"How Do Teachers Assess The Use Of Projects-based Methodology For The Identity Development Of Their Students Through The Grandparents-grandchildren Relationships?"

Author(s):

María Clemente González(presenting / submitting)Francisca José Serrano Pastor María José Martínez Segura

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research

Format:

Paper

Session Information

14 SES 03, Teachers' Perspectives on Home-school Relationships

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

17:15-18:45

Room:

K3.21

Chair:

Angelika Paseka

Contribution

Grandparents are paramount figures for children during their childhood, with who they create an authentic familiarity. Grandparents provide their grandchildren with a great abundance of knowledge and wisdom (De Taisne y Gentil-Baichis, 2001). These family relationships are used as channels in which values can be transmitted from one generation to another (Tafere, 2015).

According to Pinazo y Montoro (2004), the tie established between grandparents and children are very influential in the development of children’s values and personal identity. Likewise, García y Bedmar (2002) defend that the intergenerational approach “contributes to the students’ comprehension in education, favoring their personal and social progress’’ (p.214).

Indeed, there is a need to link school to family life. In order to achieve that link, we must introduce experienced knowledge. A good way of doing so would be by the means of projects. Knowledge based on projects means an innovative approach where students manage their own knowledge by means of investigation, which they cooperate with each other to create projects of their own interest. (Bell, 2010).

In this way, students will be presented with motivating situations on intergenerational relationships where they will learn significantly and by which they will understand their social and cultural environment (García-Vera, 2012), contributing at the same time to a higher personal growth (Deci, Vallerand , Pelletier & Ryan, 2011).

There are many studies about this methodology like the one developed by Kaldi , Filippatou & Govaris (2011), where they expose the benefits of the projects (collaboration, experimentation, ability to learn how to learn), moving away from traditional education.

The investigations about intergenerational relationships and specifically about the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren are also frequent. The studies of Rico, Serra, Viguer y Meléndez (2001) or Thiele & Whelan (2006) analyzed the current roles of grandparents. Authors like Hurme, Westerback & Quadrello (2010) and Sigurđardóttir & Júlíusdóttir (2013) studied the ways of contact between grandparents and grandchildren.

After our bibliographic research, we were aware of the fact that the psycho-social and cultural conditioning make elders and youths develop a concept of themselves as an individual (García y Bedmar, 2011), and therefore, there are more and more studies that contemplate the relationships established between grandparents-grandchildren and the development of the identity.

Based on these indications, the questions of our investigation are the following:

What perception do Childhood Education teachers have about the use of projects-based methodology? How is its use defined in order to work on the grandparents-grandchildren relationships in the classrooms? And is the relationship between grandparents-grandchildren relevant for teachers for the building of their students’ identity? In this manner, the specific objectives we consider in our study are:

To assess the use teachers have on project-based methodology, focusing on the use of methodology with the subject of grandparents-grandchildren relationship.
Make an approach about the teachers’ conceptions on the importance that the grandparents-grandchildren relationships provide to the development of their student’s identity.

Such subject matter and methodology can be an innovative practice that would improve the teaching-learning results and would promote the identity of the students.

Method

The investigation carried out is contextualized in a quantitative approach with a descriptive-comparative purpose (Coe, 2012; Suter, W.N., 2012). To be more concrete, it is about a study on a case which adopts a non-experimental design characteristic of a survey study of transverse character (Torrado, 2014), in which a structured questionnaire has been used as the instrument for the compilation of information (Tymms, 2012). The simple chosen by advisability was made of a total of 18 teachers of Childhood Education and 22.2% (n=4) of them were graduated in Pedagogy. 27.8% of them (n=5) had an experience of 5-10 years, 22.2% (n=4) had an experience of more than 20 years and the experience of the rest is homogenously divided between 11 and 15 years and between 16 and 20 years (25%, n=9). With the purpose of compiling the information, an ‘ad hoc’ questionnaire was designed made of 26 items. Ten items were closed questions about the use they make of the projects-based methodology and specifically when dealing with the grandparents-grandchildren relationship. The rest of the items of the questionnaire compiled information about the grandparents-grandchildren relationship and the importance that the teachers give to such relationships in the development of the students’ identity, by means of 16 questions presented with a “Likert-type scale” depending on their agreement grade. The analysis of the reliability of the 16 items of the Likert scale, according to the model from Cronbach, shows a coefficient equal to.75 which, according to Bisquerra (1999), demonstrates that the scale enjoys a high reliability. On the other hand, the factorial and exploratory analysis of the main components (using the factor extraction criteria from Kaiser and using the rotation method of varimax) revealed that the instrument is valid as a construct because it has reduced the dimension of the 16 variables involved to 6 main factors or components which explain a 85.34% of the total variance.

Expected Outcomes

After having analyzed the results obtained, we conclude the following: Almost half of the teachers (38.9%, n=7) use frequently the projects-based methodology. Most of them (55.6%, n=10) state they use in cooperation with other teaching personnel and families and they confirm the most worked competence is learning how to learn (72.2%, n=13). Almost half of them (44.4%, n=8) work on the intergenerational relations frequently. Most of them work with the competence of learning how to learn (62.5%, n=10), followed by the social and civic factors, including the cultural conscience and expression. Half of them have never used this kind of methodology for projects to deal with the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren and 27.8% (n=5) has used it very little. 77.8% of the teachers strongly agree that grandchildren are happy when they are with their grandparents (M=4.78, Sd=.376) and that grandparents are very significant figures in affective terms (72.2%, n=13, M=4.72, Sd=.461). Nevertheless, 55.6% do not quite agree that grandchildren identify their grandparents as their favorite figures ahead of their parents. (M=2.22, Sd=.943), nor with the school based activities and projects that grandparents carry out with their grandchildren (M=2.39, Sd=.608), being 66.7% not in agreement. After having stated the outlined conclusions, we would like to highlight that in agreement with García-Vera (2012), with the use of a projects-based methodology Childhood Eduction teachers can work on intergenerational relationships in a motivating way for the students, developing the significant learning, participation and ability of learning to learn. Additionally we can confirm, as exposed by Rico, Serra y Viguer (2001) or Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier & Ryan (2011) that according to teachers, grandparents contribute to the social and identity development of their grandchildren and to their emotional well-being.

References

Bell, S. (2010). Project-Based Learning for the 21st Century: Skills for the Future. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 83 (2), p. 39-43. Bisquerra, R. (1999). Introducción a la estadística aplicada a la investigación educativa. Barcelona: PPU. Coe, R.J. (2012). The nature of educational research-exploring the different understandings of educational research. En Arthur, J., Waring, M., Coe, R., & Hedges, L.V. (eds.), Research Methods and Methodologies in Education (pp. 5-14). London: SAGE. Deci, E., Vallerand, E., Pelletier, L. & Ryan, R. (2011). Motivation and Education: The Self-Determination Perspective. Educational Psychologist , 26, p.325-346. De Taisne, G. y Gentil-Baichis, Y. (2001). El placer de ser abuelos (pp.49-106). Santander, España: Sal Terrae. García, J. y Bedmar, M. (2002). Hacia la educación intergeneracional (pp.25-247). Madrid, España: Dykinson, S.L. García-Vera, N. O. (2012). La pedagogía de proyectos en la escuela: una revisión de sus fundamentos filosóficos y psicológicos. Magis: Revista Internacional de Investigación en Educación, 4 (9), p. 685- 707. Hurme, H., Westerback, S. & Quadrello, T. (2010). Traditional and New Forms of Contact Between Grandparents and Grandchildren. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 8 (3), p.264-280. Kaldi, S., Filippatou, D. & Govaris, C. (2011). Project-based learning in primary schools: effects on pupils' learning and attitudes. Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 39 (1), p. 35-47. Pinazo, S. y Montoro, J. (2004). La relación entre abuelos y nietos. Factores que predicen la calidad de la relación intergeneracional. Revista Internacional de Sociología, 38, 147-168. Rico, C., Serra, E. y Viguer, P. (2001). Abuelos y nietos: abuelo favorito, abuelo útil. Madrid, España: Ediciones Pirámide. Sigurđardóttir, S. & Júlíusdóttir, S. (2013). Reciprocity in Relationships and Support Between Grandparents and Grandchildren: An Icelandic Example. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 11 (2), p. 118-133. Suter, W.N. (2012). Introduction to Educational Research. A Critical Thinking Approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Tafere, Y. (2015). Intergenerational Relationships and the Life Course: Children-Caregivers’ Relations in Ethiopia. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 13(4), p.320-333. Thiele, D. & Whelan, T. (2006). The Nature and Dimensions of the Grandparent Role. Marriage & Family Review, 40 (1), p. 93-108. Torrado, M. (2014). Estudios de encuesta [Surveys Research]. En Bisquerra, R. (coord.), Metodología de la investigación educativa (pp. 231-257) [Research Methodology of Educational Research]. Madrid: La Muralla. Tymms, P. (2012). Questionnaries. En Arthur, J., Waring, M., Coe, R., & Hedges, L.V. (eds.), Research Methods and Methodologies in Education (pp. 231-240). London: SAGE.

Author Information

María Clemente González (presenting / submitting)

University of Murcia (Spain)

Department of Research Methods and Diagnosis in Education

Churra, Murcia, España

Francisca José Serrano Pastor

University Murcia (Spain), Spain

María José Martínez Segura