I want to study my middle school students’ perceptions of what and how they are learning in science. Do you have any suggestions other than a traditional survey? —R., Ohio

I found some research on the topic at Drawn to Science: Studying Science Teaching and Learning Through Drawings.  The authors examined “how the science teaching identity of the teacher interns/teachers changed over time” based on their experiences. Rather than a traditional questionnaire, this study used drawings as evidence. Periodically, the teacher-participants responded to two prompts:

• Draw yourself teaching science
• Draw your students learning science

The methodology and the scoring rubric are on the website. It’s interesting to examine how drawings represent a teacher’s self-image of the teaching and learning processes and the perceived roles of teachers and students in these processes.

Another part of the website targets educators, offering:

• Lesson plans with suggestions for asking students to draw their interpretations of science learning. Follow-up discussion questions are included.
• A description of the action research process and how drawings can be a data tool.

These lessons could be used several times throughout the year, perhaps with student notebooks, to monitor how students’ perceptions change over time and reflect on how student perceptions align with yours. It might be interesting to draw something yourself to compare to the students’ work.

But I wouldn’t discount traditional surveys. Although paper-and-pencil surveys are time-consuming to analyze, online tools (such as Google Docs) can efficiently survey students and aggregate the results into a spreadsheet document. The same survey can be used for different classes and at multiple times during the year to track student responses for your analysis and reflection.