project blueprint
 
The blueprint of our 3 year project is briefly as follows:
 
Research Methodology
 
Year I:Identify girls’ practices in the classroom and how they leverage them in support of learning
Ethnographic Case Study:
 o 2 classrooms, 13 girls
 o 3 curriculum units of investigation (1 school year)
 o Methods: Participant observation, individual and
    group interviews, think aloud, student work
 
Year II:Identify reform based pedagogical strategies that support girls’ science practices
Ethnographic Case Study:
 o Refine understandings of girls’ practices formulated in year 1 (same procedures as year 1, 12 girls)
Design Experiments
 o 2 classrooms, 12 girls
 o Test and refine conjectures regarding pedagogical strategies supportive of girls’ merging science practices through systematic incorporation of defined pedagogical strategies
 o Participant observation, whole class & small group video, teacher reflections, teacher & student interviews, student work
 
Year III: To test pedagogical strategies that facilitate girls’ science practices across sites/curricula
Ethnographic Case Study:
 o Refine understandings of girls’ practices formulated in years 1 & 2 in new Lansing partner school
Design Experiments
 o Expand range of  pedagogical strategies
 o Expand to multiple teachers
 o Test links between context, curriculum, and content
Cross Analysis
 o Combined analysis of data to consider how pedagogical strategies facilitate girls’ practices that lead to engagement in science
 
 
Analysis:
 
       Data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Glasser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998).reached  To uncover girls science practices, we based our analytic approach on two threads. First, we studied events where girls were actively appropriating a science activity in ways that supported and enhanced their engagement in science, even when that engagement may have taken forms different than one might typically expect in science class.  Second, we traced the girls participation in science class over time. Using both “science events” and the girls as focal points in our analysis, we were able to trace out patterns in practices that mapped back to girls and their participation in science class, and to specific classroom contexts and pedagogical strategies.