Using the Scientific Method to Solve Literary Problems

Author(s):  
Leia Faith Davis

In this chapter, the author outlines cross-curricular lessons that have been developed using commonly taught pieces of “classic” literature to facilitate student connections in science. The lessons attempt to use the literature as a basis for building activities that allow students to practice and review scientific concepts in biology and chemistry. The chapter includes strategies for implementation such as finding appropriate literature, facilitating work with other teachers, and building connections to increase student outcomes. This chapter begins with a discussion of basic scientific method and its relationship to literary analysis. The activities that follow demonstrate some specific methods that practitioners can immediately apply in their classrooms.

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-141
Author(s):  
Margrete Lamond

Literary analysis tends to be conceptual and top-down driven. Data-driven analysis, although it belongs more to the domain of scientific method, can nevertheless sometimes reveal elements of narrative that conceptual readings may fall short of identifying. In critiques of Burnett's The Secret Garden, the children's return to health is generally understood to be the result of their interactions with nature. Some readings add the power of storytelling as a healing force in the novel. Burnett's concept of magic has tended to be treated with uneasy abstractions, and the influence of affect on health remains open for further investigation. This article bases its argument on data-driven analysis that charts how affective content in the novel occurs in conjunction with references to magic. It identifies the narrative significance of negative allusions to nature and how concepts of magic occur alongside representations of positive affect, and suggests that the magic of healing in The Secret Garden is not the transforming power of biological nature, nor the transforming power of storytelling, but the transforming power of surprise, wonder and happiness in conjunction with all these factors. Positive affect represents the essence of what Burnett means by magic.


Author(s):  
Benjamin J. Villarreal

This chapter explores theories informing and attempting the use of comics and their themes to help College English students make sense of Victorian literature and the challenges that offers. Through classroom examples, this chapter explores how studying the similarities between Victorian literature, modern comics, and superheroes would support a better understanding of the workings of both. At the same time, this work cautions that a literary analysis of these genres’ differences can demonstrate the pitfalls of such an approach as well.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Gabriela Cruz Vásquez ◽  
Adriana Pastorello Buim Arena

 O presente texto tem como objetivo oferecer ao leitor alguns apontamentos dos conceitos que envolvem a temática da investigação narrativa em educação e na pesquisa qualitativa. Quando se discute sobre esta modalidade de fazer investigação, há sempre dúvidas quanto a sua validade, geradas pela forte tradição positivista que predomina desde o nascimento do método científico. Com a intenção de complexificar a discussão sobre a natureza da pesquisa qualitativa, educativa e narrativa, este trabalho apoia-se em autores que problematizam os termos experiência, tempo, espaço, palavra e investigação narrativa, a partir da investigação e da literatura. Nas conclusões faz-se uma reflexão sobre a investigação narrativa como um giro metodológico qualitativo que possibilita uma rica geração de dados para o entendimento e a interpretação de níveis mais profundos da complexa subjetividade humana e da prática educativa.Palavras-chave: Experiência; Tempo-Espaço; Palavra; Investigação narrativa  ABSTRACTThis text aims to offer the reader some notes about concepts involving the theme of narrative research in education and in qualitative research. When discussing this mode of doing research, there are always doubts about its validity, generated by a strong positivist tradition that prevails since the birth of the scientific method. With the intention to deepen the discussion on the nature of qualitative research, of an educational and narrative nature, this work is based on literary analysis and on authors who problematize the terms experience, time, space, word and narrative research. A reflection on the methodological qualities of narrative research is made in the conclusions, as a qualitative methodology that makes possible a rich generation of data for understanding and interpreting deeper levels of the complex human subjectivity and of the educative practice. Keywords: Experience; Time-Space; Word; Narrative research 


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