Question: I have several versions of my research question. I don’t know which is best. I would love everyone’s input.
How does have an interactive white board in the classroom affect teaching (or - instructional) methods?
Or
What changes in teaching (instructional) methods are brought about by having an interactive white board in the classroom?
Or
How do interactive white boards change instructional methods?
Setting:
My research will take place in five schools (two elementary, two middle, and one high school) in an urban school district in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The school system is comprised of 53 schools: nine high schools, eleven middle schools, thirty-one elementary schools, one alternative school and one school for special needs children. The school district currently enrolls 32,196 students and employees approximately 2,000 teachers.
Elementary school A was opened in 2004 as a replacement to an older school which was closed. It is a Title 1 school with 93% of its students on free and reduced lunch. The current enrollment is 431 students in grades pre-kindergarten through five of which 47% are African American, 29% are Caucasian, 17% Hispanic, 5% Multi-Racial and less than one percent is Asian. Elementary school B is located in a bedroom community just west of a major metropolitan city. School B currently enrolls 687 students in grades two through. Thirty percent of the students are on free or reduced lunch. The student population is made up of 83% Caucasian, 8.6 % African-American, 4% Asian, 3% Hispanic and less than one percent Multi-Racial.
Middle School C has a population of 836 students in grades six through eight. It is located in a suburban area of the county. 24% its students are free or reduced lunch. Middle School D is located in the far corner of our county and serves a small town. It has a student population of 545 students of which 81% are Caucasian, 11% African-American, 3% Hispanic, and less than one percent Asian. It has a 48% free and reduced lunch rate.
High School E is a large inner-city school with grades nine through twelve. It has a student population of 1,384 and a free and reduced lunch rate of 45% The racial make-up is 52% Caucasian, 33% African-American, 12% Hispanic, 2% Multi-Racial and 1% Asian.
Participants: Participants in this study are two middle school teachers, two high school teachers, and two elementary teachers. These teachers are part of a group of district teachers that have been accepted to our district’s technology project and been trained to be technology leaders in their respective schools and the district. The goal of the technology project is to train classroom teachers to truly integrate technology into the instructional process and to become teacher technology leaders in their schools. Program teachers agree to use their skills, training, and technology to transform their classrooms from a teacher-centered environment to a learner-centered environment. All project participants had to apply to the project and group participants were selected based on their application scores. They join an existing group of 130 other teachers in the district who have completed the program training.
Teachers from this particular technology training group were chosen to participate in this study because they were the first group to receive SMART Boards as part of the program’s hardware package. These teachers received a laptop, projector, SMART board, Airliner (wireless slate), and a set of Senteos (clickers) which are student response devices.
Mary is a teacher in Elementary School A. Ann is a teacher in Elementary School B. Sue is a teacher in Middle School C. June is a teacher in Middle School D. Sally and Chris both teach in High School E. ( I am in the process of collecting specifics about each of participants.)
Comments (15)
I am very interested in your findings. I was actually talking today at lunch with a group of teachers about how using the smart board has changed the way they teach.
I was wondering if you plan on having a control group (ie teacher/class without the smart tools) to compare your six to.
Also found this today. May be of interest.
http://smarterkids.org/research/details.asp
Posted by Jason Mammano | January 29, 2009 10:42 AM
Posted on January 29, 2009 10:42
I think I like the second questions wording the best, but I don't see any difference in what they get across. I am excited to see what these guys say. I am most interested to see what they feel successful about achieving. In other words, will they seem to be proud of using the equipment at all or will they have eyes wide enough still that truly integrating it is somewhere in sight?
Posted by Kyle Wood | January 29, 2009 7:57 PM
Posted on January 29, 2009 19:57
I liked the third question best, but all were good. Keeping the interview questions specific (yet open-ended) should yield interesting results. I'll probably be more interested in the divergent answers to the questions than to the trends observed.
From the descriptions, it appears that the schools may not be feeders for each other (if that's the right way to say it). This is an interesting dynamic to the study as well.
Posted by Conrad Martin | January 30, 2009 1:37 PM
Posted on January 30, 2009 13:37
Roxie,
It's funny--I actually liked your first question best, so now your responses are split evenly. I feel like the second question has a lot of unnecessary wording and for some reason I prefer "affect" over "change," but like Kyle said, they all have the same basic idea.
I think it's interesting how you are going to observe several different schools/age groups in your study, but it might make your results difficult to analyze. While the basic nature of teaching is the same, the subjects and methods from elementary through high school are so varied that you may find Smart Boards used in so many different ways that it would be hard to find shared results across the three. Your topic is really interesting, though, and I'm interested to see how the teachers incorporate the new technologies.
Posted by Tara Smith | February 1, 2009 8:02 PM
Posted on February 1, 2009 20:02
I agree with Tara that Smartboard usage would be different at the three school levels. You may have to observe just one. If it were me, I would choose elementary or middle. It would be interesting to see if class participation and interest level is significantly different with the smartboard as opposed to the classroom without. I look forward to your findings!
Posted by Sherry Fender | February 1, 2009 8:32 PM
Posted on February 1, 2009 20:32
Thanks for your feedback guys...so now do I play eenie, meanie, miney, mo for my question? Ugh! Thanks Jason, I also found that info.
Sherry and Tara, I hadn't thought about the various level as you mentioned. You both are right. It may be more interesting to look at just one level. I will give it some serious thought. What do you think Dr. Jackson?
Posted by Roxie Miller | February 1, 2009 9:20 PM
Posted on February 1, 2009 21:20
I like the third question best as well. I wonder if using all the different age groups will make it harder to come to a conclusion. It seems as though the variance in ages may cause the results to change based on ability level of the learners.
Posted by Shannon Mosteller | February 2, 2009 2:27 PM
Posted on February 2, 2009 14:27
I like the third question best as well. I wonder if using all the different age groups will make it harder to come to a conclusion. It seems as though the variance in ages may cause the results to change based on ability level of the learners.
Posted by Shannon Mosteller | February 2, 2009 2:27 PM
Posted on February 2, 2009 14:27
Roxie,
I like the third question, as it pertains more to the topic you are trying to analyze, which is HOW do the Smartboards change the instructional methods! I also like that you have chosen different levels to look at for your data. The question I have is: How many students have had a Smartboard experience throughout all three levels? I wonder if it affects the teacher's planning, if the students have already "been there, done that". We are getting some of these at our school, and I can't wait to see what you find out!
Posted by Matt Maurer | February 2, 2009 9:02 PM
Posted on February 2, 2009 21:02
The third question is more solid while also being open.
Jason mentions a control group, but that is unnecessary as we are not doing experimental design.
The levels might be unwieldy for data analysis, and the contexts may be so diverse that you won't find commonalities, but then again, this may not be an issue. There's just no way to know before you begin.
I recommend that you keep them in your design, if you feel strongly about it. Then, if you see that the data is going in different directions when you are collecting the data, you can choose to focus more, or only analyze one data set. It's your call!
Posted by Alecia Jackson | February 3, 2009 9:53 PM
Posted on February 3, 2009 21:53
Is this a subject-specific inquiry and I wonder what effect that might have on your results?
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Posted on February 3, 2009 22:55
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