Using Action Research To Empower North Carolina Educators A Race to the Top Initiative NC Department of Public Instruction Educator Effectiveness Division Increasing Student
Competence Beliefs
through Differentiated
Learning Cycles
Molly Bostic
Wake County Schools
Heritage High School
Explore Differentiated
Learning Cycles
•  Part A: Differentation
•  Part B: Learning Cycles
Image Courtesy of Akron Global Polymer Academy
Differentiated Learning Cycles
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What is Action Research? Systematic inquiry conducted by teachers and other educators to =ind solutions for critical, challenging, relevant issues in their classrooms and schools. Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014 What is Action Research? Main Goals Include: • Positively impact student outcomes • Identify and promote effective instructional practices • Create opportunities for teachers to become re=lective practitioners • Share research results with other educators Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014 What is Action Research? A systematic research process to: ●  Identify an area of focus (critical, challenging issue) ●
●
Develop an action research plan Implement action research plan in classroom/
school ●
Collect, analyze, and interpret data ●
Share =indings to inform practice Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014 What was the study?
•  Purpose: Increase student competence
beliefs in chemistry through the use of
differentiated learning cycles
•  Focus group: 50 students in basic level
(non-Honors) Chemistry during Fall
2014 semester
•  Differentiated learning cycles were
utilized during the course of every unit
What does the Research
Show?
•  Student competence beliefs in math
decrease during middle school and do
not ever return to elementary school
levels
•  Learning cycles increase student
engagement
•  When technology is utilized during
learning cycles, engagement increases
Why is this the focus?
•  Learning cycles are proven to increase
student level of understanding
•  Students often give up easily in chemistry,
thinking it is too hard and they do not
attempt to complete the assignment
•  Class discussions are more productive
when all students have a level of
background knowledge that can be utilized
during the discussion
What are Differentiated
Learning Cycles?
Expansion
Exploration
Concept
development
What did the Learning Cycle
look like in Chemistry?
•  Exploration
– A full class period devoted to reviewing
content knowledge and connecting to new
content knowledge through differentiated
activities
•  Concept development
– Class discussions and activities to build new
content knowledge
•  Expansion
– Labs, projects, and tests
The Data
A look at the results of the study
What does the data show?
•  Students work well during Explore work time:
they must work independently and need to be
trained to do this
•  Students choose a variety of activities to
complete: some use textbooks while some
use phones
•  Students do not always complete Explore for
homework
•  When students see the utility of completing
the Explore, completion rates are higher
Survey Data: EXPLORE
•  Students responding that the EXPLORE
activities help them to understand the
content in the unit:
–  Midterm survey: 63%
–  End-of-year survey: 57%
Survey Data: Difficulty
•  Students reporting difficulty of MATH
assignments (1 very hard to 7 very
easy). Mean response:
–  Beginning survey: 4.12
–  Midterm survey: 4.05
–  End-of-year survey: 3.94
Survey Data: Difficulty
•  Students reporting difficulty of
SCIENCE assignments (1 very hard to
7 very easy). Mean Response:
–  Beginning survey: 4.33
–  Midterm survey: 4.49
–  End-of-year survey: 4.46
Survey Data: Skill Perception
•  How good at MATH are you (1 not good
at all to 7 very good)? Mean Response:
–  Beginning survey: 4.23
–  Midterm survey: 4.48
–  End-of-year survey: 4.34
Survey Data: Skill Perception
•  How good at SCIENCE are you (1 not
good at all to 7 very good)? Mean
Response:
–  Beginning survey: 4.37
–  Midterm survey: 4.51
–  End-of-year survey: 4.4
Homework Completion Data
Homework Completion
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Percentage who tried, but it was too hard
13
14
15
16
17
18
Percent of homework complete
19
20
21
22
23
Survey Data
•  When you do not complete your
homework, what is usually the reason?
–  Students responding that they tried, but it
was too hard
•  Beginning survey: 56%
•  Midterm survey: 37%
•  End-of-year survey: 34%
Conclusions and
Questions
What was gained from the action research
project?
What questions remain to be answered?
Conclusions
•  Homework completion depends on
many factors, including the difficulty of
the assignment and what students must
balance at home
•  Even though students reported an
increase in the difficulty of the subject,
overall homework completion did not
decline
Conclusions
•  Collecting data on homework completion
was very telling, for both the instructor and
the student and allowed for adjusted
instruction. All incomplete homework was
coded:
–  Tried to complete it, but it was too hard
–  Forgot to complete it
–  Too busy to complete it
–  Didn’t want to complete it
Conclusions
•  When an increased number of “Tried,
but too hard” responses was observed,
changes were made to homework
assignment:
–  More support in the classroom
–  Fewer problems to complete at home
–  Flexible pacing with the unit
Conclusions
•  The differentiation in the EXPLOREs
provide a niche for the students to seek
out opportunities to showcase their own
interests and learn at their own pace.
•  The literacy component provided
application for the course to show its
relevance.
Questions
•  The number of students reporting they
were more likely to give up and wait to get
help increased from 7% to 31% from the
first to final survey. Why did this number
increase?
•  Go to the teacher for help increased
through the study, as well. Measuring 19%
to 9% then to 20%
•  Options that showed a decline were: find
the answers online, ask a friend, or find
the answers in a book
Questions
•  It does appear as though students did
increase in resilience to some degree,
but is it because of the EXPLORE
activities, or something else?
References • CAB - For Researchers. (n.d.). In Childhood and Beyond.
Retrieved from http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu/cab/research.htm
• Elliot, A. J., & Dweck, C. S. (Eds.). (2013). Handbook of
competence and motivation. Guilford Publications.
• Liu, T., Peng, H., Wu, W., & Lin, M. (2009). The Effects of Mobile
Natural-Science Learning Based on the 5E Learning Cycle: A
Case Study. Educational Technology & Society, 12(4), 344-358.
• Marek, E. A. (2008). Why the Learning Cycle?. Journal Of
Elementary Science Education, 20(3), 63-69.
• Stipek, D., & Mac Iver, D. (1989). Developmental Change in
Children's Assessment of Intellectual Competence. Child
Development, 60(3), 521-38.
• Wigfield, A., & Eccles, J. S. (1994). Children's competence
beliefs, achievement values, and general self-esteem change
across elementary and middle school. The Journal of Early
Adolescence, 14(2), 107-138.
Questions about the study?
Differentiated Learning Cycles
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Group Time!
•  Find someone who teaches in your
content area
•  Discuss possible ways you can
incorporate differentiated learning
cycles into your classroom
•  Consider:
–  Units
–  Types of activities
–  Timelines for your course
Contact Information
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Molly Bostic
Heritage High School
Wake County Public Schools
mbostic@wcpss.net
http://gtnpd57.ncdpi.wikispaces.net