A Collaborative Research Project to improve the Academic Performance of a Diverse Sixth Grade Science Class

Abstract

All educators must be prepared to meet the substantial instructional challenges that await them in 21st Century classrooms. Significant among these challenges will be the ability to improve the academic and behavioral performance of a more diverse and often impoverished student population within the context of an ever-expanding curriculum and an educational milieu that may provide fewer instructional resources and less educational support. To meet such challenges, all educators must work collaboratively to develop, implement, and evaluate effective teaching practices that can be applied feasibly and sustained over extensive time periods. Here, we have made a modest attempt to help one classroom teacher address some aspects of her impending instructional challenge. Using an alternating treatments design, we compared the effects of Response Cards, Numbered Heads Together, and Whole Group Question and Answer on 6th graders daily quiz scores and pretest-posttest performance in chemistry, and examined how each instructional intervention affected teacher questioning and student responding patterns in class. Implications are discussed for teachers, teacher educators, and educational consultants.

The Effects of Response Cards on Student and Teacher Behavior During Vocabulary Instruction

“…The increase in student responding replicates the findings of several previous studies that have compared response cards with hand raising in a variety of environments with a wide range of learners (Christle & Schuster, 2003;Davis & O'Neill, 2004;Gardner, Heward, & Grossi, 1994;Godfrey, Grisham-Brown, Schuster, & Hemmeter, 2003;Kellum, Carr, & Dozier, 2001;Lambert, Cartledge, Heward, & Lo, 2006;Maheady et al, 2002;Marmolejo, Wilder, & Bradley, 2004;Narayan et al, 1990).…”

Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond

“…For example, allowing students to respond verbally, as opposed to writing responses, can enhance response rates (Skinner et al, 1997). Using response cards, as opposed to having students raise hands and answer questions, can enhance response rates across the entire class (Maheady et al, 2002).…”

“…Using response cards or Mylar dry-erase boards to increase the probability of students responding allows educators to evaluate the accuracy of those responses. The observable inaccurate responses provide educators with feedback that not only may suggest the need to clarify or reteach but also the type of reteaching or clarification that is needed to prevent future inaccurate responding (e.g., Grskovic & Belfiore, 1996;Heward & Gardner, 1996;Maheady, Michielli-Pendl, Mallette, & Harper, 2002).…”

The PAX Good Behavior Game: One Model for Evolving a More Nurturing Society

“…There is evidence that using random calling, which the PAX system labels as PAX Stix, with students increases engagement and learning (Keen 2006 ; Maheady et al 2002 ; Martino & Sala 1996 ). The teacher prepares a container with popsicle sticks, with each stick having the name of a student in the class.…”