Sociocultural Foundations for Research in Urban SMT

Fall 2010

The course is a 3-credit course for students from the SMT specialization or for those with an interest in undertaking empirical research in urban schools and informal settings (often called free-choice institutions). The course is scheduled for Thursday evening from 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm. The course will be taught by Kenneth Tobin.

Sociocultural theory will be studied in relation to its historical uses as a foundation for research in science, mathematics and technology education (SMTE) and its potential to frame future research in these fields. Participants will undertake a review of research in SMTE to identify how social and cultural phenomena have been addressed historically and undertake a comparison with extant trends in urban education. A multi-level/multi-methods orientation will address frameworks applicable to questions and issues associated from social levels extending from neural to global (i.e., neural, micro, meso, macro, global), including inter-relationships between and within such levels. In an approach that regards theory and method as inseparable a range of approaches will be studied for doing research within and across levels.

The approach in the course is not advocate for selected frameworks but to explore the potential of those that have been used within the ongoing research program in urban education (SMTE) at the Graduate Center and in other places around the world in which sociocultural perspectives inform research in SMTE. Broadly speaking, the course will examine theories and methods associated with cultural sociology, the sociology of emotions, and social neuroscience. The associated methods will include those pertaining to ethnography, observation protocols, video analysis, event-oriented social analysis, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and prosody analysis. Adopting a framework of bricolage, the course will investigate the applicability of a variety theories and methods that apply to narrative and empirical inquiry.

Specialized software used in the course will include applications of QuickTime, StudioCode and Praat. Statistical analyses also will be part of the course, including uses of descriptive statistics, generalizability coefficients, measures of association, and methods for aggregating data (e.g., cluster and factor analysis). All methods will utilize data resources provided by participants in the class or selected from ongoing research.

Multilevel Research in Urban Education

The course develops methodology and methods grounded in sociocultural theory that is applicable to research in various settings in which urban education occurs. Within a multi-theoretical framework we review various forms of participant observation that are applicable to meso- and micro-level analyses, and examine complementary methods for analyzing social artifacts, including video and audio files. We address the quality of research in terms of established criteria that probe the extent to which what is learned is viable and applicable to broader contexts. The methods we explore include: conversation analysis; prosody analysis; analysis of facial action; emotions, emotional energy and emotional climate; proxemics, kinesics, and gaze; and the incorporation of research on physiological factors associated with social constructs such as a participation and emotional expression (e.g., breathing pattens, heart rate). The potential for using a variety of hardware and software is explored, including ways of gathering data transmitted via Bluetooth technology (e.g., data transmitted from audience response clickers, oximeters, etc.). We will focus on analytical approaches to making sense of qualitative and quantitative data resources, including the ways in which central tendencies and the discrepancies are interpreted.

Recognizing the complexity of macro and global structures and ways in which they saturate social life and what can be learned from research in the social sciences we will examine how leading researchers in New York City, including colleagues in the Graduate Center, take account of macro and global structures and their research. Theoretical standpoints associated with the aggregation of what is learned from multilevel research will be considered.

All participants will engage in a research project and incorporate fresh perspectives through personal studies of what is happening in multilevel research.

Main text: Harrigan, J. A., Rosenthal, R., & Scherer, K. R. (Ed.). (2008). The new handbook of methods in nonverbal behavior research. New York: Oxford University Press.