My Research Project
By Camille Braud
My research question
`Do children learn more in a
lesson with the help of
technology or without it?’
My hypothesis
Based on my personal experience, I predicted
that some children would feel greater
enjoyment and engagement when
technology was used in lessons but that
others would find it to be a distraction.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that
they do learn more and make more progress.
Lots of children don’t complete the work that
is set in a lesson if they are using technology
because they get distracted and drift off task.
Why ?
• I chose to research this topic because
lots of lessons are now being taught
using some form of technology.
• I was very curious as to whether
teaching in this way actually helped
children learn.
My method
• I spent a lot of time on my research. Rather
than relying solely on completed
questionnaires I decided that the best way to
collect the data I needed was to carry out a
controlled experiment. I planned a lesson, the
exact same lesson for 2 classes, one using
technology, the other relying on traditional
teaching methods. I also devised a
questionnaire for pupils, to find out additional
information.
What I did?
• I decided to do an experiment with 2
classes both of them in Year 7 and both
in top set.
• Red Band had a lesson without
technology and Blue Band had a lesson
using an interactive whiteboard.
• To make it a fair test both classes had
exactly the same lesson and the same
teacher
The number of girls who did not
think they learnt more with the
help of technology
data
The number of girls who
thought they learnt more
with the help of technology
3
7
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
The number of boys who
thought they didn’t learn
more with the help of
technology
More data
The number of boys who
thought they learnt more with
the help of technology
1
9
1st Qtr
2nd Qtr
Pre test
• These are the 20 spellings that my
teacher chose for for the pre test:
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Abhorrence
Behavior
Cacophony
Dichotomy
Eloquent
Particularly
Quintessential
Reiterate
Subtlety
Ubiquitous
The pre test was to find out
the averages of both Red
Band and Blue Band. Here
are my findings:
Red Band’s average: 6.7
Blue Band’s average: 5.9
Lesson
• The Red Band lesson, the one
without the use of technology,
helped them learn the 20 spellings.
In the lesson the children had to
find the meanings of the words then
put the words in the sentences to
demonstrate their understanding
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Spelling exercises – fill in the gaps
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1.
She turned her nose up in ______________ at the over-cooked sprouts.
2.
The children’s _______________ was appalling.
3.
My favourite _______________ of film is horror.
4.
Our homework was totally _______________ to the topic we were studying.
5.
The food was awful, _______________ the potatoes.
6.
The language teacher spoke _______________ French.
7.
The________________ of sound made me cringe.
8.
The choice I had to make was a real________________.
9.
The maths sum he worked out was________________.
10.
I had a ________________ craving for chocolate.
11.
His attitude to work was________________.
12.
Mr Brown hated teaching during third lesson because it was impossible to overcome his students’
________________ and capture their attention.
13.
The teacher used a __________________ assortment of teaching methods to help us learn.
14.
Warm coats were ________________for the ski trip to America.
15.
_______________, I would go to work today but since I am sick I am staying at home in the hope
of getting better.
16.
Beyond our solar system, the heavens are made up of only _______________elements
17.
Could you _______________ your sentence please?
18.
Netting over beds is made necessary by the _______________ mosquitoes that fill the jungle.
19.
As you get older you develop a wider range of_________________.
20.
Her delicate make-up was applied with great _________________.
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WORDS
NECESSARY
ELOQUENT
IRRELEVANT
PARTICULARLY
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HABITUAL
LASSITUDE
GENRE
MISCELLANEOUS
SUBTLETY
ORDINARILY
ERRONEOUS
UBIQUITOUS
REITERATE
VOCABULARY
JUDICIOUS
ABHORRENCE
CACOPHONY
BEHAVIOUR
DICHOTOMY
QUINTESSENTIAL
An observation…
As I got further into the project, it
occurred to me of course that
geniuses like Einstein and Charles
Darwin developed their intelligence
without the use of technology,
probably fuelled by books. Maybe
this will be reflected in my results!
The Blue Band lesson
• Blue Band’s lesson was exactly the
same as Red Band’s lesson, the only
difference being that it made use of
the interactive whiteboard. The
children had to come up to the
board and drag the words to the
sentences to demonstrate they
understood the meanings.
The questionnaire
• After the lesson I gave out a questionnaire to
find out whether the children enjoyed the
lesson.
• These are some of the questions I asked:
• Did you find the test hard?
• What part of the lesson did you enjoy most?
• What part of the lesson did you least enjoy?
The results
• After conducting the 2 experiments my
findings showed that both Red Band and Blue
Band scored a higher average than before.
However, it was clear that one class had learnt
more than the other class
before
after
Red Band = 6.7
Red Band =13.1
Blue Band = 5.9
Blue Band= 6.2
Extending my research
Future aims:
• In the future I would like to further develop the
project and carry out research into why some
children find it easier to learn with technology
and why some find it harder.
• Also I would have like to research why so much
technology has been introduced into lessons,
extending my research to gather staff views as
these might differ from those of the pupils I
canvassed.
Does anyone
have any
questions?