Graham, Linda

Montgomery, Catherine

Sambell, Kay

English

Northumbria University Research Portal

Prof Kay Sambell, Linda Graham and Dr. CatherineMontgomery, Northumbria UniversityFrom Novice to Expert: Students as Researchers,ESCalate Conference, Aston, April 20th 2009‘Seeing the Signs’ Project A project funded by Northumbria University’sresearch-informed teaching initiative. Focuses on some of the ways in which students havebeen encouraged to think of themselves as apprenticeor developing researchers in the early stages of theirundergraduate studies.Focus of the project On introductory modules, large numbers of studentsbecame involved in EBL/project work which activelyengages them in Collection and analysis of authentic data relevant to their subjectarea Working in teams to try out their ideas, debate and encounterdifferent theoretical perspectives and controversy Student conferencing and dissemination of their work-in-progress Publishing their findings in informal settings for a diverse range ofaudiences Networking and building effective research communities Contributing to their discipline Working across disciplinary boundaries to explore educational issues Co-presenting in staff-student partnerships at academic conferencesCase study 1: Signs of Childhood Year-long key theoretical module Essay-based field Interdisciplinary MEDAL project work had already identified some keychallenges in developing students’ academic literacyin this area◦ CS less ‘bounded’ than some subject areaschallengingstudent experienceWhy use Enquiry-Based Learning(EBL)? To encourage students to adopt a model of activestudentship Reframe learning as a matter of active enquiry Meaning-making, authenticity ‘Antidote’ to traditional concepts of teaching, in whichteacher packages abstract knowledge and concepts Emulates ‘real world’ research, which starts with aquestion Process mirrors working lives of academics, who contextualizetheir own thinking via participation in communities ofpracticeModel of the Student ResearchProcessCollectionSelectionReflectionProjectionSigns of childhoodStudents gathered dataResearchers’ Forum established on e-learning portal‘Signs of Childhood’ studentresearch conferenceStudents’ views of research onentering university “I thought it was just about finding information fromleaflets” “I’d just go on the internet” “You don’t give much thought to research in thebeginning” “We’d expect the lecturer to tell us exactly what to do,expect loads of direction”Students’ perceptions: becoming aresearcher “I thought research was a big thing to do, itrequired lots of people and money. Ithought it was scientists and stuff. I knowit’s not now. I know I can do it. It’s aboutbeing critical, looking at what other peoplehave done, then finding a methodology andasking questions” “ I think research is about learning how tofind things out. Being critical and being ableto analyse. It’s hard at first, quite scary, thenit gives you confidence”. “Research is like a big un-known, you justlike, dip your foot in. It seemed notnecessary, pointless, I just wanted to get tothe actual doing stage. Now I find theresearch the most exciting stage. It’s still abig un-known, but now you have a map, itmakes things meaningful, what to accept,what to reject, skills, I guess”.Case study 2: ‘Charvas’ and ‘Chorbas’ -engaging students in research with staff Part of first year undergraduate module Language,Culture and Communication Students engaged in active collaborative researchproject with staff Aim to get students to view themselves as active‘researchers’ and contributors to theory early in theirexperience Focused around a social and cultural construction ofyoung people – the ‘charva’Focus of the project Students met once a fortnight throughout the secondsemester Active discussion groups supported the collaborativecollection and analysis of data Data gathered was used by students to individuallywrite their end of semester projects Objectives of the research group were integrated withthe teaching, learning and assessment objectives of themoduleEmergence of the ‘chav’ Sudden appearance of mass media and popular reference to‘chavs’ in 21st century ‘virtually zero’ references in UK national newspapers 1995-2003 946 during 2004-5 (Hayward and Yar, 2006) ‘chav’, ‘chavo’ and ‘chavvy’ have been used by labourers inthe southeast of England since the 19th century. much evidence that ‘chav’ derives from the Romany wordfor boy, ‘chavo’ or ‘chavi’. John Sampson’s The Dialect of theGypsies of Wales lists it under cavo, “a son” or “boy”, andrelates it to the Sanskrit equivalent, “sava”Students’ research ‘A study of modern youth culture with reference to the‘chav’ ‘Are youth subcultures about thoughts and opinions orsimply taste in music and fashion?’ ‘How and why is the word ‘chav’ used in modernBritain?’ ‘How does the label ‘chav’ relate to the inhabitants ofthe west end of Stokesley?’An example from the research:Being a ‘chav’ Dress, appearance and behaviour Place Consumption NOT about class?Dress and appearanceParenting?Aggression and ‘loose morals’Place Street corners ‘toon’ centre (at night or evenings) Outside shops Back of a bus or bus stops Parks – skate parks Council Estates Everywhere/anywhere and always in groups Specifics: Dunston Monument; Bigg Market;MetroLand; MeadowellConsumption Blockbuster Alldays newsagent Gregg’s pasties and ‘Fruit Shoot’ Matalan Primark White lightning cider; Bellabrini wine; special brew Particular brands: Fred Perry; Burberry and Berghaus;Lacoste Listens to ‘New Monkey’‘chavs’ in a nutshell Physically: ‘spots’; ‘fat heads’; ‘missing teeth’; ‘deformities’ Associations: ‘scummers’; ‘loud’; ‘brash’; ‘poor’ Fear: ‘unnerving’; ‘intimidating’ Language: ‘nasal drone’; ‘elongates the way they speak’; ‘putmate at the end of every sentence’; ‘swears a lot’ ‘no potential’; ‘illiterate’; ‘of limited intelligence’; ‘likehyenas’ ‘A rude obnoxious dreg of society who thrives off rebellionand the degeneration of society’Named as ‘the other’ ‘…though the term chav/a now circulates widely inBritain as a term of disgust and contempt, it isimposed on people rather than being claimed by them’(Lawler, 2005: 802) According to Burchill (2005) this form of ‘the other’ isabout envy, says more about the person using the wordand pinpoints the exact area which the name-caller ismost anxious about – eg hard work vs idleness; over-sexed vs undersexed. Also many contradictions inpopular arguments – too many working class childrenvs not enough middle class childrenIs the ‘chav’ a fiction? All media reports talk about people ARE ‘chavs’whereas a lot of articles in press talk about people‘dressing’ as Goths ‘Two teenage boys have been jailed for life for themurder of a woman who was killed for dressing asa Goth’ (BBC News 2008).Exclusion, marginality and socialcontrol? Age-old villification of the ‘undeserving’ poor?(Shildrick et al, 2008) ‘…the chav phenomenon partakes of a social process inwhich consumption, identity, marginality & social controlconverge; consumption practices now serve as the locusaround which exclusion is configured and the excluded areclassified, identified and subjected to (increasinglyintense) regimes of management’. (Haywood and Yar, 2006,cited ibid).Student perspective on the project ‘a step away from normal learning’ Working with a group of students who were also usingother methods but conducting similar research wasvaluable Taking part enabled me to learn a lot about the subjectand also myself and my abilities Learned about my own preconceptions and‘prejudices’Opportunities from the research given the chance to present a little of my research atthe 21st Century Teenager conference in Leeds earlierin the year discovered my own learning style and have taken newskills into my further studies research got me to think for myself and link the resultswith the theory, developing my critical evaluationskills given me the ability to express my opinions and ideaswithout fear of ridicule, something I will take with mebeyond universityStaff perspective students managed to access data that I would have foundimpossible get at able to construct ethnographically inflected accounts fromtheir friends, family and other young people evidence of students being able to achieve beyond whatthey expect of themselves and what we as staff expect ofthem changes in the students’ views of this negative socialstereotype shows the potential impact of includingstudents in research and enquiry at this stage developsacademic skills and may accelerate personal developmentImpactThe project has demonstrated thepotential of engaging students inscholarship alongside staff andrethinking the traditional roles of staffand students

Getting involved from the word go: students as researchers in the first year undergraduate experience

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