What new questions did your study results reveal?
1. How can we use blogs as formative assessment? 2. How can we get a public audience outside of the classroom using blogs? 3. How does collaboration through blogs support mastery of content knowledge? What did this study suggest about a larger research agenda? I think my larger agenda is to really look at how we can make math more successful. I think I discovered that blogging is a way to increase writing along with collaboration and reflection in the math classroom. These skills can lead to a deeper understanding of the math content. What next steps might you take to expand on or extend this study? I do hope to shift my focus as I move forward. Going into next year I will be on the 9th grade team. This team will be modeling their year after what was done during pilot week. The entire way students experience classes will change. There are still a lot of unknowns in what this will look like, how students will be divided, how teachers will collaborate, etc. I hope to adjust my research to something that still focuses on math but is meaningful to the new model.
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How well did it answer your research question?
I do not think that I answered my research question very well. Understanding how blogging affects content mastery is something that I think needs longer than a week to study. The MI scores do not show much; it is meant to show growth over the course of at least a semester. Taking the MI so close together would not show much growth based on the spectrum. What further research is suggested? I think a lot more research is needed to address how blogs support content knowledge. Most of the research done on blogging is focused on skills that are acquired such as collaboration, critical thinking, etc. What do results indicate about changes to the instruction and learning process? Technology, specifically blogs have high potential. They are an opportunity for students to engage in many meaningful things and have their work reach outside of the classroom. I plan to continue having my students blog and continue to analyze the results of their blogs. I have chosen to do a mixed method study to help answer the question, how does using blogging within an interdisciplinary project affect mathematics content achievement?
I will collect several different forms of quantitative data. The first is giving all 9th graders the Math Inventory both before and after pilot week. The MI is a computer based math test that is taken several times a year by all students in NVUSD. The second will be a math assessment specific to the math done during pilot week. The 9th grade project is having students focus on food insecurity in Napa, students analyzed data collected by the Green Bag Project, they modeled the data in different ways and then analyzed the data to make predictions. For their assessment they will look at the same data with and need to go through a similar process; however, they will answer a different question. I will be assessing them using a four point rubric. I will do a correlation between their MI growth and the their achievement on the pilot math assessment. For the last piece of quantitative data I will be scoring their blogs using a rubric. For the qualitative data I will look at the students blog that looks specifically on the math lesson. I will also be giving a reflective survey. I would like to see if the blog score aligns with math assessment score. In their reflection survey I am hoping to find out if they ability to reflect on the math pushes them forward and helps them clearly communicate about math concepts. My driving question is How does using blogging within an interdisciplinary project affect mathematics content achievement? I will be using our Future Thinking Pilot week to be gathering my data. At NewTech we are planning a week long interdisciplinary project. I am part of the 9th grade team; each 9th graded at New Tech already has a weebly; we will be having students add a page to their weebly where they will blog about their experiences and learning throughout the pilot week. I also plan to use some sort of tech tools within the math part of the project, honestly, I do not know exactly what this will look like yet. I have played around with some map creation technology and might use this, also tools like desmos for graphing. I hope that the blogging will give the team of teachers instant feedback that we can use to support students along the way. I will also be able to look at the correlation of a positive experience and engaging in the process with their math achievement levels.
As I do my research on my driving question, "How does an inquiry model using technology within a PBL interdisciplinary project affect mathematics content achievement?", I find that most of the information comes from organizations rather than specific people. There are several organizations such as the New Tech Network and the Buck Institute that define what Project Based Learning is, they develop rubrics that help support the work as well as support teachers and schools in the process of adopting PBL as an instructional method.
In one of the articles I was looking at "The Relationship Between Project-Based Learning and Rigor in STEM-Focused High Schools" by Torulf Palm, a professor of science and mathematics, he examined the presence of rigor along with high quality PBL. He mentioned that it was challenging for many teachers to be true to the PBL model while also providing content rich experiences for students as he looked closely at ten STEM schools, two of which were New Tech Network schools. On a district level, implementing math into a PBL setting has not produced students who score well on the math portion of district and state tests; due to this, many teachers have moved toward a more problem based method of instruction. I am hoping to provide a high quality project experience for students where they also engage in rigorous math content. My driving question is as follows:
What does the balance of having students engage in authentic math inquiry while acquiring content mastery in a PBL setting look like and how can technology enhance this? There are several different elements that we can focus on as we look at my driving question. We can look at where we are with project/problem based learning, the different forms of authenticity and how we measure this, math achievement and the development of technology that transforms our opportunity for both authenticity and content mastery. The original idea of project based learning dates back to way before 1897 when John Dewey wrote the book called “My Pedagogical Creed,” which outlined the concept of “learning by doing.” Although the idea of learning by doing was not new, school systems were very standardized and this book helped bring the idea of learning into the minds of educators. Our educational system still has many components of a standardized system, but there are many organizations and schools around the world that are using project based learning. Many organizations have been created to transform the way we teach to a project based model. Some of these organizations are BIE, New Tech Network, High Tech High, Envision Schools, and many more. These organizations are present in the United States, Australia, Costa Rica, and more. As a district, NVUSD had the first NTN school over 20 years ago. The New Tech Network has expanded to now include 189 schools in 115 different districts. NVUSD is in the process of moving to an inquiry based model, where all schools focus on projects and inquiry. The role of math looks different in different schools. Some math courses are integrated with other content areas, some are individual courses. Some schools have gone to a more problem based model rather than a project based model. If we look at the test scores of students in America, California, down to Napa, it is clear that students are struggling in demonstrating mastery in math content. I would love to learn more about how we can provide experiences and supports for students be successful in math. My next steps in research/collecting data are the following:
I became a math teacher so that I could show students that math is fun and creative and that all people can be successful in math. As the years go by I am amazed by how many students come through my classroom with a fear of math and the feeling that they are not a math person. My driving question will be focused on math education; however, it still needs to be narrowed down a lot. I am thinking that I want to look at how project design can help shift the mindset of students that come in with fear and/or anxiety around math.
Once I narrow my focus, I am sure I will have need to knows that are much more clear. At this point a few of my need to knows are as follows:
Once I look at this information I hope I can target specific elements in the project design that will help to build students interest and confidence. I would like to gather data on students of all different ages to see when the shift happens. |
Kendra ParsonsAs a high school math teacher, I am passionate about bringing a joy of learning and of math to my students. Archives
May 2018
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