Action Research update

 

The Effects of “Recycling” Warm Ups on Eighth Grade Science Standardized Test Scores

      Brandon Miller

ABSTRACT

 

                Every year thousands of students across the United States sit in a classroom with all their peers and struggle through standardized testing. Students are tired and exhausted from the previous week after every teacher tried to review the entire years’ information and cram it into 5 days before the exams. This article will exam a new method of reviewing this information without cramming it into a 5 day lesson right before the standardized exams. Inclusionary criteria for this review consisted of articles with the terms: warm ups, bell-ringers, review, and recall. My results were compared to earlier standardized test scores from the same district, campus, and grade level. My results are preliminary and will require further research to show their validity.

 

Introduction

 

                The majority of U.S. students will be required to take a standardized test of some form during their educational careers. Thus, some type of review is critical for these students to re-learn their years’ information and pass the standardized test. There are many ways in which school districts and teachers review this information, but this article will exam a new method known as “recycling warm ups,” in which students review their past information on a daily basis. Recycling Warm Ups are used as a review tool in the classroom on a daily basis to revisit or re-learn past information. The purpose of using recycling warm ups are to deter from the standardized test blitz weeks that all campuses have grown accustomed to. The problem with this type of review method is it exhausts the students and many of the students block the review out and care vary little about paying attention. With recycling warm ups, all the information is divided up into 3-5 questions per day and carried out through about 14 weeks. This style eliminates the exhaustion and allows students to review the information over time rather than all at once right before the exams.

                What makes a standardized exam review successful? There seems to be a gap in literature that explains the best way to prep students for the excessive standardized test they must face every year. There is literature on the use of bell ringers and warm ups as a current review tool in the classroom as I will be visiting these throughout this article. The purpose of the current article is to review past test data and current test data after the implementation of the recycling warm ups in hope to find a positive correlation with the new review method.

 

METHODS

 

Database Search

 

                I used the Lamar University Library article database and the EBSCO Host database for articles. The keywords in the search included: bell ringers, standardized tests, review, and warm ups.

 

Inclusionary/Exclusionary Criteria

 

                The two articles selected followed my criteria. The guidelines we set were (1) peer review articles published in English from 2000 through 2013, and  (2) articles focusing on standardized test review, warm ups, or bell ringers. Exclusionary criteria were (1) articles written before 2000 and not published in English, and (2) articles not focused on the implementation of bell ringers, warm ups, or standardized test review.

 

RESULTS

 

Key Features of the Study

 

Target Population

 

                The study focused on students between the age of 13 and 15 in eighth grade science or IPC at La Vernia ISD Junior High School. The students assessed were divided up amongst 3 different teachers; two others and myself.

 

Design Features

 

 

Outcome Measures

 

 

RESULTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSIONS

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFERENCES

Action Research Plan Update

My action research project has hit a bit of a hiccup and will have to be changed. My program advisor and I thought the Great Minds in STEM program would be a great plan for me to implement at our school. What we didn’t know is the program is only a 1 day event that only 120 students get to be involved in every year. We originally thought the program was a curriculum to be involved in the Science and Math classrooms to get students interested in careers in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering ,Math) sectors, and we would have to take data before and after on the success of the program. This week we went to Highlands ISD in San Antonio to see the program in full force and to get an idea of what we would have to do on our end at school to make the program a success and found that the whole program is a 1 day event where the students get hands on work solving real life problems using science, math, and engineering. With our new found research and learning what the program is this one day event will not fulfill my requirements for an action research plan. My program advisor and I had a meeting this week and discussed the possible idea of disaggregating the data from 5-10 different schools that have implemented the C-Scope curriculum and review its positive and negative effects on the academics of the campus. I want to look at the data and see if the curriculum has positive or negative trends on the state tests for both high school and junior high. I will look at schools whom have just implemented the curriculum and schools that have had the curriculum for 3 or more years.

EDLD 5301 Week 4

This week we took a look at major concerns we saw with our action research project and posed possible solution to our problems. This proved to be very helpful in our action research plan drafting as we went from thinking of ways to implement our program to looking at what issues we might run into and how are we going to bypass these issues. I also ran into a major problem this week as my site supervisor resigned and moved on to another school district so I must choose another site supervisor this week and sit down with them to review my action research plan. My current supervisor didn't have time to review the plan she wanted me to help with so I am kind of in a stand still until I can meet with my new site supervisor next week to figure out how we are to implement this new program.

Action Plan Template

Action Planning Template
Goal: Increase Hispanic Parental Involvement at La Vernia Jr. High School through the Great Minds in STEM program
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Increase communication	Principal Assistant Principal Myself	August 27 – June 1	Computer Microsoft office	Analyze if parental involvement increase
Increase Hispanic student interest in careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math	Principal Assistant Principal Myself Other Teachers	August 27 – June 1	Computer Microsoft office	Follow student achievement in Science and Math
Inspire other students of Hispanic Achievement	Principal Assistant Principal Myself Other Teachers	August 27 – June 1	Computer Microsoft office

EDLD 5301 Week 2

This weeks assignments focused on possible topics for our action research project. This assignment deffinitely opened my eyes to new possible topics I could use for my action research project. I was solely dedicated to increasing parental involvement from the junior high to the high school as my research project. Now I'm thinking about trying to increase educational potential during lunch times and increasing staff development during the school day. This weeks assignment helped me get out of my tunnel-vision and consider other possible action research topics.

How Educational Leaders use Blogs

Educational Leaders can use blogs as a professional Facebook in the Education world. Blogs can be used to pose questions to their administrative friends, where feedback and suggestions can be used to help solve the issue. Blogs can also be used as a networking tool to stay in contact with other administrators and teachers.

Action Research and How We Can Use it to Our Advantage

Action research is research done by an individual or group of people to solve an immediate process using reflection.  Action research follows many of the steps of the scientific method used during experimentation.  Action research involves discovering a problem, proposing a solution, review available research, put solution into action, analyze data, draw a conclusion and revise plan.  Action research is much more than just reviewing articles and reading books,, it is taking this information and putting it to use to solve real world problems.

I feel action research is a great project for administrative interns to get hands-on work in the education administrative field.  Leadership is not a skill individuals are born with or can learn in an 18 month masters program, but a skill acquired through on-the-job training and inquiry.  As a teacher I learned more during my student teaching experience than I did my entire 4 years of college work.  The action research project is an informative outline of how we as interns will get the hands-on training we need to be successful administrators.  It acts as our first real administrative project as we dive into our educational administrative future.  The action research project is the interns first true test of leadership and plan implementation and follow-through.