PUPIL EXPERIENCES AND PUPIL LEARNING IN THE ELEMENTARY CLASSROOM - AN ILLUSTRATION OF A GENERATIVE METHODOLOGY

This paper describes the methodology of a research programme designed to develop a grounded theory of pupil learning in elementary classrooms. The methodology involves the interactive use of both quantitative and qualitative data based on extensive observational study of selected case-study pupils. Quantitative data from the first and third of a series of four studies are used to illustrate the nature of this part of the data analysis. Findings examine the relationship of instructional contexts, content variables, and pupil behaviours and utterances to both short-term and long-term learning. The nature of the nascent theory of classroom learning emerging from the first study and the process of developing that theory in the light of findings from the subsequent studies is described. © 1990.