{"id":148,"date":"2016-12-05T10:36:29","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T10:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/?p=148"},"modified":"2016-11-30T10:41:46","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T10:41:46","slug":"seven-stories-research-scholarship-qa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/seven-stories-research-scholarship-qa\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Stories Research Scholarship: Q&A"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, a Speech and Language Sciences<\/a> student, Zoe, spent 8 weeks with Seven Stories\u2019 Learning and Participation Team<\/a> working on a Newcastle University Research Scholarship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In November,\u00a0Seven Stories’\u00a0Business Development Manager\u00a0John Beattie<\/a> and I caught up with Zoe at Newcastle University\u2019s Research Scholarship celebration<\/a> event,\u00a0where she presented a poster about her work with Seven Stories.<\/p>\n

Hello Zoe! You undertook a Newcastle University Research Scholarship with Seven Stories. What\u2019s that, and how did you secure it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A vacation Research Scholarship is offered to students in their middle or penultimate year of their degree from Schools across the University. Back in January 2016, we were notified of this opportunity to conduct some research and receive a bursary. My supervisor Professor James Law <\/a>notified me that Seven Stories would like some research to be conducted in collaboration with them. I organised a meeting at Seven Stories where I met members of the Learning and Participation Team. We decided on a topic and wrote a proposal that was handed in February 2016. In March I found the proposal was successful and began the scholarship in June 2016.<\/p>\n

What did you do during your Research Scholarship with Seven Stories?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We decided to do a study about Hooks into Books at Seven Stories<\/a>\u00a0and sent Snow Dogs<\/a> book\u00a0packs into\u00a0two schools to evaluate how they were received, and if anything could be improved.\u00a0 This involved doing a literature review surrounding reading for pleasure and\u00a0its implications. After packs were delivered I then attended each school, carried out questionnaires and observed a session. This was great, seeing the school staff and children\u2019s reactions to the books.<\/p>\n

\"Zoe's<\/a>
Zoe’s research poster: How do children engage in reading for pleasure?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What were your research findings?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Children\u2019s reading habits did not differ between the schools (regardless of pupil premium percentage).<\/p>\n

Teachers and Schools have different definitions therefore different approaches to reading for pleasure. School A:\u00a0<\/em> \u2018Enjoying stories for the sake of it and being able to be comfortable laying down in a nice environment.\u2019 School B:<\/em> \u2018Having enough knowledge and understanding to be able to read for fluency.’<\/p>\n

Schools took different approaches to reading the story (one read all one read half).\u00a0They also had different ways of\u00a0choosing the story (one asked colleagues, one looked at illustrations).\u00a0The activities they did using the books were also different:\u00a0one was purely creative and artistic whereas the other followed more closely the curriculum with creative writing and pictures.<\/p>\n

How did you find working in a cultural education setting like Seven Stories, in comparison to a speech therapy role?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really enjoyed working with Seven Stories and felt very supported throughout my time there.<\/p>\n

It was enjoyable working in the office, then experiencing the hustle and bustle of schools. In comparison, as a speech therapy student every day and placement can be different, from hospitals, to children\u2019s centres, to community clinics and schools.<\/p>\n

\"Newcastle
Newcastle University’s Research Scholarship celebration event in November 2016. Image: Newcastle University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What have you learnt from your Research Scholarship?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have learnt lots of research skills from my project, particularly how to form child-friendly questionnaires and write literature reviews. I have also learnt how to format and design posters.<\/p>\n

What impact will your Research Scholarship and time with Seven Stories have on your future studies, research and career plans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope to incorporate my experience into speech therapy in the future, particularly the links between \u2018reading for pleasure\u2019 and speech and language difficulties.\u00a0 The formatting skills I learnt will help me in the future to make assessed posters whilst still at university, but also in the future when making information sheets for colleagues of clients.<\/p>\n

Is there anything else you\u2019d like to tell us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I would encourage anyone to take up the opportunity of a summer vacation Research Scholarship. It was a valuable experience which will definitely have benefits for my future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year, a Speech and Language Sciences student, Zoe, spent 8 weeks with Seven Stories\u2019 Learning and Participation Team working on a Newcastle University Research Scholarship. In November,\u00a0Seven Stories’\u00a0Business Development Manager\u00a0John Beattie and I caught up with Zoe at Newcastle University\u2019s Research Scholarship celebration event,\u00a0where she presented a poster about her work with Seven … Continue reading “Seven Stories Research Scholarship: Q&A”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6222,"featured_media":150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,20,18],"tags":[6,4,7,34,17,15,28,23],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-research","category-students","tag-events","tag-partnership","tag-research","tag-schools","tag-seven-stories","tag-student-placements","tag-students","tag-studentships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/vitalnorth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}