To Determine if Technology Can Help To Improve
Student Retention And Raise Test Grades?
Anjum Najmi
CECS 5610/030
Dr. Knezek
Spring 2006
Objective
To evaluate if technology (Inspiration software) can improve student
retention and raise test grades for at risk students at the middle school level.
Perspective & Theoretical Framework
Numerous research and findings, on everyday experiences of educators,
students, and their families indicate that technology can enhance
achievement for all students. The process of learning is made significantly
richer for them as student’s access new and different types of information.
Positive effects have been found in all major subject areas from preschool
through higher education, and for both regular education and special needs
students. Technology is seen to improve student attitudes towards learning
and increase self-concept. Computer-based instruction motivates, it gives
students greater self-esteem and more self-confidence. This is particularly
true when learners are allowed to control their own learning. Students work
at their own pace, take more initiative and learn independently. Thus,
technology in the learning environment makes learning student-centered,
more cooperative and increases teacher/student interaction. However,
specific student population, software design, teacher’s role, and student
access to technology can influence the level of learning achieved (Chang,
Kuo-En & Lin, Shiu-Feng).
Other factors that impact the use of technology are student motivation
and attitude towards learning. Literature on classroom learning shows that
motivation plays an important role in student learning and achievement.
When motivated, students approach challenging tasks eagerly, they continue
to persist when faced with difficulty, and take pleasure in the tasks they
achieve. Research shows that instructional context, strongly affects student
motivation. Instructional materials that are challenging, give students
choices, and promote perceived autonomy and self-determination, tend to
create positive effects on motivation. Similarly, students with positive
attitudes are more likely to sustain their efforts and have the desire to be
involved in the learning process than students who dislike learning (Liu,
Min). Technology can be used to promote student motivation and desire to
learn.
The use of technology in the classroom is directly related to support,
both in training and in equipment functionality. If the teachers aren’t trained
on the software, or the lack of properly working equipment frustrates
teachers and students’ attempts to use technology, the process will fail.
“Teachers need to be facilitators and students need to be allowed to use
technology as a tool, which helps them to collect, analyze, and create major
projects.” Thus, consistent use of technology can help to improve student
performance and increase grades, especially of those students that have low
scores and are considered at-risk.
Recent findings indicate that at-risk students are deprived of learning
by not being challenged enough and are not being given, the chance to use
complete thinking skills. Findings suggest that technology when used in the
classroom as a learning tool can help to provide authentic learning
opportunities for such students. Technology is seen as a way to address some
of these challenges. Its’ associative, and interactive capabilities allow
students to access information according to their own learning needs and
provide information to them in a more efficient manner. Its use in the class
as a learning tool results in better long-term content retention than traditional
instruction (Muir-Herzig, Rozalind G). Thus, technology helps to promote
and encourage a learning environment in which problem solving and
intellectual inquiry can flourish.
The purpose of this study is to determine the effect that computer
technology has in the classroom on student performance and on the grades
of at-risk students. Are student attitudes, behavior, and knowledge
influenced, when a particular strategy or use of software is implemented?
Research Hypothesis
To determine the effectiveness of technology (Inspiration software) in
improving student retention and raising test grades for at risk students in
middle school.
Method & Procedure
It is a two way mixed design with random assignment of groups. The
between-group independent variable is the control group (not using
inspiration software) and experimental group (using the inspiration
software), while with-in group independent variable is ‘test’ divided into pre
& post-tests. The dependant variable is student test scores of pre & posttests, downloaded from the Classroom Performance System.
Students participating in the study are 150 sixth-grade students
selected from four middle schools. Students in technology applications must
learn several computer programs i.e. software applications such as wordprocessing, spreadsheets, power point presentations, desktop publishing,
keyboarding, the Internet and web design. In addition they are required to
increase their knowledge of 200 glossary words presented in the semester.
They must learn the words and their definitions. Because of time constraints
this method seems to be the best and most expedient way to get the
information to students.
Students have four tests for the technology applications class. Test
grades are extremely low for the current year as well as for previous years.
Class averages in the 50’s and 60’s indicate students have not been studying
the terms. Even though these grades are extremely low, the failure rate in
this class is less than 5% per year since students do much better on projects
than they do on tests.
The study spans over 6 weeks, with one pretest, one post-test and
eight problem solving practice sessions (twice a week, 40 min each). The
pre-test (50 min) is to determine their previous level for knowing the
vocabulary. It is given a week before the formal experiment is to start.
Students in the control group will copy glossary words from a power-point
presentation, write the terms and their definitions in a spiral and use that as a
review sheet for learning. Students in the experimental group use
Inspiration software to set up review sheets that will help them to diagram
the glossary words, their meanings and their definitions. This should be a
better study guide for them to use. In this way the review process will be
more meaningful, creative and fun to work with. If the process is creative
and “fun” they will use their higher level thinking skills to create diagrams
to learn the glossary terms and their definitions. Subsequently their retention
of the word definitions will improve. At week six, the experimental and
control groups will be given a post-test (50 min).
An increase in tests scores between the pre-tests and the post-tests will
indicate that the research was successful, a decrease would indicate that
either the process wasn’t followed or the research was unsuccessful.
Students staying on task with the Inspiration diagram will also be a good
indication that the results would be favorable.
Design
The experimental design is a pretest-posttest control group design
(Campbell & Stanley).
R
O
X
O
R
O
O
Internal Validity
The research is easily monitored by reviewing student work and prior
test grades and are 80% based on glossary terms. They are available from
the Classroom Performance System. The system also provides individual
question analysis, which provides feedback on specific questions. The
students Inspiration diagrams are graded as separate assignments to insure
that the process is followed. The data is free from bias as there is very little
human assessment. The computer grades the multiple-choice tests, while the
Inspiration diagrams are free from interpretation bias, as they are either done
correctly or not.
External Validity
The method is easily followed in any other class or location that has
the ability to follow the process, with computers available to students, and
teachers who wish to implement the procedure. Another teacher should be
able to get the same results with the same group of children if the same
process is followed.
Table 1.
Group
Experimental
Control
N
75
75
Pretest
Mean
SD
E/M 1
E/SD1
C/M1
C/SD1
Post-test
Mean
E/M2
C/M2
SD
E/SD2
C/SD2
Data Analysis
The means and standard deviations of student scores are downloaded
from the Classroom-Performance System and are determined for the pretest
and post-test scores. A significance level of p<0.05 is adopted. A
homogeneity test can be considered to check for variances within groups
(control & experimental) since sample size may vary. A two-way mixed
design analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to determine possible
significance between-group differences and possible significant withingroup differences. The idea is to determine the average difference between
the group means relative to the average amount of variance within groups.
This will allow the F-value to be found, which would help to determine if
the differences are statistically significant enough to be important. Using the
F-value would help to reduce the incidence of error.
Educational Significance
The study attempts to evaluate technology and its effectiveness in
improving student retention and raising test scores, for at risk students.
Using Inspiration software to learn glossary terms and definitions it attempts
to capitalize on students’ active involvement in the learning process.
Technology allows students’ to take charge of their learning and keeps them
challenged and motivated. One of the main factors taken into consideration
when evaluating learning strategies is cognitive load. Technology provides
two advantages: (1) decreasing the cognitive load and frustration in learning,
through the system’s guidance and feedback and (2) improving students’
retention by using a step-by-step approach. Through the use of technology
(Inspiration software) students are able to visualize the terms and their
meanings and maintain a clear distinction between the words and definitions.
They can create diagrams and meaningful graphics, and use higher-level
thinking skills to learn the glossary terms and definitions. They learn a stepby-step approach to learning. In this way they have a better study guide to
prepare from and learning becomes more meaningful and challenging. This
type of learning is of benefit to students in special education as it is visual
and graphic and easy to follow. Technology allows the teacher more time to
focus on issues where she can be of more use. Findings can be reported to
the students, teachers and administrators involved. If the results are positive
a report can be done district wide or shared at an in-service meeting. Other
teachers can implement the approach in their classrooms or use diagrams for
review with other material. Thus, technology provides a cost effective way
to learn. When used consistently it offers students a way to make learning
meaningful giving them a chance to improve their performance and raise
their grades.
References
1. Chang, Kuo-En & Lin, Shiu-Feng. (2006). Computer-Assisted Learning
for Mathematical Problem Solving. Computers and Education. Vol. 46, Issue
2. Pages 140-151. National Taiwan University. Department of Information
and Computer Education. Retrieved March 3rd, 2006 from:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?
2. Campbell, D., Stanley, J. (1963). Experimental and Quasi-Experimental
Designs for Research Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
3. Liu, Min. (2006) The Effect of a Hypermedia Learning Environment on
Middle School Students' Motivation, Attitude, and Science Knowledge.
Computers in the Schools. Vol 22, Issue: 3/4 159-171 The Haworth Press,
Inc. Retrieved March 6th, 2006 from
https://www.haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?sid=X00GALFRM
C8M9L1N5RKQFTPSX1FGAG12&ID=60087
4. Muir-Herzig, Rozalind G. (2004). Technology and its Impact in the
Classroom. Computers & Education. Pages 111-131. Volume 42, Issue 2.
Retrieved April 2nd, 2006 from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VCJ-497YSWN
1/2/c7676ca2e82b6047f30264946da069a9
5. Urdan, Timothy C. (2005). Statistics in Plain English. Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates. New Jersey.