Teaching and aligning upper level mathematics classes to Michigan high school content expectations in an alternative education setting : approaches and issues

After teaching regular education secondary mathematics for seven years, I accepted a position in an alternative education high school. Over the next four years, the State of Michigan adopted new graduation requirements phasing in a mandate for all students to complete Geometry and Algebra 2 courses. Since many of my students were already struggling in Algebra 1, getting them through Geometry and Algebra 2 seemed like a daunting task. To better instruct my students, I wanted to know how other teachers in similar situations were addressing the new High School Content Expectations (HSCEs) in upper level mathematics. This study examines how thoroughly alternative education teachers in Michigan are addressing the HSCEs in their courses, what approaches they have found most effective, and what issues are preventing teachers and schools from successfully implementing the HSCEs. Twenty-six alternative high school educators completed an online survey that included a variety of questions regarding school characteristics, curriculum alignment, implementation approaches and issues. Follow-up phone interviews were conducted with four of these participants. The survey responses were used to categorize schools as successful, unsuccessful, and neutral schools in terms of meeting the HSCEs. Responses from schools in each category were compared to identify common approaches and issues among them and to identify significant differences between school groups. Data analysis showed that successful schools taught more of the HSCEs through a variety of instructional approaches, with an emphasis on varying the ways students learned the material. Individualized instruction was frequently mentioned by successful schools and was strikingly absent from unsuccessful school responses. The main obstacle to successful implementation of the HSCEs identified in the study was gaps in student knowledge. This caused pace of instruction to also be a significant issue. School representatives were fairly united against the belief that the Algebra 2 graduation requirement was appropriate for all alternative education students. Possible implications of these findings are discussed.

Effect of implementing project-based education in high school physics : file folder bridge engineering

Project-based education and portfolio assessments are at the forefront of educational research. This research follows the implementation of a project-based unit in a high school physics class. Students played the role of an engineering firm who designed, built and tested file folder bridges. The purpose was to determine if projectbased learning could improve student attitude toward science and related careers like engineering. Teams of students presented their work in a portfolio for a final assessment of the process of designing, building and testing their bridges.

Comparison of the effects of inquiry-based cooperative learning and demonstrations in science education

The reported research project involved studying how teaching science using demonstrations, inquiry-based cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two methods affected sixth grade students’ understanding of air pressure and density. Three different groups of students were each taught the two units using different teaching methods. Group one learned about the topics through both demonstrations and inquirybased cooperative learning, whereas group two only viewed demonstrations, and group three only participated in inquiry-based learning in cooperative learning groups. The study was designed to answer the following two questions: 1. Which teaching strategy works best for supporting student understanding of air pressure and density: demonstrations, inquirybased labs in cooperative learning groups, or a combination of the two? 2. And what effect does the time spent engaging in a particular learning experience (demonstrations or labs) have on student learning? Overall, the data did not provide sufficient evidence that one method of learning was more effective than the others. The results also suggested that spending more time on a unit does not necessarily equate to a better understanding of the concepts by the students. Implications for science instruction are discussed.

THE IMPACTS OF MITEP ON MY CAREER IN EDUCATION

MiTEP, the Michigan Teacher Excellence Program, provides current teachers the opportunity to partner with Michigan Technological University to obtain graduate credit towards a Master’s degree in applied science education. In exchange, the university collects data on the implementation of inquiry and earth science concepts into science classrooms. This paper documents my experience within this program, including how it has affected my personal and professional learning.

Is virtuality close enough to reality? A comparison of the effectiveness of simulations with traditional laboratory activities in a high school biology class

Some schools do not have ideal access to laboratory space and supplies. Computer simulations of laboratory activities can be a cost-effective way of presenting experiences to students, but are those simulations as effective at supplementing content concepts? This study compared the use of traditional lab activities illustrating the principles of cell respiration and photosynthesis in an introductory high school biology class with virtual simulations of the same activities. Additionally student results were analyzed to assess if student conceptual understanding was affected by the complexity of the simulation. Although all student groups posted average gain increases between the pre and post-tests coupled with positive effect sizes, students who completed the wet lab version of the activity consistently outperformed the students who completed the virtual simulation of the same activity. There was no significant difference between the use of more or less complex simulations. Students also tended to rate the wet lab experience higher on a motivation and interest inventory.

Clean water in the classroom : understanding the importance of water quality

This study’s objective was to answer three research questions related to students’ knowledge and attitudes about water quality and availability issues. It is important to understand what knowledge students have about environmental problems such as these, because today’s students will become the problem solvers of the future. If environmental problems, such as those related to water quality, are ever going to be solved, students must be environmentally literate. Several methods of data collection were used. Surveys were given to both Bolivian and Jackson High School students in order to comparison their initial knowledge and attitudes about water quality issues. To study the effects of instruction, a unit of instruction about water quality issues was then taught to the Jackson High School students to see what impact it would have on their knowledge. In addition, the learning of two different groups of Jackson High School students was compared—one group of general education students and a second group of students that were learning in an inclusion classroom and included special education students and struggling learners form the general education population. Student and teacher journals, a unit test, and postsurvey responses were included in the data set. Results suggested that when comparing Bolivian students and Jackson High School students, Jackson High School students were more knowledgeable concerning clean water infrastructure and its importance, despite the fact that these issues were less relevant to their lives than for their Bolivian counterparts. Although overall, the data suggested that all the Jackson High students showed evidence that the instruction impacted their knowledge, the advanced Biology students appeared to show stronger gains than their peers in an inclusion classroom.

Assessment of a high school geological field course

Fieldwork is supportive of students’ natural inquiry abilities. Educational research findings suggest that instructors can foster the growth of thinking skills and promote science literacy by incorporating active learning strategies (McConnel et al, 2003). Huntoon (2001) states that there is a need to determine optimal learning strategies and to document the procedure of assessing those optimal geoscience curricula. This study seeks to determine if Earth Space II, a high school geological field course, can increase students’ knowledge of selected educational objectives. This research also seeks to measure any impact Earth Space II has on students’ attitude towards science. Assessment of the Earth Space II course objectives provided data on the impact of field courses on high school students’ scientific literacy, scientific inquiry skills, and understanding of selected course objectives. Knowledge assessment was done using a multiple choice format test, the Geoscience Concept Inventory, and an open-ended format essay test. Attitude assessment occurred by utilizing a preexisting science attitude survey. Both knowledge assessments items showed a positive effect size from the pretest to the posttest. The essay exam effect size was 17 and the Geoscience Concept Inventory effect size was 0.18. A positive impact on students’ attitude toward science was observed by an increase in the overall mean Likert value from the pre-survey to the post-survey.

Occasional white boarding : examining the effects of physics students' understanding of motion graphs

The Modeling method of teaching has demonstrated well--‐documented success in the improvement of student learning. The teacher/researcher in this study was introduced to Modeling through the use of a technique called White Boarding. Without formal training, the researcher began using the White Boarding technique for a limited number of laboratory experiences with his high school physics classes. The question that arose and was investigated in this study is “What specific aspects of the White Boarding process support student understanding?” For the purposes of this study, the White Boarding process was broken down into three aspects – the Analysis of data through the use of Logger Pro software, the Preparation of White Boards, and the Presentations each group gave about their specific lab data. The lab used in this study, an Acceleration of Gravity Lab, was chosen because of the documented difficulties students experience in the graphing of motion. In the lab, students filmed a given motion, utilized Logger Pro software to analyze the motion, prepared a White Board that described the motion with position--‐time and velocity--‐time graphs, and then presented their findings to the rest of the class. The Presentation included a class discussion with minimal contribution from the teacher. The three different aspects of the White Boarding experience – Analysis, Preparation, and Presentation – were compared through the use of student learning logs, video analysis of the Presentations, and follow--‐up interviews with participants. The information and observations gathered were used to determine the level of understanding of each participant during each phase of the lab. The researcher then looked for improvement in the level of student understanding, the number of “aha” moments students had, and the students’ perceptions about which phase was most important to their learning. The results suggest that while all three phases of the White Boarding experience play a part in the learning process for students, the Presentations provided the most significant changes. The implications for instruction are discussed.

Attempting to improve standardized test results using Study Islands' web-based mastery program

State standardized testing has always been a tool to measure a school’s performance and to help evaluate school curriculum. However, with the school of choice legislation in 1992, the MEAP test became a measuring stick to grade schools by and a major tool in attracting school of choice students. Now, declining enrollment and a state budget struggling to stay out of the red have made school of choice students more important than ever before. MEAP scores have become the deciding factor in some cases. For the past five years, the Hancock Middle School staff has been working hard to improve their students’ MEAP scores in accordance with President Bush's “No Child Left Behind” legislation. In 2005, the school was awarded a grant that enabled staff to work for two years on writing and working towards school goals that were based on the improvement of MEAP scores in writing and math. As part of this effort, the school purchased an internet-based program geared at giving students practice on state content standards. This study examined the results of efforts by Hancock Middle School to help improve student scores in mathematics on the MEAP test through the use of an online program called “Study Island.” In the past, the program was used to remediate students, and as a review with an incentive at the end of the year for students completing a certain number of objectives. It had also been used as a review before upcoming MEAP testing in the fall. All of these methods may have helped a few students perform at an increased level on their standardized test, but the question remained of whether a sustained use of the program in a classroom setting would increase an understanding of concepts and performance on the MEAP for the masses. This study addressed this question. Student MEAP scores and Study Island data from experimental and comparison groups of students were compared to understand how a sustained use of Study Island in the classroom would impact student test scores on the MEAP. In addition, these data were analyzed to determine whether Study Island results provide a good indicator of students’ MEAP performance. The results of the study suggest that there were limited benefits related to sustained use of Study Island and gave some indications about the effectiveness of the mathematics curriculum at Hancock Middle School. These results and implications for instruction are discussed.

Effects of instructional changes on student learning of electrochemistry in an IB chemistry course

This study investigated the effectiveness of incorporating several new instructional strategies into an International Baccalaureate (IB) chemistry course in terms of how they supported high school seniors’ understanding of electrochemistry. The three new methods used were (a) providing opportunities for visualization of particle movement by student manipulation of physical models and interactive computer simulations, (b) explicitly addressing common misconceptions identified in the literature, and (c) teaching an algorithmic, step-wise approach for determining the products of an aqueous solution electrolysis. Changes in student understanding were assessed through test scores on both internally and externally administered exams over a two-year period. It was found that visualization practice and explicit misconception instruction improved student understanding, but the effect was more apparent in the short-term. The data suggested that instruction time spent on algorithm practice was insufficient to cause significant test score improvement. There was, however, a substantial increase in the percentage of the experimental group students who chose to answer an optional electrochemistry-related external exam question, indicating an increase in student confidence. Implications for future instruction are discussed.

Investigation of the effect of using data collection technology on students' attitudes to science instruction

The purpose of this project was to investigate the effect of using of data collection technology on student attitudes towards science instruction. The study was conducted over the course of two years at Madison High School in Adrian, Michigan, primarily in college preparatory physics classes, but also in one college preparatory chemistry class and one environmental science class. A preliminary study was conducted at a Lenawee County Intermediate Schools student summer environmental science day camp. The data collection technology used was a combination of Texas Instruments TI-84 Silver Plus graphing calculators and Vernier LabPro data collection sleds with various probeware attachments, including motion sensors, pH probes and accelerometers. Students were given written procedures for most laboratory activities and were provided with data tables and analysis questions to answer about the activities. The first year of the study included a pretest and posttest measuring student attitudes towards the class they were enrolled in. Pre-test and post-test data were analyzed to determine effect size, which was found to be very small (Coe, 2002). The second year of the study focused only on a physics class and used Keller’s ARCS model for measuring student motivation based on the four aspects of motivation: Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (Keller, 2010). According to this model, it was found that there were two distinct groups in the class, one of which was motivated to learn and the other that was not. The data suggest that the use of data collection technology in science classes should be started early in a student’s career, possibly in early middle school or late elementary. This would build familiarity with the equipment and allow for greater exploration by the student as they progress through high school and into upper level science courses.

Real-world context, interest, understanding, and retention

This study investigated the use of real-world contexts during instruction in a high school physics class - through building file folder bridges- and the resulting effect upon student interest in the subject matter, level of understanding, and degree of retention. In particular, the study focused upon whether increases in student interest were attained through the use of real-world contexts, and if the elevated interest level led to a higher degree of subject matter understanding than would be achieved using more traditional teaching methods. The study also determined whether using real-world contexts ultimately resulted in achievement of greater levels of knowledge retention by students. Class observations during traditionally taught units and during units that incorporated real-world contexts, along with a post-graduation questionnaire, were used to assess differences in student interest levels. Student pre- and post-unit test scores were evaluated and compared to determine if statistical differences existed in levels of understanding resulting from the different teaching methods. The post-graduation questionnaire results provided evidence of retention that could be related back to teaching methods. The results of this study revealed the importance of incorporating real-world contexts into science and mathematics courses. Students better understood the relevance of the lessons, which led to higher levels of interest and greater understanding than was achieved through more traditional teaching methods. The use of real-world contexts improved knowledge retention.

Improving sixth grade student knowledge of ecology using fish rearing and release as a real-world context

This research project measured the effects of real-world content in a science classroom by determining change (deep knowledge of life science content, including ecosystems from MDE – Grade Level Content Expectations) in a subset of students (6th Grade Science) that may result from the addition of curriculum (real-world content of rearing trout in the classroom). Data showed large gains from the pre-test to post-test in students from both the experimental and control groups. The ecology unit with the implementation of real-world content [trout] was even more successful, and improved students’ deep knowledge of ecosystem content from Michigan’s Department of Education Grade Level Content Expectations. The gains by the experimental group on the constructed response section of the test, which included higher cognitive level items, were significant. Clinical interviews after the post-test confirmed increases in deep knowledge of ecosystem concepts in the experimental group, by revealing that a sample of experimental group students had a better grasp of important ecology concepts as compared to a sample of control group students.