"In the Hands of Students" Action Research

Jacqueline A. Casey

Action Research

“In the Hands of Students”

 

School Vision

Hutto High School is committed to advance student achievement beyond state and national standards and to prepare students for post-secondary opportunities.  Each member of our school community will utilize twenty-first century skills and best practices.  

 

Our shared values include:

·      Multiple opportunities for students to be successful and demonstrate their accomplishments

·      Engaging and rigorous instructional practices

·      Timely, accurate, and pertinent data to drive instruction

·      Trusting and collegial professional learning communities

Goal

It is the goal of this researcher to determine the relationship between the use of Mimio Pads in the biology classrooms to student engagement and student achievement.

 

QUESTION

Does the use of the Mimio Pads by students promote or inhibit student engagement and achievement in a secondary biology classroom?

 

Outcome

It is expected that the use of the technology by students will increase student engagement substantially and will improve student achievement notably as indicated by student class grades, common assessments, and verbal evaluations.

Evaluation Tools:

à      Researcher Observations

à      Student Learning Surveys

à      3 week Common Assessments

à      Daily evaluation of success tool

à      Student Engagement Tool

à      Verbal Evaluations

Questions to Answer:

1.     What does student engagement look like to you?

2.     What are those characteristics that prove engagement?

3.     How will you know if a student is successful each day?

4.     What will you use to gage that success?

5.     Does success look different for each student?  If so why?  How?

6.     How will the students use the technology?  Individually, paired, or grouped?

7.     What type of activities will need to be created in order to effectively integrate the technology to ensure learning takes place in all students?

 

 

Activities	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline	Resources/ Tools	Evaluation
1.  Principal and I discuss ideas for action research.  Narrow it down to one that will focus on our at-risk discipline and sub-groups.	J. Casey, researcher   B. Baker, Site Mentor (Principal)	January 24, 2012 @ 2:30 pm.	Presentation of Research Plan	Site Mentor Approval of Plan
2.  Discuss plan with teacher and co-teacher to determine which classes would be most benefited by this study. Answer important Questions	B. Hutchinson, Teacher   D. Raynor, Co-teacher   J. Casey, Researcher	January 25, 2012 February 7, 2012	Class demographics   Common Assessment scores from past 5 CBAs	Diverse classes/sampling of target groups   Gaps between target groups and non-target groups
3.  Literature: Seek previously conducted research with focus on Mimio pad technology.	J. Casey, Researcher	January 27, 2012- January 29, 2012	Internet   Technology publications	Chart findings of others as reference
4.  Observations: Observe classes 1, 3, and 5 Focus: Engagement Successful Day	J. Casey, Researcher	February 8, 2012-February 16, 2012	Student engagement tool   Student success tool   Student Rosters	Chart observation data
5.   Student Survey: Administer student learning survey	Teacher & Co-teacher   J. Casey, Researcher	February 17, 2012	Student Learning Survey	Chart activities students chose as effective learning methods
6.  Using charts from Literature research, observation data, and learning surveys, discuss ways of integrating and implementing new learning strategies within the biology instruction.	J. Casey, Researcher   Teacher & Co-teacher	Begin February 23, 2012 – ongoing with each new objective.	Charts from observations, literature, and learning surveys   Upcoming objectives	Lesson/Unit Plans
7.  Implementation of new instructional strategies	Teacher & Co-Teacher   Campus Instructional Technologist   J. Casey, Researcher	March 5, 2012- June 5, 2012	Technology   Engagement tool   Success Measure Tool	Observations of engagement Student Success measure Common Assessments Daily Grades Unit exams Verbal communication
8.  Reflect on Data with biology teacher, co-teacher and Site Mentor to determine future actions for incoming students	J. Casey, Researcher   B. Baker, Site Mentor (Principal)   B. Hutchinson, Teacher   D. Raynor, Co-teacher	June 6, 2012	Common Assessments data August-May   Grades each 6 weeks   STAAR test results   Engagement Data   Student Achievement Data	Chart data from beginning to end to show trends
9.  Reflect on methods used  (What worked? What didn’t? What was useful?   What wasn’t?  How might I change the process?)  for incoming biology students?	J. Casey, Researcher   B. Baker, Site Mentor (Principal)	June 11, 2012- June 22, 2012	All student data   All charts, graphs, spreadsheets   Observation notes   Collection tools	Revise plan before August start
10.  Publish findings of preliminary year for campus teachers	J. Casey, researcher	Completed preliminary report by August 15, 2012	District Blog   Presentation to colleagues   Video posted on website   Brochure	Colleague Feedback