Toward the validation of a literature classroom intervention to foster adolescents' insights into human nature: an iterative design process

Abstract

We report on the design process of a literature classroom intervention for 15-year-old students in the Netherlands, which aimed to foster their insight into human nature―insight into themselves, fictional others, and real-world others. Starting from a model of transformative reading, an exploration of the educational context, and a review of previous intervention studies, we designed an intervention in an iterative process. We evaluated the validity and practicality of two versions of the intervention. From teacher and student data, we concluded that the validity and practicality of the first version were subop-timal and identified various suggestions for improvement. In a second iteration, the initial design princi-ples were reoperationalized. Based on these reoperationalized principles, we designed a second version of the intervention, which was found to be sufficiently valid and practical. In addition, the second itera-tion led to specifiying the initial design principles, by formulating subprinciples for operationalization in the classroom. All in all, this study demonstrates that an iterative design process is needed to arrive at a valid and practical intervention, and that this process may have the potential to further specify initial design principles.