How can giving ELL students access
to learning games on a computer
help them learn in the classroom?
By: Lisa Cruz
Table of Contents
Problem…………………………………………………..3
Research Question…………………………………..4
Research Process…………………………………….5
Experimental Design……………………………….6
Threats To Validity………………………………..7-9
Graphs and Charts…………………………………10
Discussion and Results…………………………..12
Problems
• Children aren’t engaged in the classroom
• Students aren’t learning
• Other sources to help them aren't being taken
Hypothesis: Could using computer games help increase
students test scores and help increase their
engagement during teacher lead lessons?
Research Questions
1) How can giving ELL students access to learning games on a
computer help them learn in the classroom?
2) How can helping ELL children learn using computer games, help
them stay focused during class lessons?
Research Process
Research Questions
Method 1
How can giving ELL students
Pre and post
testing
access to learning games on a
computer help them learn in the
classroom?
How can helping ELL children
learn using computer games,
help them stay focused in
classroom lessons?
Method 2
Method 3
Observations Interviews
Questionnaires Observations Interviews
-Students and teacher will take surveys and be interviewed
-Students will take pre and post test that will be used as evidence of change
-Students will interact with Math learning games on the computer, three times
a week for four weeks.
- After experiment teacher will be interview about any changes in students
behaviors during class.
Experimental Design
This is a pre and post test quantitative experimental design. The students
will not be selected at random and they are ELL from the same first grade
classroom. This experimental design is a four week long experiment,
where three times a week 15 students will interact with educational math
computer games for 45 minutes each time.
Symbolic Design
O- Test scores prior to experiment
X- Four week experiment
O- Test scores after experiment
Sample survey questions for students
On a rating form 1- 5 How much do you like math?
On a rating from 1-5 How interested do you think you are in
math class lessons
Threats to Validity
Threats to Internal Validity
1-History: This is a valid threat because I cannot control what video games
the children are accustom to playing and how they will react to playing the
educational games.
2-Testing/Pre-test Sensitization: This could be a threat do my research due
to the fact that I will be using a pre and post test that contain the same
questions. Once students have seen the test questions they may have
remembered their previous answers and answer the same way without
trying to solve it.
3- Mortality: This could be a valid threat to my research because if
something occurs and a student or students are not present for the
duration of the experiment, it could affect the outcome of their learning.
Threats to Validity Continuation
4- Statistical Regression: This could be a threat based on the fact
that the participants are all at different level of learning, and some
might have a greater change then others. Also the experiment is
being done on a small sample of students.
5- Differential Selection of Subjects: This could be a threat because
the participants will all be at different levels when the study starts.
6- Selection-Maturation Interaction: This may be a factor because
some students have the ability to learn things faster than others.
Since the research is over a short period of time, some students
may be able to learn and use what they have learned while other
may need more time to successfully put it into use.
Threats to Validity Continuation
Treats to External Validity
1- Generalizable Conditions: This can be a threat because this same
research can be duplicated and the results may be different.
2- Selection Treatment Interaction: this may be a major threat
because the participants are all English language learners from the
same class, and school. They will not be selected at random.
3- Specificity of Variables: I will be trying very hard to not make this
a treat. I will try to make sure I do everything I can while creating
assignments that are easily measured.
Graphs and charts
Students
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
Pre Test
11
13
9
12
11
11
14
13
10
12
13
12
13
13
11
Post Test
18
18
18
19
20
16
20
17
17
19
19
19
20
18
19
Based on the information
from the pre and post test
placed in a graph, we can see
that all of the students had
improvement in their math
scores. Some of the scores
improved more than others.
Math Test Scores
20
Test Scores
15
10
5
0
A B C D E
F G H
I
Students
J
K
L M N O
pre test scores
post test scores
Pre test average- 11.86
Post test average- 18.46
Increase- 6.6%
Graphs and charts
10
Y- Axis Points Increased by on test
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
X- Axis student engagement
X- Axis is how engaged ELL students are with Math computer
games
Y- Axis is how well ELL students do on Post Math test
Liker Scale Not engaged
very engaged
engaged
1
2
3
4
5
6
Students
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
X- Axis
Y- Axis
5
3
5
4
4
3
3
1
3
5
3
4
3
2
5
My independent variable (X-Axis) is a
rating of how the students feel they rank
on their engagement with the math
game.
My dependent variable (Y-Axis) is the
amount of points if any each students
improved by on the post test.
The data shows a strong positive
correlation between my independent
and dependent variables.
7
5
9
7
8
5
6
4
7
7
6
6
6
5
8
Discussion and Results
This results shows that the more involved students
are with the math computer games, the better they
do on math test.
Based on the results from My action research project
and reviewed literature, I can say that educational
computer games have a strong positive correlation with
students increased learning in math and increased
engagement during other class lessons.
I can also concluded that including technology and
learning aspects that children enjoy will increase their
engagement in the classroom, based on my results.