Allen Trent

Validity in qualitative research revisited

Concerns with the issues of validity in qualitative research have dramatically increased. Traditionally, validity in qualitative research involved determining the degree to which researchers’ claims about knowledge corresponded to the reality (or research participants’ construction of reality) being studied. The authors note that recent trends have shown the emergence of two quite different approaches to the validity question within the literature on qualitative research. The authors categorize and label these ‘transactional’ validity and ‘transformational’ validity. While useful, the authors assert that neither approach is sufficient to meet the current needs of the field. The authors propose a recursive, process-oriented view of validity as an alternative framework.

Using Art Criticism to Engage Students in Writing

Author(s): Trent, Allen; Moran, Pete | Abstract: This article describes using art criticism, a process the authors define as “viewing, thinking, talking, and writing about art,” to engage students in writing. The authors provide theoretical support for art criticism in education, describe the process, and share ways it can be used to address Common Core writing and other content area standards. They also share a sample art criticism lesson taught to fourth graders and include a summary of student learning data documenting student engagement and learning aligned with targeted standards. The article ends with suggestions for using art criticism, finding and using accessible art criticism resources, and integrating art criticism writing with other content areas.

We Are Wyoming: An Arts Integrated Teaching and Inquiry Project.

ABSTRACT This article is about a year-long teaching and research project conducted with 696 4th graders (mostly 10-year olds) and their 36 teachers in Wyoming/USA. The researchers employed an action research approach. They planned and taught a two-day, Wyoming-themed, interdisciplinary unit, We Are Wyoming, which integrated Social Studies, Language Arts, and Visual Art. The research focused on students’ engagement and resultant learning. This article includes a discussion of project goals; description of methodology; an overview of unit activities; analysis of student and teacher learning; and thematic findings and recommendations. The inquiry documented high levels of engagement and standards-based learning, as well as learning and professional growth for the teacher educator/researchers.

Past, Present and Place: Three Activities from the We Are Wyoming Project.

If the fourth-grade students at Kelly Elementary School outside of Jackson, Wyoming, occasionally gaze out the windows and daydream, it is perhaps somewhat excusable. The view out the classroom window is a sweeping panorama of Grand Teton National Park. Moreover, the school is adjacent to the National Elk Refuge and it is not uncommon for teachers to have to chase elk off the playground before students can go outside for recess. It is a remarkable and awe-inspiring setting, and it was one of the schools in which we had the opportunity to teach a unit we called We Are Wyoming (Figure 1). During the 2014–2015 school year, we traveled to thirty-six fourth-grade classrooms all over the state teaching the We Are Wyoming project. The unit was a two-day integrated