The Effect of Direct Experience on Generating Insight Into and Deepening Understanding of Academic Topics Studied by High School Seniors in the Field" (2001)
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The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library 2001 The ffecE t of Direct Experience on Generating Insight into and Deepening Understanding of Academic Topics Studied by high School Seniors in the Field Lowell W. Libby Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd Part of the Secondary Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Libby, Lowell W., "The Effect of Direct Experience on Generating Insight into and Deepening Understanding of Academic Topics Studied by high School Seniors in the Field" (2001). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 127. http://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/127 This Open-Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. THE EFFECT OF DIRECT EXPERIENCE ON GENERATING INSIGHT INTO AND DEEPENING UNDERSTANDING OF ACADEMIC TOPICS STUDIED BY HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS IN THE FIELD BY Lowell W. Libby B. A. Colby College, 1977 M.Ed. University of Maine, 1981 A THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education (in Educational Leadership) The Graduate School The University of Maine December, 200 1 Advisory Committee: Gordon Donaldson - Professor of Education, University of Maine, Advisor Richard Barnes - Dean of Education, University of Southern Maine Nancy Jennings - Professor of Education, Bowdoin College Sally MacKenzie - Assistant Clinical Professor, University of Maine Lynne Miller - Professor of Education, University of Southern Maine Copyright 2001 Lowell W. Libby THE EFFECT OF DIRECT EXPERIENCE ON GENERATING INSIGHT INTO AND DEEPENING UNDERSTANDING OF ACADEMIC TOPICS STUDIED BY HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS IN THE FIELD By Lowell W. Libby Thesis Advisor: Dr. Gordon A. Donaldson An Abstract of the Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education (in Educational Leadership) December, 200 1 Progressive educators have long criticized many traditional teaching methods at the secondary level as intellectually stultifying and irrelevant. The current wave of progressive secondary school reform, including in Maine, seeks to improve learning for all students by actively engaging them in the learning experience. The focus, however, is primarily on classroom practices, with little written about the potential importance to academic study of one practice - field-based learning - which has an established record for engaging students actively in learning. The reasons for this omission are varied, including a lack of understanding of field-based learning at the secondary level. This comparative case study examined the experiences of nine high school seniors at the Waynflete School in Portland, Maine, completing an interdisciplinary field-based course in anthropology and geography. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of direct experience in the field on how students learned about the topics they studied and about themselves. Data were gathered through student and teacher interviews and analysis of course and student produced materials. The study found that the depth of immersion in the field was closely related to the number of insights generated into the topic but not necessarily themselves. It also found that depth of immersion was closely related to depth of understanding. Understandings, however, were markedly enhanced when students combined an adequate experience in field with strong academic processes. Key academic processes included the development and use of a central question, the use of secondary sources, reflectiveness, and analysis and paper writing. In addition, two modes of academic processing, deductive and inductive, were identified. Students arrived at their deepest understandings when the two modes of processing were combined. By examining the experiences of students participating in an academic class, this study provides educators a useful perspective on this potentially important but seldom used pedagogy. It also Merdefines what is meant by "deep understandiig," which many scholars identifjr as one of the primary goals of a secondary education. In doing so, this study makes a contribution to the literature on educational reform by linking it with knowledge about insight development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the nine students and two teachers who gave up some of their I valuable time to answer my many questions. I especially appreciate their trust in allowing me such a close look at their work. I was impressed with what I saw. I am also indebted to my committee members whose intelligent and informed guidance gave my sometimes wandering prose the direction it needed. I express special thanks to Gordon, who welcomed me back into the fold after a period of inactivity and who worked his special blend of encouragement and challenge. He is a model teacher and true mentor. I cannot fully express the debt I feel to my family: to my two wonderful children who watched me spend far too many hours staring at the computer screen; to my wife who scooped up the kids and insisted that I quit goofing off and get to work; and to my parents who supported me in countless ways including always being interested in what I was doing. At this exalted stage of my academic career, I must forn~allyacknowledge that without my mother, I might still be in second grade. I miss her. TABLE OF CONTENTS ... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................t ...................................................... iii ... LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1. EXPERIENCE AND SECONDARY EDUCATION IN THE 2 1ST CENTURY .......... 1 School Reform in the United States after A Nation at Risk .................................... 3 The Limits to Progressive School Reform ............................................................... 4 The Study ................................................................................................................. 9 2 . LITERATURE REVIEW: CONSTRUCTIVISM. SCHOOL REFORM. AND INSIGHT DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................... 14 Progressive. Constructivist, and Experiential Learning ......................................... 14 The Limited Impact of Progressive Reforms ......................................................... 17 The Current Aims of Constructivist Reform ......................................................... 20 Insight Development .............................................................................................. 24 Direct Experience ..................................................................25 . Generating Insight ................................................................. 27 Deep and Deepening Understanding ............................................ 29 Leaming Outside the Classroom ............................................................................ 37 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ -43 3. THE STUDY ...............................................................................................................45 Defbition of Terms ................................................................................................46 Research Setting..................................................................................................... 47 Design of the Study ................................................................................................50 Data Sources .......................................................................................................... 53 Data Collection ......................................................................................................54 The Data ............................................................................54 Data Collection Activities........................................................ 56 Phase I: Student Topic Development ...................................56 Phase 11: Student Data Collection .................................................. 57 Phase 111: Student Analysis of Data and Reporting Findings....... 58 Additional Comments on Data Collection..................................... 59 Data Analysis .........................................................................................................60 Data Coding........................................................................ 60 Topic Development and Research Experience ................................ 61 Insight Development .............................................................. 62 Discerning Patterns of Insight Development Among Projects.............. 64 The Researcher's Role and Trustworthiness.......................................................... 65 4 . THE FOUNDATION OF INSIGHT DEVELOPMENT .............................................68 Project Profiles ....................................................................................................... 70 Alicia's Project Profile: The Spanish Mass .................................... 72 Alicia's Topic Development ................................................... 72 Alicia's Research ExperienceI ......................................................