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Course Information

EDCI 616: Advanced Qualitative Research Methods In Education

Course Description

This course focuses on expanding students’ foundation level knowledge of qualitative research in the areas of theories, methods, analysis and interpretation, and presentation.

For this final project, I designed a lesson plan for the students at Tecumseh Jr. High School to learn a topic related to their 8th grade science curriculum. Within the 8th grade science class, there are 150 students total. ~40 of those students are “accelerated learning” students and are capable of more than the other classes. I will be working with and 8th grade science tech at Tecumseh, who has worked there for over 15 years. Within the 8th grade science class, there are 135 students total. This Chemistry teacher has all her students broken up into groups of four students with 5 - 7 groups per class depending on class size.

Students at their lab tables (a,b) working on their lab assignment during our preliminary usability study, (c) asking questions about the assignment, and (d) creating a chemical reaction.

In the science class, the students used an experimental Augmented Reality (AR) software called StoryMakAR, which combines physical prototyping, AR, and the Internet of Things to bring stories to life. StoryMakAR is accompanied by two additional applications for the computer and cell phone called DeviceMakAR and EventMakAR, which enable the students to program various electro-mechanical devices with little-to-no programming experience and import those devices into a story that they have written (see StoryMakAR). Although the original intent of this project was to have the students use StoryMakAR, DeviceMakAR, and EventMakAR, we were unable to do so due to time constraints. Therefore, we adjusted the scope of the project to only have them use StoryMakAR and the MakAR Board for this in-class lab assignment.

A collage of pictures of the students in my science class during my Final Project for EDCI 616: Advanced Qualitative Research Methods In Education
(a) The students getting a demonstration of a chemical called Luminol (b), which produces a bright, blue light as its chemical reaction. (c) The sensor values are displayed on the screen of the IoT PCB while it is in Laboratory Mode.

Check out the laboratory manual that I designed for this experiment:

Click Here to Check Out my EDCI 616 Lab Manual

Additionally, you can check out my Final Report for the course:

Click Here to Check Out my EDCI 616 Final Report