Final Project PresentationETEC 550LINDSEY SCHROEDER

JUNE, 2015

Context

Grade 9 Math students at Glenrosa Middle School in West Kelowna are not attempting to solve many of the given word problems, regardless of the current content area and their level of expertise in that content area.

This problem was identified when giving word problems on various math assignments throughout this year, and has been a trend over the last few years. Further investigation has shown Grade 7 and 8 Math teachers are also noticing this problem at our school.

The target audience is regular education Grade 9 students, though if successful, this instruction could begin with Grade 7 and 8 students next year as well.

This problem needs to be addressed before graduation from middle school to set students up for success in the rigourous Math 10 program in high school.

Problem – Current Conditions

Grade 9 students lack the tools to effectively break down word problems, organize the information, strategize ways to solve the problems, and apply what they are learning to problem-based situations.

Furthermore, they have been demonstrating a risk-adverse attitude to trying something they are not sure they will be successful in. Many of them will not even attempt a problem, preferring to leave the page blank.

Problem – Ideal State

Students in Math 9 should be able to analysis word problems to identify key information, select appropriate problem-solving strategies, and attempt to apply current content to the context of the problem.

Math IRPs mandate students develop process skills, including Problem Solving, Mental Math, Connections and Estimation, Communication, and Reasoning.

Our school district requires students to demonstrate their acquisition of the Attributes of the SD23 Learner, which includes critical thinking, so students should be able to demonstrate their improvement in thinking strategies over the course of the year.

Needs Assessment – Data Collection

Data for this project was obtained through discussions with other teachers, discussion with students, my own background knowledge about my school and the students in my classes, and multiple intelligence surveys my students completed.

Testing of the prototype was done with three student volunteers from my class.

Needs Assessment – Key Findings (Contextual)

Environment: Because of class size and resource limitations (laptops, textbooks, etc), newly develop material must be available within the classroom, and ideally also in a format available to access through the students’ mobile devices.

Use context: Many of the students struggle with learned helplessness and motivation. Unfortunately for many, these behaviours are modeled at home.

Socio-economic: Being located in a lower socio-economic neighbourhood affects student attendance; ideally students will be able to access learning tools from home. Most have their own personal mobile device. Many students will not complete homework, because it is not enforced at home.

Needs Assessment – Key Findings(Learner)

Learner - Cognitive: All of my classes predominantly showed strengths in Kinesthetic, Musical, and Interpersonal intelligences through their surveys, though the most noteworthy theme I noticed from these findings is the diverse variation of each individual learner. This implies the need to teach to suit all the various learning styles. All of my current students are cognitively within 1-2 grade levels, so little variation is required.

Learner - Physiological: I have no students with physiological concerns this year.

Learner - Affective: The biggest issue many of my students face is their negative attitude toward learning and their lack of motivation; both of which greatly impact their work ethic.

Learner - Social: My students place a high value on social interaction and generally work will collaboratively together.

My Learning Goal

When given a math word problem, the student will be able to:

break down the question to identify what the question is asking them to find

identify the relevant data

select an appropriate solving strategy

apply appropriate math processes to solve their equations

check the reasonableness of their solutions to detect errors.

Instructional Intervention

Based on my developed learning goal, I decided to create a step-by-step procedure that students could follow to guide them through the thinking involved in solving complex math word problem.

I identified five steps they could follow each time they are given a word problem:

1. Determine what the problem is asking you to find

2. Identify relevant data and information from the question

3. Make a plan to solve the problem

4. Do the math

5. Check the reasonableness of the answer – does it make sense?

Materials Developed

To teach students to follow these five steps, I created two items as part of my instructional design prototype (as shown on the next slides):

A graphic organizer template based on the five steps

A set of guiding posters outlining the five steps

Graphic Organizer TemplateWhat is the Problem asking me to find?   Image/Diagram/Rewrite:        

Important Words, Data, Information

Plan – include equations, graphs, tables (Work Space)              

Solution – Communicate clearly! Use a sentence and include units     Does my answer make sense?  Did I answer what the questions asked? 

A version of the template I used is shown on the right.

The template I used included a place for a reflection on their problem solving strategy.

Posters – The Five Steps

As I will discuss in the next section, the trial went so well I have posted the posters on my Math 9 wall in my classroom!

Since they are too small to read in this photo, I will present them in the next five slides.

Testing Results

Through testing my prototype, I learned:

Some students found the template very helpful, while one student felt could be helpful for others, but was too guided for her needs.

The students were more likely to start the problem right away when given a starting point.

The prototypes were developed at an age appropriate and language appropriate level.

The small testing group I used were all able to correctly solve the given problem.

This lead me to conclude my prototype can be part of successfully addressing the identified instructional problem in my school.

Summary

Through the development of this project, I learned that providing students with tools to help guide their thoughts and tools to stay organized can help overcome students’ hesitations to attempt problems when they are uncertain of their process, while still enabling them to work through challenges on their own without too much teacher intervention. This will help students learn to work more independently over time, and hopefully overcome some of the learned helplessness behaviour that has recently become more noticeable at our school.