THE SMALL WORLD OF A COLLEGE CLASSROOM: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF STUDENTS' CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE (ENVIRONMENT, COLLEGE TEACHING, NURSING).
Contributors: Columbia University. Teachers College.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 177
Subjects: Education, Higher.
Description: Knowledge about what the classroom world looks like to students and how they make sense of what they see can give the nurse educator tangible information to guide curriculum and inform pedagogy. The purpose of this study was to better understand the situation of a classroom from the students' point of view. The concepts of perspective and symbolic interaction guided this research effort to describe the body of knowledge that students used to formulate their behavior in the class.

An ethnographic research design was employed in this case study of an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing class. Classroom observation and interviewing were the primary methods of inquiry. The methodology was one of developing models based on the ethnography. An operational model was developed from the class events observed by the researcher. A representational model evolved based on data gathered from class participants regarding themes of meaning relative to classroom events. These models were then combined by the researcher into an explanatory model which was based on the researcher's understanding of the operational and representational models. The results of the research elaborate what, from the point of view of the student participants, is significant in the student culture of this classroom setting.

The predominating theme of the student perspective of the class was the issue of how to do learning in an evaluative atmosphere. Students regarded learning as a primary objective of class, however, the import and the process of achieving learning were mediated by what students perceived to be their ultimate academic objective, that of accomplishing a favorable teacher evaluation. Student behaviors in the classroom were strategies reflecting these student ideas and beliefs about classroom life.

The findings of this study offer the nurse educator tangible data regarding the daily events of classroom life. These data may be useful in decision-making about day-to-day classroom practices as it gives nurse educators insight into what and how students are really learning in classes. As well, knowledge about the realities of educational practices and student learning in the educational process may add to our understanding of the nature of existing nursing practice.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: A, page: 2586.

Thesis (ED.D.)--COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TEACHERS COLLEGE, 1985.

School code: 0055.