Understanding the Adult Learner Life Story Research and the Adult Secondary Student Experience

This thesis is a qualitative study that uses life story research methods and grounded theory to investigate the perceptions of three adult high school students on their lives, with particular focus on family, community, and childhood and adolescent educational experiences. The participants were also interviewed about their interactions with and interests in art and art education. The study was conducted over a period of one month, during which time each participant was interviewed once for approximately two hours. The interviews were audio-recorded, and the data was collected and analyzed as per the grounded theory method. The emerging themes which highlighted factors affecting participant academic success and school involvement at the adolescent high school level were: familial/home stability, guidance, stimulation and teaching practices, and stigmatization with regards to both race and teen pregnancy. Keywords: Art Education, Adult Education, At-risk youth, Drop-out, High school, Life Story research, Student-directed teaching, Culturally relevant pedagogy, Teaching practices, Race, Teen Pregnancy