Narrative Writing as a Student-Centered Approach to Learning the Process of Science

Eunbae LeeUniversity of Georgia

Overview Narrative writing as a way of learning the

processes of science Qualitative study on students’ experiences

on research narratives in a college science course

The role of autonomy, relatedness, and competence in research narratives

Development of reusable design propositions for student-centered research narratives

Student-Centered Learning Student assume the major responsibility

for using a variety of resources and tools to navigate through the process of reaching the individually identified learning goals (Land & Hannafin, 2012)

Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000)

Writing in Science Education Constructing new knowledge by establishing

connections between prior knowledge about the topic and knowledge about discourse processes and goals

Reflection and expression of learned material in meaningful organizations

Examined for flaws, revised, reorganized, and combined with additional research, or discarded

(MacKenzie & Gardner, 2006; Madigan, 1987; Moore, 1994; Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1987; (Hayes & Flower, 1986;Alamargot & Chanquoy, 2001; Hayes, 1996)

Narrative Writing

Different from typical science reports

Story with drama and characters

(Clopton, 2011).

Research Narratives Student-centered Learning

Identify a scientist Interview the scientist Learn about the research project Write a narrative

Main goal: To understand the process of science

Other goals: Identify graduate and career mentors Public outreach: Communicate science in a

plain language to the general public

Purpose of Study To understand students’ experiences

with research narratives To examine the role of autonomy,

relatedness, and competence in students’ engagement and performance in college-level, student-centered science education

Research Questions1. What are students’ experiences when

engaged in science research narratives in college-level, student-centered science learning environments?

Steps to completion Perceptions Resources and guidance Difficulty Students’ recommendations

Research Questions To what extent do autonomy support,

competence, relatedness, and autonomous self-regulation influence students’ performances on the research narratives?

Research Method Participants: A college science course Design

Participant observations Student interviews Instructor interviews Document Analysis Student questionnaire

Learning Climate Questionnaire Self-Regulation Questionnaire Intrinsic Motivation Inventory

Analysis: Thematic Analysis and Correlation analysis

Steps to Completion Identified researcher based on their interests Referenced the researcher’s websites, blogs,

news and magazine articles, and scholarly publications

Semi-structured phone interviews Follow-up emails for details while writing Incorporated story telling techniques (e.g.,

an arc, humor, villains) Revised the first draft based on feedback

received from the instructor and peers

Students said My focus was the research. … So when writing it, I did

introduction to the topic. And then I just kind of went and tried to play along with the order for research and what it has led to. (Matthew, 62-69)

And then I've kind of organized her answers to the question. I wrote it up. So, when I was writing I tried to make it into a story and kind of make it blend in with topics of research I wanted to get into. How actually I would do that in the field and give the reader a good sense of what it would be actually like to do the research. (Daniel, 12-14

I focused on the person and her life choices to get her where she was in her research. (Jessica 93-94)

I made him more of a super hero than he made himself seem. (Nettie, 159)

Useful Guidance1. Feedback on the First Draft2. Opportunity to Revise3. Rubrics4. Instructions provided in the syllabus5. Peer Review6. Example7. Self-Critique8. Individual Discussions with the Instructor

Difficulties1. Writing To Tell A Good Story2. Critiquing My Own Work3. Understanding Why I Have To Do This 4. Critiquing Someone Else’s Work5. Contacting and Interacting with The Researcher6. Conveying Scientific Information to a Layperson7. Identifying Content to Include in My Narratives8. Motivating Myself to Do It9. Planning Out What to Do Next10. Understanding Content11. Having Someone Critique My Own Work

Perceptions: Least Helpful Research Narratives Textbook Lecture Exam Online Lecture Reading Quiz Amphibian Inventory Instructional Lab Lab Exam Live Lecture

Perception: Autonomy Especially with narratives, how we got to choose and

how we got to research. So, there was a lot of freedom there. … I think I would prefer how it was with more freedom. So you get to choose the topic you get to write about. So you are not stuck with something you are not interested in. (Daniel, 125-129)

 I liked how it was open-ended. You can choose whatever you want. You turn it in this time well set out towards the end of the semester. (Leila, 127-128) You have the creative liberty. You can take it wherever. (Leila, 149)

Perception: Students’ take away Public outreach: You have to communicate to the

public good things about the field. So I think the point of this is to be able to take science and present it in a way that is interesting to someone who is not from science. (Jessica, 73-75)

Connection with current research and researchers: I guess it was to get experience reading and learning about new research and making contact with people. (David, 81)

Enhanced personal engagement: The other part of it was to get you more interested in this field and make it related to something you personally care about if you were not science majors. Which is the part that appealed to me. (Leila, 82-83)

5. Recommendations for Improvement More specific instructions More detailed rubrics F2F feedback Pertinent examples of science narratives Explanations narrative compared to other

forms of writing Former student work samples Specific page limits Additional time for peer review

RQ2: Self-Determination on Performance and Engagement

Experience of autonomy, relatedness, competence, and perceived autonomy support from the instructor had no effect on students’ performance on the research narratives

Autonomous self-regulation had a marginal effect on the students’ performance. (p=.06)

Experience of autonomy have some positive effect on their motivation to do well on the research narratives

Correlation Analysis I would recommend having this

assignment again. (Matthew, 10) I don't know I would recommend this for

future classes. (David, 76)  I wasn't that excited about this

assignment. It was a lot more difficult for me to try to approach creative writing and took a lot of energy on wanting to do it. (Sarah, 128-130)

Limitations N=17 Documenting students lived experience

during the process Review of instructor feedback to

students

Future Implications

Eunbae Leeleee@uga.edu