Next Steps
I began phase one trying to address student collaboration and the effects of using online resources during assessments for my students. In particular, I wanted to investigate: what happens to student learning when students are allowed to seek peer support as well as online and classroom resources during classroom learning activities and assessments?
The data analysis from phase one showed my struggling students were still disengaged during in-class activities. I created feedback forms in order to monitor student engagement and cooperation but these forms failed to address student attitudes. In order to address student attitudes during in-class activities I plan on adjusting my feedback forms during phase two.
I noticed that students were engaged during the hot dog cooker project and one reason for this could be that this project resulted in a finished product. Chen (2010) studied secondary schools that use project based learning; in addition to elements of a traditional curriculum, and showed the positive effects on students that tend to struggle with traditional curriculum instruction. Using this research, I plan on creating a collaborative project during the implementation of phase two where students produce a finished product that will be evaluated by myself and their peers.
One challenge I will face during phase two of my action research will be the curriculum switching from intermediate algebra to statistics. I created the majority of the in-depth problems modeled during phase one and I believe that the modeling portion of phase one yielded positive assessment results for the students. However, I find myself struggling to find and develop in-depth statistical problems to model. In addition, the data analysis of phase one showed high student collaborative assessment scores and I plan on administering an individual assessment during phase two in order to evaluate my students ability to transfer their learning from collaborative work to individual assignments.
Finally, in order to encourage the engagement of all members during collaborative assessments or projects I plan on developing a role sheet. Each member will decide on a role and then be responsible for a particular portion of the project or assessment; a method that was suggested by a colleague. Santrock (2008) argues that when students are working on project-centered activities that are designed to be collaborative, assigning roles and tasks to different members of the group is an effective way to implement collaborative activities. I believe theses adjustments to my design will allow me to effectively investigate the effects on student learning during collaborative activities.
I began phase one trying to address student collaboration and the effects of using online resources during assessments for my students. In particular, I wanted to investigate: what happens to student learning when students are allowed to seek peer support as well as online and classroom resources during classroom learning activities and assessments?
- What is the effect on in-class assignments?
- What are the effects on test scores?
- What are the changes in student attitudes during in-class activities?
- Are students able to transfer their learning during assessments when they do not have access to online resources?
The data analysis from phase one showed my struggling students were still disengaged during in-class activities. I created feedback forms in order to monitor student engagement and cooperation but these forms failed to address student attitudes. In order to address student attitudes during in-class activities I plan on adjusting my feedback forms during phase two.
I noticed that students were engaged during the hot dog cooker project and one reason for this could be that this project resulted in a finished product. Chen (2010) studied secondary schools that use project based learning; in addition to elements of a traditional curriculum, and showed the positive effects on students that tend to struggle with traditional curriculum instruction. Using this research, I plan on creating a collaborative project during the implementation of phase two where students produce a finished product that will be evaluated by myself and their peers.
One challenge I will face during phase two of my action research will be the curriculum switching from intermediate algebra to statistics. I created the majority of the in-depth problems modeled during phase one and I believe that the modeling portion of phase one yielded positive assessment results for the students. However, I find myself struggling to find and develop in-depth statistical problems to model. In addition, the data analysis of phase one showed high student collaborative assessment scores and I plan on administering an individual assessment during phase two in order to evaluate my students ability to transfer their learning from collaborative work to individual assignments.
Finally, in order to encourage the engagement of all members during collaborative assessments or projects I plan on developing a role sheet. Each member will decide on a role and then be responsible for a particular portion of the project or assessment; a method that was suggested by a colleague. Santrock (2008) argues that when students are working on project-centered activities that are designed to be collaborative, assigning roles and tasks to different members of the group is an effective way to implement collaborative activities. I believe theses adjustments to my design will allow me to effectively investigate the effects on student learning during collaborative activities.