Cultural Inquiry Project: Investigating School Culture and Community Connections

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Cultural Inquiry Project Assignment

Purpose: The Cultural Inquiry Project has been designed to allow prospective teachers to investigate the connections among teachers, learners, and schools and the communities that the schools serve. The purpose of this project is to encourage a big-picture vision of teaching – a vision that is as comprehensive and as inclusive as possible. You will investigate a school-based program or school initiative in order to learn what issues or challenges the program is intended to address and to consider the implications or outcomes of this program.

Learning Objectives: This assignment should help you practice the following skills:

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· Collecting quantitative and/or qualitative data using online and human resources

· Analyzing data for trends and patterns

· Observing in classrooms to gain an overarching understanding of learning environments

· Synthesizing and interpreting data to determine relationships between students, communities and educational programs/ opportunities

· Reflecting on the significance of what was learned

Task: You’ll select a school community in which you can research. You’ll also suggest choosing a particular area of interest developed by yourself or in your group if you choose to work in a group. Your area of interest can focus on a particular aspect of school culture or curriculum (e.g., social-emotional learning, arts, STEM/ STEAM, community engagement, project-based learning, bilingual education, standards-based assessment, positive behavioral interventions support, or something else).

You will gather information individually, and you will interpret, apply, and present the information. You’ll need to balance your time observing in classrooms and interviewing school personnel. Each group member (if working in a group) should consider interviewing a different stakeholder to better understand multiple perspectives (for instance, one person could interview a teacher, another an administrator, and the third a support staff member like an administrative assistant, counselor, custodian, etc.). Interviewing school personnel doesn’t have to take place in the school, but can still count towards your time “in the field.”

You should organize a field notebook (paper or digital) to gather and organize your data collection. You will submit your final presentation at the end of the semester. If you work in a group, you may all have the same presentation, but each individual must submit. Ten hours need to be logged in schools. This will all be coordinated with the Office of Field experience. Need to observe in a classroom.

You will be preparing and submitting the following pieces of work for this assignment:

1. Proposal: Develop data collection protocol and ideas for methods of data collection. You’ll need to create some guiding questions for your project (What big question do you want to try to answer), a list of things you’d like to observe, a set of interview questions, and the type of information you’d like to explore from the school’s website.

2. Field notebook: Create a field notebook to include your field notes, observations, and/ or interview data, as well as relevant statistical data/ demographics collected about the school you are studying (Individual task). You may want to record your interviews so you can go back to them. This is where you can record everything before you analyze it.

3. Data Analysis: Analyze your data using guiding questions (Individual & Group task). What question did you hope to answer when you started this project? What does your data tell you about how you might answer the question? Does it lead to more questions? What did you learn?

4. Presentation of Learning: Preparing and presenting your findings and needs to include the question you set out to answer, the information you gathered and analyzed, and what you learned.

5. Reflection: Writing a reflection to summarize your learning. (Individual task)

Criteria for Evaluation (linked rubric)

Suggested Ideas for Group Roles:

Role 1 – Teacher.

This person will be responsible for interviewing a teacher and understanding how teachers fit into answering the questions that you’d like to know more about the particular aspect of school culture/curriculum you chose to explore. The Teacher Role could also include organizing slides for your presentation, helping facilitate interview questions you’d like to use, or coming up with a method for analyzing your data.

Role 2 – Administrator

This person will be responsible for interviewing an administrator (principal, assistant principal, etc) and understanding how administration fits into answer the questions you developed to know more about the particular school culture/curriculum you chose to explore. This Administrator Role within the group could be responsible for setting meeting times for the group and making sure everyone is pulling their equal weight. This person can also be the spokesperson for the group.

Role 3 – Support Staff/Other

This person will be responsible for interviewing an administrator (principal, assistant principal, etc) and understanding how administration fits into answer the questions you developed to know more about the particular school culture/curriculum you chose to explore. The Support Staff Role can include organizing data and compiling everyone’s notes before the group analyzes the data.

Struggling with where to start this assignment? Follow this guide to tackle your assignment easily!

Step 1: Understand the Purpose of the Project

Before collecting data, remind yourself why you’re doing this project—to understand how schools, teachers, students, and communities interact. Keep this big-picture mindset as you move through each task.

Step 2: Select Your School Community & Area of Focus

Choose a school you can access for:

• Observations

• Interviews

• Data collection

Then choose a specific area of interest such as:

• SEL

• Arts or STEAM

• PBIS

• Bilingual education

• Project-Based Learning

• Community engagement

Your chosen focus becomes the lens through which you examine the school.

Step 3: Build Your Project Proposal

Your proposal should include:

1. Big Guiding Question

   • What overarching question are you trying to answer?
     (e.g., “How does this school’s PBIS program shape student behavior and community culture?”)

2. Observation Checklist

   • Classroom environment details

   • Student-teacher interactions

   • Use of curriculum/strategies

   • School culture indicators

3. Interview Questions

   • Tailor questions for different stakeholders (teacher, admin, support staff).

   • Ask about challenges, successes, and perceptions of the program or culture you’re studying.

4. Website/Online Resources to Examine

   • Mission/vision statements

   • Demographics

   • School improvement plans

   • Program descriptions

This proposal becomes your fieldwork roadmap.

Step 4: Create & Maintain Your Field Notebook

Your field notebook should be organized, detailed, and consistent. Include:

• Field notes from classroom observations

• Interview responses (transcribed or summarized)

• Demographics and statistics

• Photos or artifacts (if appropriate)

• Reflections after each field experience

Write down everything before analyzing—raw data is essential.

Step 5: Complete at Least 10 Hours of Fieldwork

Make sure your time includes:

• Classroom observations

• Interviews (in or out of the school building)

• Informal conversations

• Community interactions

Log your hours clearly.

Step 6: Analyze Your Data Using Guiding Questions

Once your notebook is full, begin analyzing:

• What patterns appear across interviews and observations?

• Do perspectives from different stakeholders align or conflict?

• How does the program impact students and school culture?

• What surprised you?

• What new questions emerged?

Connect your findings back to your original guiding question.

Step 7: Prepare Your Presentation of Learning

Your presentation must include:

1. Your guiding question

2. What information you gathered

3. How you analyzed that information

4. What you learned

5. Why these findings matter

Include visuals, quotes, and data to support your points.

Step 8: Write Your Individual Reflection

Your reflection should address:

• What you learned about students, teachers, and school communities

• How your perspective on education changed

• What challenges or barriers you observed

• What strengths you saw in the school

• How this project impacts your future teaching mindset

Aim for depth, honesty, and connection to course concepts.

Step 9: Understand the Group Roles (If Working in a Group)

Assign roles based on interest and strengths:

• Teacher Role: Interviews teachers, organizes slides, helps with interview planning, develops analysis methods.

• Administrator Role: Interviews administrators, organizes meetings, ensures group accountability, may act as spokesperson.

• Support Staff Role: Interviews non-teaching personnel, organizes data, compiles and manages notes.

Each role contributes a unique perspective to your final analysis.

Step 10: Review Rubric & Finalize All Components

Before submission, carefully check:

• Proposal

• Field notebook

• Data analysis

• Presentation

• Reflection

Make sure each meets rubric expectations.

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