Feature Middle School Students Are Co-Researchers of Their ... · co-researchers. To this end, the seventh-grade teachers (a language arts, a math, and a science teacher) collaborated

38 Middle School Journal • September 2005

Feature

Despite the growing emphasis on proficiencytesting and concern that students mustspend sufficient time preparing for high-

stakes standardized examinations, three seventh-gradeteachers chose to devote significant classroom timeto a curriculum unit involving project-based learning.The teachers, as well as their students, found theresults to be worth the commitment of time andeffort. Collaborating with three university researchers,the teachers and their students worked on onecomponent of a three-year NSF-funded researchproject examining the media messages aboutinformation technology and careers that middleschool students receive from television, popularmagazines, books, videotapes, movies, and Web sites.

The overall national project examined whetherthe content of these media reinforces or hinders the development of gender and racial diversity inthe information technology workforce. Thecomponent of the project discussed here was thepilot study for the development of a curriculum unit that could lead middle school students to anunderstanding of their media environment. Thepilot study and the resulting curriculum unit sought the perspectives of the middle schoolstudents themselves while involving them as co-researchers. To this end, the seventh-gradeteachers (a language arts, a math, and a scienceteacher) collaborated with the university researchersto develop and implement an interdisciplinary,project-based curriculum unit. This article describesthe experiences of the teachers and their studentsand the meaning they gave their experiences.

Interdisciplinary, Project-Based LearningThe curriculum unit was based on the principles ofstudent-centered, interdisciplinary, project-basedlearning in which students apply their knowledge to address real-world problems. Over the years,progressive educators have advocated this type oflearning in various forms and under various names:integrated curriculum (Beane, 1991, 1993), interdis-ciplinary teaching (Vars, 1993), authentic instruction(Newman & Wehlage, 1993), project-based learning(Wolk, 1994), engaged learning (Jones, Valdez,Nowakowski, Rasmussen, n.d.), teaching forunderstanding (Perrone, 1994), and integrated units (Daniels & Bizar, 1998), to name a few. In its

Middle School Students Are Co-Researchers of Their MediaEnvironment: An Integrated ProjectBy Phyllis W. Bernt, Sandra V. Turner, & Joseph P. Bernt

Middle school students examine gender and racial images in theirfavorite magazines.

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Phyllis W. Bernt is a professor of communications systems management at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio. E-mail: [email protected]

Sandra V. Turner is a professor of education studies at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

Joseph P. Bernt is a professor of journalism at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

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2003 position paper This We Believe, the NationalMiddle School Association called for an “integrativecurriculum,” a student-centered approach in whichstudents and their teachers plan learning experiencesorganized around real-world issues significant toboth young people and adults (National MiddleSchool Association, 2003). In examining these issues,students apply concepts and skills from manydisciplines. The emphasis is on higher-order thinking,cooperative learning, and democratic values. Amongthe arguments for curriculum integration are (a)students are more highly motivated and learn betterbecause an integrative curriculum relates to theirneeds, problems, concerns, interests, and aspirations(Erlandson & McVittie, 2001) and (b) students arebetter prepared for life in contemporary societybecause an integrative curriculum addresses currentsocial problems in all their real-world complexity(Vars, 2001).

The real-world social issue addressed in thiscurriculum unit was the influence of the media inthe career aspirations of women and minorities.Research has shown that the middle school years area crucial period during which students make keydecisions that affect their future educational andcareer choices. In particular, these are the yearswhen the interest of minority and female studentsin such technical areas as science, math, andinformation technology declines (AmericanAssociation of University Women, 2000; Clewell &Braddock, 2000). During this critical juncture intheir development, middle school students arebombarded by media messages. A national survey ofmedia use by children (Kaiser Family Foundation,1999) found that the middle school years includethe period of highest media use, a total of eighthours and eight minutes a day. Students’ exposure tomedia included television (3 hours and 37 minutes),print media (50 minutes), computer use (32 minutes),commercial videotapes (29 minutes), and movies (26 minutes).

Media play an important socializing role in thelives of adolescents. However, little attention hasbeen devoted to the influence of media on thecareer aspirations of women and minorities.Research on the theory of media cultivation, whichposits that prolonged exposure to media reinforces a narrow view of reality, suggests children (Swan,Meskill & DeMaio, 1998) and adolescents (Huston &Alvarez, 1990; Signorielli, 1990, 1993; Wroblewski &Huston, 1987) learn about the workplace from theunrealistic and stereotyped images they view on

television. In addition, studies of gender and raceportrayals in science-related television programshave found a paucity of minority participants, adisproportionately high number of males, and theassignment of females to secondary roles (Long,Bioarsky, & Thayer, n.d.; Steinke, 1998; Steinke &Long, 1996).

Media Environment IntegratedCurriculum ProjectThe central component of the curriculum unit was asurvey administered by students asking their peersabout their media environment and career aspirations.After classroom discussion of the scientific methodand the social scientific use of surveys, seventh gradestudents working with the science teacher discussedthe survey questions provided by the universityresearchers and developed additional questions oftheir own. The researchers provided the studentswith tested questions regarding the frequency of theiruse of television; movies and videotapes; magazines;various types of books; school and city libraries; andcomputers and the Internet at home, in school, andat libraries. Questions regarding their preferredbooks, movies, and videotapes; uses for printed andonline information; and future careers were alsoprovided. The science students added questionsregarding newspaper readership, sports viewership,music use and listening habits, college plans, andfavorite aspects of computer use.

Following instruction in how to explain thepurpose of the survey to their peers, development ofa script for doing so, and practice in presenting thesurvey among themselves, selected seventh gradescience students administered the complete surveyto 247 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students inthe school. Working with the math teacher once thesurveys were completed, seventh grade studentsformatted and populated Excel spreadsheets beforeanalyzing the resulting data for gender and ethnicdifferences regarding media use and career interests.

Once the magazines most often read by boys andgirls were identified from the survey data, and after

Middle School Journal • September 2005 39

The real-world social issue addressed in this curriculum unit was the influence ofthe media in the career aspirations ofwomen and minorities.


instruction in the use of content analysis by one ofthe university researchers, seventh grade studentsworking with their language arts teacher broke intoteams to categorize the advertising images in theirfavorite magazines. This analysis identified thetechnologies portrayed in the advertisements andthe race and gender of any people associated withthe technologies presented.

The last segment of this pilot study was a publicpresentation of research results. Working with theirlanguage arts teacher, the seventh grade studentsdeveloped PowerPoint presentations of their findings.Their PowerPoint slides included an overview oftheir research activities, an explanation of thepurpose of these activities, their hypotheses, andsome of their findings, including favorite books andmagazines of boys and girls, representations ofgender and ethnicity in advertisements from theirfavorite magazines, and career preferences. Threegroups of seventh grade language arts studentspresented these slides to a public assembly thatincluded all seventh grade students and teachers, themiddle school administration, parents, local mediarepresentatives, and the university researchers.Following the presentation, the universityresearchers, as well as students in the assembly,asked questions of the presenters about the findings,their research activities, and what they learned fromparticipating in the project.

Evaluating the Experiences of Teachersand StudentsStudents became co-researchers in this project togather data describing their own social and culturalenvironment. Authentic student research has thepotential to be a powerful agent for educational andsocial understanding. In this case, the knowledgethat students gained from gathering and analyzing

data about popular media may have increased theirawareness of gender and racial stereotypes in themedia messages they receive.

To better understand the impact of this curriculumunit, qualitative inquiry was employed to investigatethe experiences of the three seventh grade teachersand their students as they implemented an interdis-ciplinary research project about the media environmentof middle school students. Qualitative methods arerelevant for understanding social phenomena in thenatural setting—in this case, the experiences ofteachers and learners in the natural classroomenvironment. Qualitative researchers attempt tomake sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms ofthe meanings people bring to them (Lincoln &Guba, 1985).

The setting for the study was a middle school in asmall midwestern city. The middle school enrolled357 students in grades six through eight. Themajority of the students lived in town, while theothers were bused to school from surrounding ruralareas. Most of the students were Caucasian (90.4%),with the largest minority group comprised of AfricanAmerican students (6.4%). Half of the students(50.6%) were eligible for the free or reduced lunchprogram. Fewer than 60% of the school’s sixthgraders passed the state proficiency tests in mathe-matics, reading, citizenship, and science, but 85%passed in writing. The school was a member of theCoalition of Essential Schools (2002), and teachers inthe school were encouraged to participate in avariety of professional development activities.

The three participating teachers taught languagearts, mathematics, and science as part of a seventhgrade team consisting of five teachers and 105students. The three teachers shared a daily planningperiod and collaborated regularly. Collectively, theyhad 40 years of teaching experience at the middleschool level. All three had computers with Internetaccess in their classrooms and were comfortableusing computers as a personal and instructional tool.

During the spring of 2002, data for this studywere gathered from multiple sources: (a) observationsof classroom activities during different phases of theproject, (b) students’ oral presentations and artifactsof students’ work, (c) informal interviews withstudents, and (d) a two-hour debriefing session withthe teachers. All observations, presentations, andinterviews were videotaped; and the debriefing sessionwas audiotaped and transcribed. Triangulation of thedata across multiple sources and member checkingenhanced the qualitative validity of the findings


Working with the math teacher once thesurveys were completed, seventh gradestudents formatted and populated Excelspreadsheets before analyzing the resultingdata for gender and ethnic differencesregarding media use and career interests.


(Lincoln & Guba, 1985). To analyze the data, theresearchers viewed the videotapes and read thedebriefing transcript multiple times to look forthemes that emerged from multiple sources of data.

Outcomes of Teaching the UnitBased on the data from teachers, students, andclassroom observations, the following themescharacterized the experiences of the teachers and students.

Authenticity Students recognized that the project was authentic.They were collecting real data about themselves andtheir peers about a topic that genuinely interestedthem. The science teacher noted that when sheintroduced the survey, the students were surprisedthat the questions were about activities they under-stood, such as watching television, and that theywould be asking these questions of other students.As the curriculum unit progressed, the studentsmaintained a high level of interest. The languagearts teacher noted that the students began each dayby asking whether they were going to work on theproject. In the public presentation, the studentpresenters framed the survey results in terms of “ourpeers” and “people our age.” According to thelanguage arts teacher, students in the sixth andeighth grades who completed the survey asked theseventh graders frequently about the survey resultsand whether they, too, would be able to participatemore fully in the curriculum unit.

Responsibility Students accepted responsibility for the project andfor their learning. They were fully engaged in theproject at every stage and took it seriously. Specificgroups of students were assigned to organize dataentry, to generate top-10 lists from survey results, tocreate PowerPoint slides, and to plan the publicpresentation. Students were given specific deadlinesfor these tasks. While the teachers provided guidance,the ultimate responsibility for these activities restedwith the students themselves. As the math teachernoted, “The kids were very serious, and probablyone of the neat parts [of the curriculum unit] isseeing that they were truly responsible for what wasgoing on.” This sense of responsibility was reinforcedthrough peer evaluation, as the students wereexpected periodically to assess each group memberand his or her contributions and to assess their owncontributions by writing a self-reflective piece at theend of the curriculum unit.

Student-centered environment The teachers established an environment in whichthey were co-researchers along with the students.They let the students decide how to organize thedata collection and structure the analysis; perhapseven more importantly, they let the students makemistakes and figure out how to solve problems thatarose. The math teacher noted that the studentswanted to be told how to approach data entry;however, she left the process up to them. As shesaid, “They got all the results from the surveyentered, but then realized they had to separate theresults by gender. I knew when they started thatthey were approaching it wrong, but I let them go. Itis one of the reasons they liked it [the curriculumunit]. They really learned, not just about the mediaand the survey, but also how to solve problems andhow to follow through to complete a task. That iswhat I think was the most valuable aspect for mystudents.” The students were surprised that theteachers did not know the “answers” to the researchquestions in advance. The teachers found this to bea valuable aspect of the curriculum unit because, asthe science teacher noted, the students discoveredthat they had to find the answers for themselves; theteachers were not going to provide answers becausethey did not yet have the answers. The answerswould come from the students’ analysis of thesurvey results.

Interdisciplinary curriculum The language arts, mathematics, and science teachersplanned and worked as an interdisciplinary team toimplement the various components of the unit inthe seventh grade curriculum. In addition to specificseventh grade curriculum objectives, the studentslearned new research, oral presentation, andtechnology skills. The science teacher addressed thescientific method and survey techniques; the mathteacher dealt with use of spreadsheet software in theanalysis of survey results, including calculation ofpercentages and frequencies; the language arts teacherconducted content analysis of magazine images andcoordinated the use of presentation software and thedevelopment of the oral presentations.


Students really learned, not just about themedia and the survey, but also how tosolve problems and how to follow through.


Sense of audience Students were motivated by having an audience fortheir work beyond their teachers and classmates.They presented their findings to the project directorsfrom the university and invited parents, otherseventh graders, the principal, and the local media tothe presentation. The language arts teacher reportedbeing pleased by how concerned the students wereabout presenting their findings, noting that theyargued long and hard about the best way to do so.

Self-esteem The students expressed surprise and pride that theywere selected for this nationwide research project.During the public presentation, students in theaudience erupted in cheers and applause when toldthat their school was the first to participate in whatwould become a nationwide research project. Theywere equally impressed that they and their teacherswere interviewed for two feature stories in thecommunity newspaper.

Teachers’ risk-taking The teachers reported that their colleagues remarkedabout their willingness to take a risk with such acomplex, long-term project even though they hadnever done anything like this before and did nothave a written curriculum or the experience of otherteachers to guide them. As the science teacher said,“I think some of our colleagues were shocked thatwe had agreed to do this without really knowingwhat we were doing, and yet we were willing to takethe risk with our kids. And that there was not somecookbook that we were following.” The mathteacher noted that it was impossible to write lessonplans ahead of time. She, however, found this lackof certainty to be worth it, noting that “In realitythey have done so much more work than they everwould have if they just did the same old tasks.”

Cooperative group skills When asked what they learned as a result of thisproject, the students repeatedly reported that they

learned to work together in groups, and this resultwas confirmed by the teachers. The teachersreported that students learned to take a position and defend it. They learned to listen to theirclassmates’ points of view. They learned tocompromise and reach consensus.

Technology as a toolThe students learned new technology skills as theyneeded them to accomplish specific tasks. Theylearned to use spreadsheets, produce charts, andcreate PowerPoint presentations.

TimeAlthough the curriculum unit took more class timethan the teachers expected, they and the principalwholeheartedly agreed that it was worth the time.The various parts of the curriculum unit were doneover a two-month period. All three of the teachersfound that they met their curriculum requirementsthrough this project. They also agreed that this was aunique educational experience for them and fortheir students. As the math teacher noted, “I can tellyou right now, I know my students, when they getto the eighth grade, are going to expect similarexperiences because they really enjoyed doing this.”This sentiment was echoed by the principal, whoasked the teachers to develop other similar projectsso that all grades in the school could participate.

Understanding of the issues Although the students were fully engaged in theirpart of the research process, they had difficultyarticulating the social issues that were the focus ofthe overall project. They recognized the genderdifferences in media use and the racial stereotypes inmedia messages, but did not go beyond that toconsider the relationship between the mediamessages and young people’s gendered careerchoices. In addition, they expressed somemisperceptions in interpreting the results of theirsurvey findings. One slide in their presentation, forexample, interpreted their survey results asindicating that boys preferred action, suspense, andhorror movies while girls preferred romantic anddramatic movies. Despite these stated genderdifferences, the slide also suggested similarities inmedia use because both boys and girls wereinterested in television, magazines, movies, books,and Web sites. Similarly, another slide stated, “Wealso found that Minority people played a big role inthe magazines, but there were not a lot of images of


Students may need explicit guidance andscaffolding in order to ensure that theyhave opportunities to synthesize and usehigher-order thinking skills.


them versus the number of Caucasians.” Only whenone of the university researchers asked about thesignificance of the pattern that showed greatermedia use by girls than by boys did one of thepresenters offer an overall generalization about thisdifference: “Boys get to do sports and play outdoors;boys get to play in the dirt, but girls just watchmovies and listen to music.”

Educational Significance of the StudyThis study provides further evidence that anintegrated, project-based approach to curriculumleads to relevant, meaningful learning experiencesfor middle school students. The seventh graders inthis study were engaged and empowered as co-researchers involved in long-term, sophisticatedinquiry about a topic that was meaningful to them.They took responsibility for their learning anddeveloped valuable collaborative skills andtechnology skills. However, the experiences of thestudents in this study suggest that students mayneed explicit guidance and scaffolding to ensure thatthey have opportunities to synthesize and use higher-order thinking skills.

Given the current climate of standards-basedcurricula and high-stakes testing, even the leadingadvocates of curriculum integration are questioningthe viability of this stance (Vars, 2001). Yet, thisstudy provides support for those who argue thatcurriculum integration is worthwhile. The teachersin this study were enthusiastic about the educationalvalue of the interdisciplinary project even though itconsumed several weeks in their curriculum. Theyreported that students were able to accomplish thesame curriculum objectives as they usually did butin a different way. Moreover, in a school in whichthe sixth graders did not meet the state’s standardfor passing the proficiency tests, the principal was soimpressed with the outcomes of the students’ workthat he asked the teachers to design three similarprojects for the next year so that every sixth,seventh, and eighth grader in the school canparticipate. Although studies show that studentsengaged in interdisciplinary projects usually do wellon standardized tests (Vars, 1997), further research isneeded to address the impact of this and similarprojects on students’ standardized test scores.

Author Note: Research for this article was supportedby National Science Foundation Grant EIA-120056,“Getting the Media Message.”

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National Middle School Association presents

MIDDLE LEVELESSENTIALS CONFERENCEJanuary 30-31, 2006 • Louisville, KY

A conference providing an in-depth look into three topics essential to the success of middle level schools.

RICK WORMELIDifferentiated Instruction

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For more information or to register, visit us online at www.nmsa.org or call 1-800-528-NMSA

Vars, G. F. (1993). Interdisciplinary teaching: Why and how.Columbus, OH: National Middle School Association.

Vars, G. F. (1997). Effects of integrative curriculum andinstruction. In J. L. Irvin (Ed.), What current research saysto the middle level practitioner (pp. 179-186). Columbus,OH: National Middle School Association.

Vars, G. F. (2001). Can curriculum integration survive inan era of high-stakes testing? Middle School Journal,33(2), 7-17.

Wolk, S. (1994). Project-based learning: Pursuits with apurpose. Educational Leadership, 52(3), 42-45.

Wroblewski, R., & Huston, A. C. (1987). Televisedoccupational stereotypes and their effects on earlyadolescence: Are they changing? Journal of EarlyAdolescence, 7, 283-297.

To get ideas for using this article for staff develop-ment visit www.nmsa.org and click on “Servicesand Resources,” “Middle School Journal,” and“Using Middle School Journal for ProfessionalDevelopment,” May 2005 issue.


Feature Middle School Students Are Co-Researchers of Their ... · co-researchers. To this end, the seventh-grade teachers (a language arts, a math, and a science teacher) collaborated

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