My research topic deals with the influence community has on educational outcomes for students. I came across Marshall and Toohey’s article: “Representing Family: Community Funds of Knowledge, Bilingualism and Multimodality” in the Harvard Educational Review, vol. 80, no. 2. Marshall and Toohey’s research topic concerns schools and teachers connecting school learning to children’s out-of-school learning and culture. Their question would be: “What happens when the funds of knowledge that students bring to school contradict normative, Western understandings of what is appropriate for children and how school might appropriately respond to varying community perceptions of good and evil”? The researchers “use critical discourse analysis to examine educators’ efforts to incorporate funds of knowledge from the communities and families of Punjabi Sikh students in a Canadian elementary school” (Marshall & Toohey, 2010). I believe the authors’ types of data are: reports of acts, behaviors, or events and acts, behaviors, or events. The first  data type is reports of acts, behaviors, or events. Marshall and Toohey first researched the community, conducting “community scans.” They used private and public records, looking at the Canadian census to research the community’s housing, language, and availability of services. They also used interviews and field observations . Collecting this data allowed them to obtain cultural knowledge about the Punjabi Sikh community in Canada, such as the importance of grandparents in the lives of many of these families. The researchers next data type used is acts, behaviors, or events. In the next part of the research, teachers implement “funds of knowledge” of the Punjabi Sikh community in the curriculum and observe how this affected their students. Funds of knowledge is defined as:  “essential cultural practices and knowledge and information households use to thrive.” This study was what the authors call a “teacher-researcher collaboration.” The study happened over the course of three years. In these three years, particular classroom activities were planned, observed, evaluated, and revised by the teachers and researchers. It is hard for me to categorize this data collection method as I can see it as an ethnography because the teachers and researchers were involved in implementing curriculum and working with the students to help them execute the curriculum. This could also be detached observation because the teachers and researchers are observing both the students and the students’ work  and how these were both affected by the curriculum the teachers implemented. Yet, it is not detached because the teachers were working directly with the student, however the researcher were not. The researchers found the importance of connecting students’ funds of knowledge to the classroom, as well as implementing experiences of their peer groups and popular cultural into the curriculum. The researchers find ways in which technology can be implemented in the classroom to open up a space for bilingualism, as the curriculum involved Punjabi Sikh students interviewing their grandparents and recording it with and MP3 player. Finally, the researchers conclude there is a lack of engaging materials written in students’ first languages and recognize the need for culturally engaging material.

Marshall, E., & Toohey, K. (2010). Representing family: community funds of knowledge, bilingualism and multimodality. Harvard Educational Review, 80(2), 221-241.