin research because a theoretical framework doesn’t encompass all aspects of an occurring phenomenon in the field. Therefore, the researcher must build the case of rich description and analysis through the collection of data, exposition of related theoretical frameworks, and from gleaned observations and interactions in the field. Specifically, this work of thinking inductively is described as, “…moving from specific raw data to abstract categories and concepts” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 18). After collecting data from interviews, observations, and documents I noted overlapping and discordant information and created codes to reflect these categories. Codes were approached as identifiable units of information and linked together to make broader statements about the two teachers and the teaching that was taking place in their classrooms. Verbal memos of reflection about observations were recorded on a digital audio recorder and revisited during data analysis sessions focused on raw data from field notes, expanded field notes, transcripts, and photos. The most salient portions of raw data in terms of relation to the primary research questions were highlighted and set apart from the general mass to data through bracketing procedures to complete a process of data reduction (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Codes were approached as identifiable units of information and linked together to make broader statements about the teachers and pedagogical decision making in each of their classrooms. Sample data excerpts with the correlating progression from codes to categories and resulting themes are displayed in Figure 1.
Figure 1 inserted here
Three cycles of coding were applied to observational field notes, interview transcriptions, and document analysis.
. All data demonstrated that teachers felt science and literacy integration is worthy of focus and has the potential to positively impact students’ academic development, which is concurrent with recent studies (see Agussuryani, et. al, 2022). However, one finding from the research was that there were continual shifts occur between teacher autonomy and state-guided curricula through intersections and misalignments. Both teachers attended professional development that was provided by the state or district level, used the curriculum provided through the professional development, and both created curriculum or supplemented curriculum to fill in gaps. This mirrors the findings by Kinskey & Newton (2024) that demonstrated teachers typically used science textbooks and other curriculum through district or state entities and in general, find the materials to be of low-cognitive levels. When studies have been done where teachers modify or create curriculum, the science content is made more relevant to students’ lives and the real world.
A second finding in the study was that place-based culture permeated teacher interpretation and enactment of integration. This was primarily demonstrated through use of language, a certain vernacular discourse pattern, storytelling narratives. Both teachers in the study engaged with storytelling narratives to describe who they were and how science occurred naturally in their funds of knowledge from living in rural, middle Appalachia. This connects to current literature regarding science and literacy integration, as Agussuryani, et. al (2022) identified the ethnoscience approach as, “… a process of reconstructing original science that develops in society to be transformed into scientific science,” (p.56). According to this view, ethnoscience can be motivating to use with students, because the language in the classroom is centered on “special exploration in empowering student knowledge that has been embedded in students to develop native knowledge in a community and is studied towards formal science….” (Agussuryani, et. al, 2022, p.57). In like fashion, Muskania, Maksum, Astra (2023) posited that STEM integration with project-based learning should be merged with religion and local wisdom.
While there have been studies focused on the benefits of science education in Appalachia in terms of secondary students, issues of social justice and ecology, and/or urban communities (Obermiller, 1996; Sullivan & Miller,1990; Kingsolver, 2017; Semken, Ward, Moosavi, & Chinn, 2017) very little research has been published that is focused on rural, Middle Appalachian schools, specifically. Such work could provide invaluable insights to how culture-based education contributes to instructional synergies between the disciplines. Further research is needed to determine the possibility of tailoring integrative efforts for all subject areas in ways that are sensitive to students’ funds of knowledge of a specific geographical and cultural area. Such is that future research studies that identify how STEM education best fits in rural Appalachia as well as other cultural communities could be especially beneficial.
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