Artifact 8 Analysis
Context:
In order to teach students about the five different kinds of chemical reactions, I taught this material to them in three different ways. I gave a mini-lecture on it using a PowerPoint, I had them work in groups on a worksheet, and then I had them do an extended homework assignment in which they were told to present the 5 different reactions on a visual in any manner that they wanted. I then had students take a survey on which method of instruction helped them to learn the material best, and then I did an item analysis on their quiz results.
Analysis of Artifact/Relationship to Focus of Inquiry/Future Implications:
According to the quiz results, the majority of people got every single question right. For question number 1, 29/31 people got it right, for question #2, all 31 students got it right, for question number 3, 26/31 student got it right, and for question number 4, 27/31 student got it right. This leads me to conclude that the students, for the most part, did retain the content material.
This may also have been because there was not very much content material—as shown on the PowerPoint, there is not very much content material for these 5 reactions—just the formula of the reaction, the definition of the reaction itself, and then what happened in the reaction. Maybe students did so well because there was not very much to remember. On the other hand, they may also have done well because many different forms of instruction were used. The in-class lecture covered the auditory and visual multiple intelligences because students were listening to me present the material and seeing the pictures that I put in the screen, students got to use the interpersonal and logical/mathematical intelligences when they were working together in group to solve the problems, and then they used their visual intelligences to create the visuals for the chemical reactions extended homework.
The survey then asked the students one question: which method of instruction helped you to learn the material best and why?
Of the 29 students that answered, 6 of them chose the lecture, 15 of them chose the in-class group work, and 8 of them chose the extended homework. I was surprised by the number of students who chose the in-class lecture because I had thought that all students hated lecture—that was after all, my basis for including so many different kinds of differentiation in my study. Most of the people who chose lecture cited reasons based on the fact that they like getting the “right” information from the teacher, and they learn best that way. This supports what I found in Artifact 1—some students need the lecture, and learn best that way. This may be because they are strongest with their auditory and visual intelligences, and need those stimulated to learn best.
Ergo, these results support that student do learn differently, and retain content material best with different methods of instruction that are being used in the classroom depending on who they are.
Furthermore, these results surprised me because I would have thought that student would choose the very last activity, because this would be the activity that repeated the material the most times, and so students might be more likely to get it. In Artifact 4, most students chose the very last activity in the series of three, which I took to mean that they needed repetition of the content material in order for it to stick. On the other hand, for this content material, they chose the second activity, which refutes my previous hypothesis. They mostly said this was because they got to work with others and have them explain it in a different way. In fact, both of the activities that the students chose were the activities that related somehow to group work. This leads me to conclude that students will opt for the activity that allows them to work in groups, which leads me to wonder--does group work help student to retain the content material better than individual work?
For future research, I would like to study group work and how it affects content knowledge retention. Do students learn content material better when their peers are teaching them? Is this just another form of repetition that they like? On the flip side, does group work lead to misconceptions about the content material?
In order to teach students about the five different kinds of chemical reactions, I taught this material to them in three different ways. I gave a mini-lecture on it using a PowerPoint, I had them work in groups on a worksheet, and then I had them do an extended homework assignment in which they were told to present the 5 different reactions on a visual in any manner that they wanted. I then had students take a survey on which method of instruction helped them to learn the material best, and then I did an item analysis on their quiz results.
Analysis of Artifact/Relationship to Focus of Inquiry/Future Implications:
According to the quiz results, the majority of people got every single question right. For question number 1, 29/31 people got it right, for question #2, all 31 students got it right, for question number 3, 26/31 student got it right, and for question number 4, 27/31 student got it right. This leads me to conclude that the students, for the most part, did retain the content material.
This may also have been because there was not very much content material—as shown on the PowerPoint, there is not very much content material for these 5 reactions—just the formula of the reaction, the definition of the reaction itself, and then what happened in the reaction. Maybe students did so well because there was not very much to remember. On the other hand, they may also have done well because many different forms of instruction were used. The in-class lecture covered the auditory and visual multiple intelligences because students were listening to me present the material and seeing the pictures that I put in the screen, students got to use the interpersonal and logical/mathematical intelligences when they were working together in group to solve the problems, and then they used their visual intelligences to create the visuals for the chemical reactions extended homework.
The survey then asked the students one question: which method of instruction helped you to learn the material best and why?
Of the 29 students that answered, 6 of them chose the lecture, 15 of them chose the in-class group work, and 8 of them chose the extended homework. I was surprised by the number of students who chose the in-class lecture because I had thought that all students hated lecture—that was after all, my basis for including so many different kinds of differentiation in my study. Most of the people who chose lecture cited reasons based on the fact that they like getting the “right” information from the teacher, and they learn best that way. This supports what I found in Artifact 1—some students need the lecture, and learn best that way. This may be because they are strongest with their auditory and visual intelligences, and need those stimulated to learn best.
Ergo, these results support that student do learn differently, and retain content material best with different methods of instruction that are being used in the classroom depending on who they are.
Furthermore, these results surprised me because I would have thought that student would choose the very last activity, because this would be the activity that repeated the material the most times, and so students might be more likely to get it. In Artifact 4, most students chose the very last activity in the series of three, which I took to mean that they needed repetition of the content material in order for it to stick. On the other hand, for this content material, they chose the second activity, which refutes my previous hypothesis. They mostly said this was because they got to work with others and have them explain it in a different way. In fact, both of the activities that the students chose were the activities that related somehow to group work. This leads me to conclude that students will opt for the activity that allows them to work in groups, which leads me to wonder--does group work help student to retain the content material better than individual work?
For future research, I would like to study group work and how it affects content knowledge retention. Do students learn content material better when their peers are teaching them? Is this just another form of repetition that they like? On the flip side, does group work lead to misconceptions about the content material?