Conceptions of success in education for three classes of Nunavut Arctic College students ...

• Main Author: Gooding, John Douglas
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: Arctic; Nunavut
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0055978; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0055978

"Success" in education means different things to different people. The purpose of this study was to examine conceptions of success (in education) held by some students at Nunavut Arctic College. The author is a white male from southern Canada and had not been to the Arctic prior to this study. As such, it was necessary to employ a participatory and respectful methodology. ' In three separate procedures, classes of Nunavut Arctic college students were given index cards and asked to describe what it means to be successful in education. As a class, we arranged the cards into common categories on the floor in front of the classroom desks. Some students wrote that success in education meant getting a good job. Some reported that they learned best when they could understand what was going on in a class. We decided as a class where each card belonged. Conceptions of success in education emerged as groups of cards were given titles, such as, "Understanding" or "Sharing knowledge." In the final procedure, another ...