February 22nd, 2018

Dear Families,

As you may already know, I am a graduate student in the Department of Early and Middle
Grades Education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, working toward my M.Ed. in
Applied Studies in Teaching & Learning. As part of my Master’s degree program, I will be
conducting a classroom action research assignment to better understand choice based art
experiences such as journaling, exploration of materials, and self- directed experiences for
children in third grade.

For the next eight weeks, I would like to include your child (and all students in Miss. Zang’s
class) in my research on the choice-based art experiences in third grade.

During an eight-week period, your child will be observed as she/he engages in choice-based art
experiences in the art room. Children’s experiences may include: journaling for planning and
reflection purposes of projects, exploring new materials and techniques, and involvement in
self-directing art processes.

In addition to observations of children’s art-making processes through choice-based

experiences, I will be interviewing children about their experiences. Students will be working in
an art journal each week, and have the opportunity to bring their journal home to continue
developing their ideas. I encourage you to discuss your children’s art journal at home! Finally, I
will be examining our current third grade art curriculum to better understand the benefits of a
choice-based learning environment.

All data that I collect from observations, interviews, family surveys, curriculum examples and
student work samples, will be kept confidential and no references to children’s names or family
members’ names will be used in my work. Pseudonyms (alternative names) will be assigned to
participants to secure children’s and family members’ identities. At the conclusion of the
research, data will be securely discarded.

All children in our room will be engaged in choice-based art experiences. However, your child's
involvement as research participant’ is completely voluntary. Those children who are
‘participants’ in my research will be observed and interviewed as they engage in choice-based
art experiences. If you choose for your child to ‘not participate’ she or he will simply not be
interviewed and observations of her/his experiences during choice-based art experiences will
not be recorded or used in my research and M.Ed. work. All children will be granted access to
the same choice-based art experiences regardless of family decisions for children to serve as
research participants. Further, the choice to participate or not will not impact your child’s grades
or status at school in any way. You may withdraw your consent for your child to participate at
any time, without penalty. I do not anticipate any risk to children greater than normal school life.
All learning experiences will be consistent with our typical learning routine, though we will be
utilizing more choice-based art making opportunities, and individual exploration of materials.
There is no compensation for participation and no penalty for non-participation.

All information that is obtained during this research project will be kept strictly secure and will
not become part of your child's school record. Your child’s name and any other information
concerning his/her identity will be deleted from the research information.

The results of this study will be used for an online website that is required in my course,
Teachers as Researchers. Pseudonyms or codes will be substituted for the names of children
and the school to protect confidentiality. The website will be viewed by my classmates and my
professor, and shared at a university-based research conference for M.Ed. students. Again, no
names of children or families will be used in my work.

In the space at the bottom of this letter, please indicate whether or not you allow your child to
participate in this project. Participation includes the use of written observations about your
child’s experiences during choice based art learning and making, and informal interviews with
your child about her/his experiences Simply return your survey if you wish to allow your
responses to be included in my research. Simply discard the survey if you choose not to
participate.

Please return one copy of this completed form by February 27th, 2018. The second copy is to
keep for your records. If you have any questions about this research project, please feel free to
contact me. If you have any questions about your child’s participation or this research project,
please contact me at our school phone or email address.

Sincerely,

Annie Seagraves, Art Teacher, Penn Wood Elementary

Aseagraves@wcasd.net

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________ I agree to allow my child to participate in the interview and observations of her/his
experiences during choice based art experiences. I understand there is no risk to my child and
that I may withdraw my consent at any time, without penalty.

________ I would rather my child not participate in the interviews and observations. I
understand that this decision will not negatively impact my child’s status or participation in
school experiences and that she/he will be included in all learning experiences during choice
based art experiences and other classroom assignments.

Family/Guardian’s Signature and date:

________________________________________________________ _______________