Effect of Technology on Enthusiasm for learning Geometry

The Effectiveness of the Use of Technology on Interest in Learning Geometry in a Summer School Credit Recovery Class

Most kids know more about technology than we do!

By using technology in my Geometry summer school class, it will allow me to engage and challenge my students; it will get them thinking, trying, and working hard on geometry problems. The use of technology in and away from school will promote engagement and will motivate my students to learn geometry.

Technology could be the tool

I need to promote

engagement and to motivate kids to learn geometry during summer.

SU_14 Geo

Benchmark: (20 pts for each day) Total max of 100 points each week

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5

Last Name First Name Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade

xxxxxx Rachel 40 60 75 70 80

xxxxxx Taylor 30 55 75 60 75

xxxxxx Kayla 65 70 80 75 80

xxxxxx Bokorimana 30 75 70 90 90

xxxxxx Arlaeth 10 70 55 60 70

xxxxxx Mohamed 60 65 80 80 85

xxxxxx Michael 55 70 65 70 70

xxxxxx Michelle 35 55 70 65 75

xxxxxx Gabriela 40 60 80 80 85

xxxxxx Daniel 20 45 60 70 80

TOTAL POINTS: /1000 385 615 710 720 790

Thoughts and notes

Few times I do not feel comfortable by using technology in the classroom. I may think it could be a distraction for the class

What Research says:

My Hypothesis

- Schacter, John on his research "The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement", found that students who used computer-based instruction scored at the 64th percentile on test of achievements compared to students in the control conditions without computers who scored at the 50th percentile. In addition, Students like their classes more and develop more positive attitudes when their classes include computer-based instruction.

When the students were asked how they had liked learning geometry so far this summer school, their responses again showed an increase in enthusiasm for learning geometry.

On the pre-study

survey, 70% of the students were enthusiastic or very enthusiastic while 81% of the students were enthusiastic on the post-study survey.

What can devices be used for in the classroom?

• Developing Student Learning
• Critical Thinking
• Character
• Creativity
• Collaboration
• Check for Understanding

SU_14 Geo

Participation:

(5 pts for each day) Total max of 25 points each week

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5

Last Name First Name Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade

xxxxxx Rachel 8 10 20 20 25

xxxxxx Taylor 0 5 20 20 20

xxxxxx Kayla 10 20 25 25 25

xxxxxx Bokorimana 5 5 15 15 20

xxxxxx Arlaeth 0 10 15 20 20

xxxxxx Mohamed 0 5 15 15 15

xxxxxx Michael 5 15 20 20 15

xxxxxx Michelle 0 10 20 15 15

xxxxxx Gabriela 10 20 20 25 25

xxxxxxxxx Daniel 4 15 25 20 25

TOTAL POINTS: /250 42 115 195 195 205

From my personal journal, sheet of grades and participation, I was able to noticed the difference of engagement in class.

What research says:

Research by Campbell and Stewart (1993) demonstrated that the use of calculators stimulated students to become problem solvers and strengthened their basic understanding of mathematical operations.

When asked parents how enthusiastic their child was about doing geometry activities

at home, 40% of the parents noted that their children were enthusiastic on the pre-project survey. On the post-project survey,

60% of the parents reported that their child was enthusiastic about doing

geometry activities at home.

What Research says:

Three articles by William D. Beeland, Jr. (2002), Mechling (2008), and Wolf (2010), that emphasize and connect the use of interactive boards in instructions with students engagement. These articles pointed out that the use of smart boards increased engagement in learning which leads to somewhat of a better understanding of the concept being taught.

BYOD will give the students the opportunity to choose, to participate, and to demonstrate learning by using familiar devices.

What Research says

- The Center for Implementing Technology in Education in its study: "TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED MATH INSTRUCTION FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES", used an approach of video technology to create scenarios of real-world math problems to motivate and instruct kids so they can visualize the math content. "This type of instruction is called anchored instruction and has been used successfully with regular and special education students. These anchored instruction environments combine video and audio technologies in a story format. Because students identify with the characters in the story, they are situated in the problem and motivated to find a solution"(P.18).

My findings show a marked difference in the opinions of the parents as compared to the opinions of the students doing geometry at home.

students noted a 21% increase in enthusiasm in doing geometry in classroom. But there was not difference in the pos and pre-survey in the parents' opinion doing geometry in classroom..

But I am not a device expert...I am a TEACHING EXPERT!

...Then I have to decide how and when technology will best enhance the learning of the students.

SETTING:

It is not about the cool tools or the technology...it is about the content!

411

Participants in study

Instruments for the Study

The study will take place in Milwaukee Public School at Hamilton High School during the summer school credit recovery program in a geometry class.

There are 540 students registered in summer school at Hamilton High School. 310 female and 230 male. Most of the population are minority students. 420 African American, 105 Hispanics and 15 Asians.

My data was generated by comparing these students’ attitudes toward learning geometry at the beginning of the semester, during my study, and at the conclusion of the study period. The students’ attitudes and reactions were documented by the students themselves, by my own observations, and by participation points and grades.

There are 23 regular students and 4 special education students in this class. 10 were chosen for the study

1

2

Parents' survey

3

4 5 6

7

8

9

Again I surveyed the parents of these students to gain information about their child’s

interest in learning science. I asked the following questions: Is your child talking about

science at home? Is your child eager to share what we are doing and learning in science

class? Do you feel that your child is learning science? Why or why not? How enthusiastic is

your child about learning science? How enthusiastically is your child doing science

activities at home?

I believe that multimedia computer technology could enhance all areas of the core curricula

The results of this study support the notion that the level of enthusiasm for learning and academic achievement in

Geometry was increased through the incorporation of computers and software into

the summer school geometry curriculum.

This active research study not only increased my students’ enthusiasm for learning

geometry, but it also reanimated my excitement for teaching math and to include more computer-based lesson plans into my regular school year.

?

Summer school students tend to drop out from their math credit recovery courses because they fail to sustain interest in learning, and perform below capacity

?

Question?

1. How can I increase students' desire to learn geometry during summer school by strategic use of technology?

2. What technology tools should I use that would more effectively motivate students in my geometry class?

3. Is the effective integration of technology into my geometry summer school curriculum the answer to this problem of lack of motivation?

4. Can the use of technology in and out of class create engagement and desire to learn in my geometry class and improve student outcomes?

?

Student Learning

Kids Love Technology

This may be a reason why our children drop out from school; Some have argued that the use of electronics is the cause. Others have argued that it may be the answer.

The Center on Education Policy (CEP) at the George Washington University concluded that students who are bored or inattentive or who put little effort to schoolwork are unlikely to benefit from better standards, curriculum, and instruction unless schools, teachers, and parents take steps to address their lack of motivation.

Today’s high school students have grown up in a technological world with television, electronic devices, video games, smart phones, and more.

They are accustomed to receiving and

processing information through multi-sensory sources.

In my geometry summer school class (Block 2) students have been very unmotivated to learn geometry. The attendance is very low and they choose not to do their assignments nor to participate in class.

.

Results:

Asking questions that require more than a Google search to answer.

Google is not the Holy Grail of Research!

http://padlet.com/wall/cvzly0fmrk

Patterns

Daniel who also was part of the study, thought that doingcomputer project was fun and easy as well and despite of being felt pressured for the time frame of the projects, working in group for a final presentation was excited. His grades also improved during the last two weeks from a D to an A, on his final exam he got an A

Documents

Taylor was one of the students who was turning in all his assignments blank and was sleepy during the first week of the summer course. I had to call his attention several times because he was not focusing on his task and sometimes disrupting others. During the third week when they had access to computers to work on their assignments and do their geometric explorations and to work in their group project, I noticed that he was more interested in the class. He started asking questions on how to use some of the application of the Geogebra program to construct regular polygons and geometric transformations, and as an effect, his grades improved from F to a B.

The students’ were asked to write their attitudes and reactions on their geometry notebook at the end of each week and observations were taken by me on my own journal.

Questions during the study

Throughout the study I observed and made notes as to how the students were working and their reactions to class.

-What problems are the students encountering as they work on their Geogebra applications and PowerPoint presentations? Are the students having problems with content? Are there problems working in groups? Are they having problems using the software?

Procedure

Survey

I surveyed 10 of the class members and their parents at the beginning and the end of my study.

8 students returned their surveys

The survey contained the following questions:

How do you like learning geometry?

How have you liked learning geometry so far this summer school?

How enthusiastic are you about exploring geometry concepts at home?

Students were asked to rate their answers to each question using a scale of 1 to 5

During the first week of the summer program, there was not technology involved in any of my lessons. Multimedia technology

was not part of the curriculum. To determine each student’s level of

enthusiasm for learning geometry, during the first week of the study I administered a survey and I checked their participation points

Check for Understanding

On the pre-study survey, 50% of the students were enthusiastic about doing geometry assignments away

from school, while only 28% of the students were enthusiastic on the post-project survey.

Students’ comments on the post-study survey concerning their diminished enthusiasm were made because the lack of availability of computers and software at home.

Communication

Character

During the following weeks students were assigned to do more computer-based assignments and to work in groups to develop a PPT presentation that would be used as an instructional tool for the other students.

They were using graphing calculator and online graphic calculator also.

I instructed them to use the geoGebra software on their own to make geometric transformations and geometric constructions.

I used interactive lessons on the smart board and asked them to participate on them too.

Parents

Parents Involvement

I sent home parent surveys with each of the 10 student in order to solicit and record the parents’ opinions concerning their child’s enthusiasm for learning geometry. The survey included two questions: How enthusiastic is your child about learning Math specially geometry?

How enthusiastically does your child do geometry assignments at home?

Digital Footprints

The pre- and post-study attitudinal surveys show an increase in my students’

enthusiasm for learning geometry

75% of the students were enthusiastic about learning geometry, while the post-study survey showed 96% of the students enthusiastic.