Inquiry Learning Collaborative
2016-2017 Teacher Leader Quality Partnership Grant:
Students as Inquirers, Teachers as Inquirers
Inquiry Results Report
Presenter:
Michele Zielinski
School: Sleepy Hollow High School
E-mail: [email protected]
Title of Inquiry: Improving student engagement and learning by giving students a choice
of teaching style in a Regents physics class
Teacher Inquiry Question(s): Will students learn better and be more engaged if students
are given the control of choosing to learn either through a traditional lesson or inquiry
style lesson?
1) Contextual Information
Subject Area: Science: Regents Physics
Grade level: 12
# Students: 13
NYS Standards or Common Core Standards Addressed:
1.
M2.1 Use deductive reasoning to construct and evaluate conjectures and arguments, recognizing that patterns and relationships in mathematics assist them in arriving at these conjectures
and arguments.
2) What did you do?
Early observation of my class showed a group of students with varying ability (test scores
range 20 – 100+) and classroom engagement. Pacing of lessons was especially difficult
with this diverse group and differentiation was necessary. I hoped that the following plan
would help all students take more ownership for their learning, improve engagement for all
students and improve learning for all students.
Before beginning I gave students a survey to determine their preferred learning style,
whether they thought they had the skill to successfully engage in a guided inquiry lesson,
etc.
This research was performed during the Energy unit in physics. The energy unit is taught
in 5- 90 minute lessons. The entire class participated in a lab as well as in a review class
before the test; leaving 3 remaining classes in which the students chose to either
participate in the traditional lesson or an inquiry lesson.
Traditional lessons incorporated aspects of inquiry, but followed the general theme that
teacher demonstrated problems solving first, and then students tried it on their own.
Students in this lesson were asked to move to the front of the room where the lesson was
given by the teacher. On the other hand, process oriented guided inquiry lessons (POGIL)
consisted of students taking an inquiry packet and working individually or in groups to
complete them using computers and text books as resources in the back of the room. The
inquiry lessons often asked students to extract data from video or provided data and asked
students to look for trends and potential equations that can relate the data. Students
participating in the inquiry group were given an answer key to review their answers at
certain checkpoints and had extremely limited access to the teacher. Students in the
inquiry group were permitted to rejoin the traditional lesson at any time, if they found the
POGIL lesson too difficult or confusing. In order to ensure students in both classes learned
the same content, exit tickets were used.
All students took a test on the energy unit content as well as a second survey to understand
their level of engagement and thoughts about being given a choice. In addition test scores
were compared to the previous unit.
3) Include your updated evidence plan – What did you collect to investigate your inquiry
question (s). Please attach any blank copies of measurement tools you developed or
used – i.e. survey, rubric, relevant test or quiz questions.
Desired Outcomes for
Students (Central Content
Ideas and/or Core Skills)
Emphasized in your Plan
Data Sources and
Frequency (Student
Classroom, Student
Assignment, Standardized
Tests scores, Observations,
Surveys)
Measurement Tools - How
will you measure
growth/achievement in this
area? (i.e. rubric, survey,
test)
1) Appropriately challenge
and engage all students in
the regents physics class
1) Pre and post survey
1) Compare the pre and post
survey data
2) Improve learning of
content
2) Test Scores
1) Difficult to accurately
compare; however test
scores for each individual
student will be compared to
the prior unit.
3) All students will learn the
same Regents Energy Unit
content
1) Exit ticket (2x)
1) Exit tickets
2) Test scores
2) Test scores
4) Special Resources utilized in this inquiry, if any:
POGIL handouts were created for each lesson in which POGIL was offered. Sandee CoatsHaan’s worksheets for AP physics were modified for Regents Physics curriculum. Direct
measurement videos from serc.careleton.edu were also used in the POGIL worksheets to
create a challenging evidence-based inquiry experience for students.
Summary of Results
1) What are the findings of your student inquiry in terms of your learning goals
Three to five students out of 13, (23%-38%), consistently participated in the POGIL lesson
rather than the traditional lesson. 62% of the class tried POGIL at least once for part of a
lesson.
69% of students enjoyed having a choice between POGIL and a traditional lesson and my
hope was that giving students the control of choosing the type of teaching style would build
ownership for their learning.
Interestingly, 77% of students prefer to have the teacher demonstrate how to solve
problem first; these were the students I expected to stay in the traditional classroom
environment. I was happy to see that the numbers showed that even these students
strayed outside of their comfort zone at times and tried POGIL. 46% said they learn best
when they figure it out themselves; these were the students I expected to gravitate toward
the POGIL lessons.
Being resourceful is a necessary skill in POGIL lessons and I found that 77% of my class
thought they were resourceful when faced with a challenging problem. Interestingly, of
those students that participated in POGIL, only 37% agreed that they could find the
answers to questions on the POGIL handout without the teacher’s help.
When comparing test scores of the energy unit compared to the previous unit, the average
of the class dropped by 4.69 points. It is impossible to attribute this drop to the POGIL
lesson. Interestingly, two students who remained in the traditional lesson improved their
test score from the previous unit. It was evident that in the traditional lesson, students
were much more engaged in the lesson, asked more questions and tried problems more
willingly on their own. It seems that although my class of 13 is already a very small class,
when the class reduced to 8 or less students felt more comfortable to ask questions in class.
Students that never asked questions in class asked multiple questions in a single period. In
addition, I noticed that the students were truly engaged in POGIL lessons. There was
limited off-task behavior and the conversation between students was a rich dialogue. I did
notice that progressing through content in the POGIL lesson took longer and needed to set
time limits for particular activities to ensure that POGIL students learned the same content
as those in the traditional lesson.
2) Explain how these findings answer, or respond to, your initial teacher inquiry
question(s).
Reflections: Backwards Look and Forwards Look
1) What have I learned about doing inquiry with students? What do these results suggest
about this particular inquiry and what am I thinking about doing next with students?
Those students that enjoyed POGIL continue to ask me for another opportunity to do a
POGIL lesson in class. The POGIL lessons appealed to some students and I would like to
give my students the ability to participate in a POGIL lesson during another unit next year.
I will develop another series of POGIL lessons for another unit next year.
Having successfully piloted this opportunity for students to choose a style of lesson, I feel
more confident that I can ensure learning in both groups of students.
I have noticed that students do need to learn how to be more resourceful in seeking
answers to difficult questions. More than half of the students who did POGIL lessons
seemed to not be confident in their ability to find the answers to their questions.
2) Going forwards, what have I learned about my classroom, my teaching, and myself as
a teacher inquirer? What do these results suggest about my approach towards using inquiry
to teach and learn about my teaching?
This project has given me the support necessary to try something new in my teaching. I
have also enjoyed asking students what they thought about this idea, both through
classroom conversation as well as through the survey.
Differentiating instruction is difficult and challenging as a teacher. This idea of offering
students a choice of teaching style may be part of the solution to help me successfully
differentiate among a wide range of ability and learning styles.
3) How are you planning to share your results with the community beyond this inquiry
network?
These results were shared with some colleagues in the science department as well with my
students.