Fieldnotes:
Fieldnotes will serve as a key source of data for you for your final projects. In general, you will be acting as participant-observers, documenting educational environments you are engaged in. However, depending upon your projects you may simply observe environments. Both forms of observation are valid; though, it should be clear which role you are in. Your fieldnotes should be written within 24 hrs of your observation and turned in to me on a similar time-scale. They are to be reviewed on Sunday nights (that is Week 1 ends Aug 30). Your fieldnotes should not be less than most of a page & should not be more than 3 pp (single spaced). An example of fieldnotes may be useful.
You are expected to complete roughly a dozen fieldnotes / site visits over the 15 week semester.
Heading:
Your name: J. Smith
Field Site: e.g. Problem Solving Session or Lecture
Instructor(s): who ever is lecturing or who ever is at the prob. solving session
Date: Tuesday, mm/dd/yy
Times of observations: 1pm – 2pm
Number of Students present: 25
Topics Covered: Homework #2
General Observation:
Here you are setting the scene for those who will read your notes. Describe the things you notice when you come in. Describe the general atmosphere, your state of mind (did you get stopped for speeding trying to get to site on time?), feelings expressed by others. This section describes the view from a wide angle. It should contain lots of observations about the site you enter and how you find your way in to the day’s interactions. Your early notes should describe the people and physical spaces you encounter. In later notes, you should mark changes, things that are unusual. This section is usually about one paragraph long.
Narrative Description:
Here you are zooming in to your interactions with and observations of the students and other instructors at the site. Try to describe your interactions or observation of others as accurately as you can. Be careful to report behaviors rather than imputing your interpretation of the students thought process or mental state. In this sense you are capturing information (like a video camera would) without interpreting it. For example, “The students formed in 4 groups. Two of 5 and two of 6 students. Group 1 had 5 students. Two of the students are discussing the graph in problem 3, three are quiet. One student X, sat in the corner and refused to participate with his arms crossed” This is the longest section of the field note and contains several paragraphs. It should be as long as it takes you to describe your time at site. Each week we will focus your observations on a topic or question to make this manageable to describe.
Reflection:
Here you state your thoughts and opinions about what happened in the learning environment. This is where you would add your interpretation of key points in the narrative. It will be in this section that you might start thinking about the observed activities in terms of your project scope… What data support your project hypotheses etc? What have you learned about your own understanding and others’? You can bring in your background experiences or any information that helps frame your thoughts about the interactions at site.
These are to be turned in on D2L: http://learn.colorado.edu within 24 hours of your field work.
They will be expected to be posted by Sunday 5p each week.