RES 5040: Teacher as Researcher (spring 09)

Research Question:
“How do I motivate my students to become actively involved in team projects?” One that gives them ownership over their learning as well as creating a community of learners in which to see one another grow.

The nature of the problem my action research is focusing on is motivating my students to be fully engaged in group settings. Having taught high school students for the past 4 years, one thing I notice repeatedly is the complacency of some students to be an active participant in group settings. I want to remove the “conquer and divide” motive so that students truly are active learners and will learn how to work effectively in groups. Group settings should create enthusiasm, trust, and support amongst team members which will lead to more efficient academic work and one that fosters higher level order thinking skills. This focus will help make my students more successful learners which in turn I hope makes them more successful lifelong learners and learners in all their classes.

Research Setting:
This research will take place in my Sports and Entertainment Marketing classroom. This is a new course that is offered by Kings Mountain High School. The school is located in a rural setting with a population of 11,000.

The class is only offered to 10th-12th grade students. Sports and Entertainment Marketing is predominantly a project based learning curriculum. The class meets in a computer lab classroom environment. There are no textbooks and most of the curriculum resources are from power point presentations and from various internet resources.

Research Participants:

This is a class of 20 students. The class makeup is noted as below:
• Gender
o 5 females
o 15 males
• Race
o 7 Blacks
o 12 Whites
o 1 Asian
• Grades
o 11 Seniors
o 6 Juniors
o 3 Sophomores

In addition to the teacher, work samples by the groups will also be measured by outside participants (Administration, Colleagues, and Business Leaders). Most group activities encompass an interface with our local sports teams, Freshmen Academy, and other various events that are intertwined with the Sports and Entertainment Marketing objectives.