CAPITULO V. RESUMEN, CONCLUSIONES E IMPLICACIONES DE POLITICA
1. Resumen
4.4.1 Research paradigm: constructivism
A paradigm is a basic set of beliefs that guides action (Guba, 1981). The overarching paradigm, therefore, determines the researcher’s way of being (ontology), their theory of knowing (epistemology) and their methodological assumptions. An inquiry could be said to be a search for the truth of a particular situation, event or set of circumstances. This inquiry is a search for a deeper understanding of how children experience what helps their learning in the context of CA and the impact of raising teachers’ awareness of the children’s experience.
In this inquiry, therefore, it was necessary to discover children’s understanding of their learning. The ontological stance was provided by the response to the philosophical question: Does understanding the learning process impose itself from outwith the child or is it the product of individual consciousness being shaped by a number of factors? During this study, my ontological perspective was that there are multiple realities within the complex nature of any social entity (Cohen and Manion, 1998:6). In a primary
classroom, children have a multitude of experiences each day which interact with the personal constructs already held within them. This interaction leads to further development of their understanding of the world resulting in their unique perspective on life. This relativist perspective determined my way of being as a researcher and of paramount importance was the question, “What is the most effective way to conduct the research in the context of CA in Year 1 so as to get insights into some of the realities lived by the children in order to understand them more fully?”
To develop my theory of knowing within this ontological perspective, account had to be taken of the parameters of the context within which it lies. This research was conducted within the fields of education and social psychology. The parameters of conduct, therefore, are bounded within these traditions and ethics.
Since the purpose of this study lies in developing knowledge about how children construed an
understanding of a process of learning within CA, there was an attempt to be free of pre-conceived notions and solid hypotheses based on personal experience of how children understand learning. Laying aside pre-existing ideas was an attempt to interpret and build a construction, drawing conclusions only from the evidence gathered. The ontological notion of the existence of a definitive, objective truth to be found was alien to me. Therefore, the traditional positivist type of research frequently conducted within education and social psychology was inappropriate. This positivist research usually uses experimental methodologies and tends to rely on an empiricism which assumes that knowledge mirrors some objective reality. The
most appropriate basic belief system to inform and guide the present inquiry was the theory of knowledge known as constructivism.
Constructivism starts from the assumption that knowledge lies within each person and that each person has no alternative but to construct what they know on the basis of their experience. This theory of
knowing, epistemology, sees knowledge building as personal, subjective and unique. This imposes on the researcher an involvement with the participants and a rejection of the positivist tradition (Cohen and Manion, 1998:6). The purpose of a constructivist inquiry is to understand constructions initially held by participants. Therefore, the researcher is construing and re-construing through interpreting, with empathy, the participants’ constructs with the goal of understanding the world of lived experience from the point of view of those who live it (Schwandt, 1997). The following section outlines the use of constructivism in this study indicating why this is the most appropriate paradigm for this study.
4.4.2 Constructivism in this study
This study is a search to understand individual constructs as well as constructs created within a social group in classrooms. The purpose is to examine the constructs from the perspective of how they were developing within the CA Programme and analyse their possible impact on learning. Constructivists believe that knowledge consists in constructions about which there is relative consensus among those competent to interpret the construction (Guba and Lincoln, 1994; Schwandt, 1994).
Since the intention was to examine how the experiences of CA impact upon the children’s developing constructs, it was important to become competent in understanding children’s and teachers’ personal constructs through observing the participants in action, listening to them and checking out any ambiguity of meaning within an environment of empathy and objectivity. It was paramount to become an expert in interpreting participants’ words and actions; the constructs that they were in the process of construing. The constructions and interpretations made in this study were inevitably influenced by social, historical and cultural elements within all those involved and within the activities themselves. However, by making the influences explicit and analysing them as the interpretation develops, it was hoped that influences remain transparent.
With a view to building knowledge, individual understandings were made explicit. Also as CA lessons involve a teacher and a small group of children working together during an activity understanding of particular groups was also discussed. Understanding how children construed these shared experiences revealed how CA impacted upon learning.
The constructivist paradigm assumes a relativist ontology (there are multiple realities), a subjectivist epistemology (knower and subject create understandings) and a naturalistic (in the natural world) set of methodological procedures. (Denzin and Lincoln,1998: 27).
In this study, the children and teachers were construing knowledge and understanding as they worked with the lessons provided. In parallel, I was construing knowledge and understanding as I observed, interviewed the participants, collated results, made choices about what to include as important and what to
exclude as relatively unimportant. Through the process, competency in interpreting the participants’ constructs allowed for the generation of knowledge and a deeper understanding of how children understood what helped their learning. In turn, in a true constructivist way, these constructions and interpretations were tested against lesson transcripts and teachers’ experiences and so further knowledge was generated.
4.4.3 Research design
The design needed an effective approach to develop an understanding of child learning and of children’s understanding of that learning in a naturalistic environment. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1998) before deciding upon the research structure and the most appropriate strategies of inquiry, a spotlight must be switched on to the purposes of the study. This focus enables the researcher to decide upon the most effective strategies to obtain the information required. One aim of this study is to better understand how the children perceived what helped them to learn during CA. The second aim is to be informed by the children’s constructs of what helps their learning so that CA can be taught more effectively.
Strategies of inquiry enable the chosen paradigm to be put into action; in this case the constructive, interpretive paradigm. According to Denzin and Lincoln (1998) the strategies are the skills, assumptions and practices used by the researcher when moving from a paradigm to a collection of empirical materials. Research strategies locate paradigms to specific approaches and methods of collecting information. This study embraced a case study type strategy using several data collection methods. Within this
methodology there was exploration of social phenomena rather than testing hypotheses. The methods also allowed for the collection of “unstructured” data, the analysis of which included interpretations of the meanings of human actions (Denzin and Lincoln, 1998:110). The case study type approach allows the focus to be on subtleties and intricacies of complex social situations, in particular relationships and social processes (Denscombe, 2005).
It was necessary to embrace and acknowledge any pre-conceived notions about how children learn. Having done this, it was necessary to put these aside as much as possible so as to listen to and observe children and teachers during the lessons. Interviewing the participants to elicit constructs necessitated some degree of structure to obtain the necessary information but also sufficient flexibility to allow personal constructs to emerge. A research design which connected the overarching paradigm (constructivism), to the case study strategy of inquiry and the methods of collecting empirical data was planned.