Classroom Focus: Analysis in the classroom

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This particular technique involves a four-question set that gets students actively responding to the material they are studying. They analyse, reflect, relate, and question via these four prompts:


  • Identify one important concept, research finding, theory, or idea ... that you learned while completing this activity.

  • Why do you believe that this concept, research finding, theory, or idea ... is important?

  • Apply what you have learned from this understanding to the context of the question?

  • What question(s) has the activity raised for you? What are you still wondering about? [You might need to prohibit the answer "nothing".]

Key steps to follow:


  1. Which details seem significant? Why?

  2. What is the significance of this detail? What does it mean?

  3. What might it mean?

  4. How do the details fit together? What do they have in common?

  5. What does this pattern of details mean?

  6. What else might this pattern suggest? What other explanation could be given?

  7. What details do not seem to fit? What other patterns could be suggested?

  8. What does this new pattern of detail suggest? What other areas need to be considered in addressing the question?

Glossary


Key words to consider when discussing the analysis of a topic:


  • Ambiguity: Information that may be interpreted in more than one way.

  • Assumptions: Ideas, conditions, or beliefs (often implicit or unstated) that are "taken for granted or accepted as true without proof."

  • Context: The historical, ethical. political, cultural, environmental, or circumstantial settings or conditions that influence and complicate the consideration of any issues, ideas, artefacts, and events.

  • Literal meaning: Interpretation of information exactly as stated. For example, "she was green with envy" would be interpreted to mean that her skin was green.

  • Metaphor: Information that is (intended to be) interpreted in a non-literal way.

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