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Faculty Mini-Grant 9: Ginny Hamilton and Krista Maxson
Assessment of activity – based learning versus traditional lecture
Proposal to the South East Ohio Center for Excellence in Mathematics and Science (SEOCEMS)
A faculty Mini- Grant
Submitted by
Professor Ginny Hamilton and Dr. Krista Maxson
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Shawnee State University
940 Second Street
Portsmouth, OH. 45662
Voice: 740-351-3342 or 740-351-3340
Fax: 740-351-3584
e-mail: ghamilton@shawnee.edu and kmaxson@shawnee.edu
Purpose of this Proposal:
The purpose of this project is to investigate the effect different teaching techniques have on student achievement. In particular we want to determine if students taught using an activity-based lesson incorporating the use of manipulatives perform better than students taught in a more traditional method. Research shows that students who are involved in activity based learning gain a better understanding of mathematics. “Both Pestalozzi, in the 19th century, and Montessori, in the early 20th century, advocated the active involvement of children in the learning process. In every decade since 1940, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has encouraged the use of manipulatives at all grade levels.” (Hartshorn-Boren 1990).
Much of the research on the use of manipulatives has been aimed at elementary age students or students with disabilities (Berkas – Pattison 2007, Backer, B. 2002 and Freer Weiss 2006) and we would like to investigate this issue for students in a regular classroom in the middle grades. “There has been a great deal of research on the use and efficacy of manipulatives for elementary – age students, as well as students with disabilities, but the research on the use of manipulatives for older students and higher – level mathematics is conspicuously lacking.” (Freer Weiss 2006)
In this project, a group of public school teachers that completed the summer ENABL workshop in grades 4-8 will test this theory. Each teacher will teach the same content to two different classes, one using an activity-based approach and the second using the traditional lecture approach. Both classes will be given the same assessment and the results will be compared to determine if either group of students demonstrated a better understanding of the material. This study will also help us evaluate the ENABL project that SEOCEMS funded for $98,527.50.
Investigative Process:
Teachers who participated in the ENABL workshops this summer that teach two sections of the same class will pick a content area that they will teach using different qpproaches in the different sections. One section will have the content covered using an activity based lesson while the other section will be taught more traditionally using the lecture approach.
Teachers will select two sections with students of comparable ability. The current grades of students in the two courses will be used to determine how closely the student capabilities of each class match.
Both sections will take the same assessment that covers the content and the results will be gathered. The content will be graded using a rubric created by the instructor in consultation with the principle investigators. The assessment, to be given in both sections, will also be developed in consultation with the principle investigators.
The activities and lectures will be developed in consultation with the principle investigators. The covered content will be a part of the normal content for the course as reflected in the Ohio Mathematics Content Standards. The principle investigators will serve as a resource for the teacher as the lessons are prepared.
Phase I -Summary of Activities:
Volunteers from the ENABL workshop were recruited during the October 3, and October 4 follow up dates.
? The volunteers are:
? Brenda Bays - Northwest Middle School
? school: 259-2528
? Melissa Payton - Zane Trace
? cell: (740) 708-0845
? Amanda Veach - Zahn's Middle School
? (740) 222-8085
? (740) 493-1542
? Jeremie Spriggs - Adena Elementary
? (740) 998-2358
? Diann Kelley - South Point Elementary
? School: (740) 377-2756
There were four volunteers from the October 3rd, follow-up session that we did not get the contact information from at the time. This will be updated after the next ENABL follow up sessions to be held the first Friday and Saturday of December.
It should be noted that the volunteers teach a variety of grade levels and will not be teaching the same content as other participants.
Determination of content to be covered and development of activities and lecture will be unique to each participant. Each teacher will determine what content he or she wants to use for the lesson. The content used in this project will be chosen from the content that would normally be a part of the curriculum at the teachers’ grade levels.
The principle investigators will help the teacher develop activity-based materials for the selected content to be used with the students.
Lessons will be taught at a time appropriate for the content in the course curriculum with all lessons and assessments completed by the end of April, 2009. Copies of all assessments will be submitted to the principle investigators for comparison. Student names will be removed from the assessments with only a designation of the type of teaching approach used to identify participants. The teacher may use a number system to retain identification of students.
Assessments will be given as part of the students’ normal evaluation and used for the course grade. The same assessment will be used in both classes, so the results can be considered for the course grades without difficulty.
The assessments will be graded using a rubric that will be developed by the instructor in consultation with principle investigators. The instructor will have primary control of the rubric with the principle investigators providing resources and advice about the development of the rubric and its use. The rubric will reflect a scheme which can be used to award partial credit for work shown by students. The work will provide additional evidence of student understanding of the included material. If errors are primarily basic computational errors, they will not be considered with the same level of concern as errors related to the taught materials.
Data, to be gathered by the principle investigators, will include samples of the activity-based lesson used to teach the material and instructor-provided information about the lecture used with the students and how it was presented and what examples were given (this will most likely be a part of a prepared lesson plan). Copies of the actual student assessments will be collected with student names removed but with each marked with an identification as to the presentation method used for that student. Rubrics used to score the assessment will be included with the submitted assessments. Based on the data provided and the actual student scores on the assessment, a comparison of student achievement of those students who participated in an activity-based lesson versus a lecture-presented lesson will be made to determine if there is a significant difference in the student achievement. Since the same teacher will be teaching both classes and students of comparable ability will be used, a link should be possible between the aggregate difference in student achievement and the teaching presentation type.
Plan for Assessing Effectiveness:
Project effectiveness will be determined based on a number of factors. The following will be used to determine how effective the project is:
- The students in each class will be asked to write a short 5-minute essay about how comfortable they feel with the material taught at the end of the lesson or the next day. This can be done in a journal-type entry.
- Each participating teacher will complete a survey of his/her feelings about how the two lessons went with the students. Questions about how the teacher perceives the students’ reception of the lessons, how well the student was able to answer questions, what kinds of questions the students asked during the lesson, how comfortable the teacher was teaching using activity-based and lecture approaches, and the teacher’s general comments and feelings about the lessons will be included. All of the participating teachers have prior experience teaching, so they will also be asked to reflect on how well the lesson went this time as compared to past experiences with teaching this lesson.
- The results of the assessments showing students’ performance that were taught using the lecture approach and the activity-based approach will be examined to determine if differences appear between the two levels of student achievement. The data from the entire group of participants will be aggregated to see if there is evidence of an overall difference in student achievement between the two types of presentations.
Results will be written into a report that will be submitted for publication in mathematics education journals.
A presentation of results will be done at the regional conference.
Results will be made available to all participants of the summer 2008 ENABL workshop. This workshop was designed to promote activity-based teaching. A summer 2009 ENABL workshop is projected and the results of this project will also be shared with the participants of that workshop.
Results of the project will be submitted to the SEOCEMS for dissemination.
Budget Sources
SEOCEMS Faculty Mini-Grant, $5,000
Berkas, N., and Pattison, C. Manipulatives: More Than a Special Education Intervention, NCTM News Bulletin, November 2007.
Freer Weiss, D. Keeping it Real: The Rationale for Using manipulatives in the Middle Grades, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Volume 11, Issue 5, P 238, January 2006.
Hartshorn, R. and Boren, S. Experiential Learning of mathematics: Using manipulatives., ERIC Digest, June 1990.
Backer, B. Manipulatives: Tools for active learning. Early Childhood News. 2002
