Research Methodologies Thoughts - Technology
There are unlimited possibilities for technology in the classroom. Technology can pump up engagement, assist in data gathering and analysis, allow for differentiation and self-paced lessons, open the door to career explorations, and bring something authentic into the classroom. For all the good technology does, it is easy to become a distraction as well. A solid research idea can get sidelined by technology implementation, absorbed by teaching the tech instead of leveraging tech to learn concepts, or bogged down with the details of creating something digitally. Many math projects can easily lose the rigor and depth of content to the wonders of technology. Technology can also become a crutch instead of a tool for students. I considered all these things as I planned my growth mindset and performance task study. The purpose of the study is to examine student’s ability to perform on content-rich tasks, so technology cannot supercede the content. The research also examines growth mindset, so students need to not rely too heavily on technology or it could undermine the mindset work occurring. That said, technology can be incredibly useful for data gathering and, with the CAASPP tests coming up, students can also benefit from developing their tech skills. Some ideas I currently have are self-paced Echo modules, Echo journals, Doc templates in Google Drives, and Google forms. These pieces of technology all help me gather, organize, and store student work for analysis and has the added benefit of easing my students into the upcoming season of online testing. I am also considering using Prodigy, a game based learning system, as a way to track some content specific data. Khan Academy was also up for consideration, due to their growth mindset articles and mastery challenges. However, Prodigy collects more specific data from students and tends to be more exciting for most. I also am considering having students do some independent research, although that is not necessarily a tool for my action research but just an opportunity to leverage technology. My only concern is adding in too many elements. Many technology uses listed above are standard for my room and my site. However, adding in Khan/Prodigy on top of the normal classroom activities (metacognitive journals, growth mindset reflections and assessments, Performance Task practice and scoring) means that I will already have a lot going on. For the sake of my research and data, this may be a time to be frugal with technology implementation.
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Mathematics is an area of weakness in American education. There is no beating around the bush there. America’s international ranking has dipped significantly in many areas of education, but especially in math. More and more American jobs in the STEM fields are being outsourced to non-Americans. Our school system is not properly preparing our students on a big picture scale. A focus on standardized test performance has not changed this trend. A focus creating formulaic students has not changed this trend. However, some countries, such as Hong Kong, have found success in this approach and consistently outscore American students on international measures. So, it is worth considering that perhaps the mode of instruction alone is not the solution. Perhaps culture and attitudes towards math are worth exploring.
According to NAEP, in 2015, the national average for mathematics scores went down. Concerningly, female students had an overall drop in both 4th and 8th grade. A handful of demographics remained unchanged compared to 2013. Most significant in my eyes, English Language Learners remained unchanged as a group, when both genders experienced an overall drop. Obviously, this data is far to scarce to draw any significant conclusions, but it is certainly interesting to think about. ELL’s did not exactly boast strong scores before the Common Core changes. Are other demographics sinking down to where their scores were? Or is there something in Common Core that is providing a bit of extra support to ELL’s to keep them from sliding? Only time can answer these questions. The only real bright side is that scores are higher than they were in the early 90s. So, we have not backslid several decades worth of progress. However, whether this is a ghostly artifact of NCLB’s obsessive focus on testing or a sign that Common Core is a move in the right direction is unsure. In a few years, when the dust has settled more, we may be able to see some significant data. An examination of the CAASPP results report shows a mild increase from previous years’ results. However, none of them are significant and when you drill down into a deeper demographic breakdown, the meager growth vanishes into a widely varying set of performance levels from different groups. The short of it is, Common Core was not miracle fix people were hoping for. It still holds a lot of potential as a system, but needs time to take root in the minds of students. Common Core is a K-12 system, so it should not be surprise that it is not exploding after only a few years. On an international level, according to TIMSS, 65% of testing is comprised of higher order thinking skills. A student taught to simply follow formulas steps will struggle obtain higher than a 50% a test written that way. Students need problem solving skills and the self-efficacy to engage in them. Students need perseverance to hang onto tough problems. Looking to Singapore, it is instilled in students that they are their nation’s greatest resource. That is a culture that leads to self-improvement, efficacy, and growth. Looking to South Korea, educators are held in high regard. It is difficult to have a high regard for a professional and not also hold their craft in high regard. When education is highly respected, students can find value in pursuing it. It is clear that on an international level, developing positive dispositions towards education in general (and towards math) are prevalent in countries that have high functioning education systems In America, we champion our tech billionaires who never finished college. We idolize celebrities and musicians, in general, who would not be caught dead in a university course. I am may be getting off on a tangent and away from cold, hard data, but it is easy to notice cultural differences between America and the top performing countries in education. Back to topic, California has responded to the need for improvement in education by implementing the Common Core and creating the CAASPP tests in an attempt to steer instruction towards 21st Century Skills. My district has adopted a heavy focus on the 6 C’s via their partnership with the New Tech Network and my specific site has embraced PBL via the Buck Institute and the NTN. Math has certainly lagged behind the curve, but we are now approaching Inquiry Based Learning. As we step up the level of thinking we ask of our students and rise to the rigor and deep, conceptual learning of Common Core and the Mathematical Practices, students will need to develop more grit to be successful. Carol Dweck, and a swarm of researchers following her, have extensively explored the positive benefits of growth mindsets on students. What remains to be seen is how that interacts with Common Core and how it can benefit students on higher order thinking problems such as performance tasks. Case Study #2 - 21st Century Test Grading
The above case study details a pedagogical practice of a middle school math teacher in Berkeley, California. This teacher noticed a problem with students caring more about grades than their learning. Her solution was to adjust her grading practice. This case study focuses on that practice and how that structure can be applied as an ongoing “lesson.” The procedure used in the case study starts simply enough. Stop writing grades on tests. The next step is to highlight mistakes rather than marking questions wrong. Finally, points are not preassigned to particular questions. Instead, tests are graded more holistically. After tests have had their mistakes highlighted, students then, as a class, review the teacher’s “favorite mistakes” and discuss how to correct them. Finally, students get tests back to review their own mistakes, seek help from peers, and prepare for an eventual re-test opportunity. While this is more of a structure and routine than a lesson, it can definitely take up a class period and has significant pedagogical value. This lesson does not mandate technology use. However, it still qualifies as 21st Century, in my opinion, because of a focus on developing a growth mindset and strong emphasis on critical thinking and collaboration. Also by applying the SAMR and TPACK models to augment it, it can quickly become a technology-infused 21st Century lesson. The biggest take-away I had from this lesson was seeing the grading system in action with students. I have been aware of this issue for a long time in my own classroom, especially working with intervention students. I have tried to implement more growth based assessments, like HMH’s Math Inventory can be when used properly. I also moved to the practice of not giving a score to any test that did not pass, instead prompting students to correct their mistakes and retest. However, that still did not prompt much honest reflection on one’s own mistakes. It just prompted students to approach friends with better scores for “help.” What I liked about this case was how the teacher used “flow through” grading, where students were not repeatedly punished for a single mistake. Students who made a misstep in the problem could still earn most of the points “assigned” to the problem if the work that followed the mistake was correct (in the context of the mistake). I believe this can allow students to be more reflective of their work and gives them greater motivation to try and finish every problem. Even if they make a mistake one a particularly difficult section of the problem, they can still finish strong! Another crucial piece of information was that the teacher published the grades to their online classroom platform the next day. So when students first receive their tests back, all they see are the highlights, which do not indicate final score. Tons of highlights can translate to a decent grade since not all highlights cause point loss and “flow through” credit exits. I feel like my biggest reaction to this case study is that this a huge culture investment. It takes a significant amount of re-training to get a middle school math student away from obsessing on the grade an assignment receives and shift towards how well they learned the material. It is definitely something I am interested in pursuing. THe last thing to consider is how to implement and potentially improve this lesson idea. Thinking of SAMR model I can see how substitution and augmentation could fill in easily. Our learning platform Echo has a peer evaluation function. Common mistakes could be photographed and put into an online quiz where students need to correct the mistake. Students can use Docs to physically alter work step by step to show the revisions. This could enable greater participation, since it is easy to hide in a class discussion. Then, thinking of the TPACK model, technology can be used a in a pedagogically sound way to support re-learning difficult content. Independent study modules can be set up as activities in Echo. Students who received highlights on a certain problem can be directed to complete tasks or review videos in a certain folder. The feedback from the test can be quickly applied to large scale (and private) differentiation in the classroom. I still have a lot to consider, some Echo tricks to learn, and some culture to work on before I can make these procedures a reality in my own room, but I believe it could be a largely effective practice. Rating: 5/5 I really enjoyed looking at this case study and then consider how to integrate technology. The footage of students collaborating over the mistakes was inspiring and, philosophically speaking, the grading system makes a lot of sense. |
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October 2017
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