Teaching as Inquiry 2016

Teaching as Inquiry Project Plan

Research and Community Informed Practice Assessment 2

The effect of digital game based learning on reading; engagement, comprehension and  achievement.

The use of digital skills have been identified as a major need for our ever changing world and ICT has the ability to support teaching and learning and “schools should explore not only how ICT can supplement traditional ways of teaching but also how it can open up new and different ways of learning” (Ministry of Education, 2007, p.36).  Digital games in learning are set to increase to successfully get students ready for life in the 21^st century and many children are now growing up occupied with digital games in a consistent connected world and there are concerns that current education is not meeting their needs or preparing them for the future (Kapp, 2012).

This teaching as inquiry project will be implemented to examine and measure the impact of using game based learning as a means of developing and using reading comprehension behaviours. It will also examine the effect game based learning has on student engagement and motivation in their reading comprehension learning.  Aspects of Kaupapa Māori and Te Noho Kotahitanga will be addressed and incorporated into this inquiry project.

“Teaching as inquiry is a process that involves educators investigating the impact of their decisions and practice on students. In The New Zealand Curriculum, this course of action is described as a cyclical process in which questions are posed, evidence is gathered and decisions are made.”(Education Review office, 2011).

Justification

Teaching as inquiry is linked to teacher practicing criteria and is part of professional development it is fostered positively and a requirement within my school. Reading achievement is also identified as a goal in the schools 2016 strategic plan. After analysing the students in my class through both formative assessment, in the form of interaction and observation, and summative assessment, through results collected from achievement tests, reading comprehension has been identified as an area of concern, especially in the reading to learn stage. From interaction and observation it has also been noticed that there is often a lack of engagement and motivation in doing paper based comprehension activities. Schleicher (2012) discusses that in the 21^st century students need learning to be tailored to their needs and be given experiences which motivate and allow for success. Tunmer, Chapman, Greaney, Prochnow and Arrow (2013) in their review of international studies on reading, also found that there has been little improvement in achievement of reading comprehension in New Zealand schools in recent years. Also after recently carrying out a literature review on developing reading comprehension through digital games there was little research devoted to using online quizzes to enhance reading comprehension in middle school aged children in New Zealand. There was also very little quantitative data on the use of digital games and their impact on raising reading achievement.

Topic question

How effective will the use of digital game based learning in the form of online quizzes and web based learning games be in motivating reading and advancing reading comprehension and reading achievement in a middle school aged classroom?

Key questions

·         Can the use of online quizzes raise levels of reading comprehension and how will this be measured?

·         Which online quiz platform is more interactive?

·         Which online quiz platform is more engaging and motivating?

Community

Looking at the relevance of research, who will benefit and what difference research can make are strong principles of Tino Rangatiratanga a principle within Kaupapa Māori (Rangahau, 2016).

This inquiry project will involve the following communities:

·         The focus group for the inquiry, identified through assessment will consist of nine students in my class with ages ranging from 8-9 years old. They will be informed prior to beginning the inquiry what the focus and intervention will be and what it will involve. They will have regular feedback and be involved in evaluating the intervention and informed of their progress and where to next.

·         Whānau of the above focus group will be contacted initially to gain permission for participation and will be informed about what the inquiry process involves, the focus and intervention and why their children have been chosen. They will be given regular updates and once the inquiry has concluded be informed of; results, analyses, data, possible implications and where to next. Developing and fostering respectful relationships are an important value of Ata a principle of Kaupapa Māori (Rangahau, 2016).

·         I will have a professional learning colleague whom I will share the whole inquiry journey with. They will observe me teaching, give feedback, encourage in depth reflections and discuss and evaluate potential impacts of my findings.

·         The middle school team and whole school shall also receive a presentation of my focus, intervention, findings, possible implications and where next.

Focus intervention method.

The focus group will use online quizzes during guided reading time. Initially I will create online quizzes based on given texts and reading comprehension skills, using Google forms, kahoot and Quizlet. Students will answer the questions using the text and in Google forms will do so in no specific time frame, but when using Kahoot and Quizlet will have a ‘game show’ like response system with a leader board as an incentive and reward. On line quizzes allow for interaction, challenge, investigation and discovery and can be self-directed and may not necessitate too much teacher involvement as the technological tool helps maintain the learning (Prensky, 2001). “Tino Rangatiratanga relates to sovereignty, autonomy, control, self-determination and independence. The notion of Tino Rangatiratanga asserts and reinforces the goal of Kaupapa Māori initiatives: allowing Māori to control their own culture, aspirations and destiny” (Rangahau, 2116, pg.1) Ministry of Education (2014) identify, when discussing Aromatawai practices (those which foster Māori beliefs and values) and the principle of mātauranga (based on how people and communities recognise and observe the world), “While mātauranga is generally learnt from external sources, from one person to another, or from an experience, if it is valued by the ākonga, it is more likely to be internalised by them” (pg. 13). On line quizzes offer a participative experience and are delivered as external from the teacher. All answers and data will be recorded to view progress. Chan, Chew, & Mok (2015) & Wang (2015) state that online games based quizzes can be used to identify gaps which can then inform teaching. Digital games can support the process of formative assessment, acquiring data about students’ knowledge and skills to inform subsequent instruction (Erhel & Jamet, 2013). 

Scaffolding and deliberate acts of teaching will be used to guide the learning of the type of skills, questions involved in reading comprehension; vocabulary knowledge and understanding, reorganisation of the text, inference, evaluation of the text, literal meaning of the text and reaction to the text. After students will work together to create their own quizzes using questions which involve the reading behaviours above to create and then answer. Working and interacting with myself and with each other on developing quizzes addresses the principle of Te Noho Kotahitanga, Nohotahi - Co-operation and reinforces mātauranga, learning from others. The students will also be able to share these online quizzes with their Whānau at home and will take home related readings, they could discuss their learning and even challenge their whānau to take the quiz. Reading will also be undertaken online using the web based learning games Studyladder and Sunshine Online, which the students have personal logins for. These have reading activities which are followed by quiz based comprehension questions. Both of these offer incentives and rewards for students. Data on achievement can also be viewed and recorded.

Data gathering

Quantitative

Pre-testing and post testing will be undertaken using text and questions from the Key Comprehension series which include the reading elements of comprehension identified earlier. A comparison of scores will be reported and analysed. A full Probe test will be undertaken pre and post to the inquiry project and a comparison of scores made and achievement, progress levels, reported and analysed.

Question examples

Qualitative

An interview will be conducted which will be video recorded. Questioning will involve

·         Which do you prefer traditional comprehension activities or those online?

·         Which on line quiz do you think is more motivating and engaging?

·         Which online quiz is more interactive, Google forms, Kahoot or Quizizz?

·         Do you prefer the online text in Sunshine online, Studyladder or traditional books?

·         Has using online quizzes helped you with reading comprehension and if so how?
       Has game based learning on-line helped with reading comprehension?

Potential impact of findings

After analysing the data, both quantitative and qualitative and scores attained throughout using the online quizzes and from using Studdylader and Sunshine online I will reflect on the project individually and with  colleagues this will involve:

·         Identifying approaches that have gone well and should be repeated

·         Adjusting approaches, tasks and content accordingly

·         Identifying what has not worked at all

·         Identifying new questions, concerns and issues to explore

·         Identifying the potential of new outcomes for student learning.

As discussed previously any potential impacts, possible implications will be given to the communities involved. These findings will also influence whether there will be further uptake of using online quizzes to aid reading comprehension with other students in my class and in other classes in this age range and whether it would impact school wide. A bank of quizzes resources could also be created for others.

Feedback and Revision

This inquiry project was given to a teaching colleague, team leader and the deputy principal at my school . From this feedback I added the question sheet examples shown above. I also reflected on how I was going to target the skills needed for the students to create their own quizzes and identified that I need to scaffold the children through the process using deliberate acts of teaching. As stated by my colleague I hadn't given much thought as to how frequent a quiz would be used or developed and that to gain best data it would have to be frequent. I therefore propose to look at creating two per week, giving the students enough time to thoroughly engage with the text and time to develop and deliver the quiz.

Results

Name	End Term 1 level	End Term 3 level	Pre-trial score	Post-trial score
Fabian	9-9.5	10-10.5	9	11
Justin	9.5-10	10.5-11	11	13
Marissa	9-9.5	9.5-10	9	10
Chloe	9-9.5	9.5-10	8	10
Chayce	L 22	9-9.5	8	11
Willie	8.5	9-9.5	8	11
Hamish	8.5	9.5-10	10	13
Ngataria	L 22	9-9.5	6	9
Cheyanne	L 22	9-9.5	6	9

Conclusion

From the onset the children were motivated by the use of game based learning and from questioning they are still motivated. It was also clear early on that the favoured on-line quiz tool was kahoot. They all liked reading on-line but felt that Sunshine on-line had better questions and was more challenging. Interesting was that the children reported that they were not interested in the rewards given by these two web based digital games. They also stated that they liked paper based books and that reading should be done using both. From the interview the consensus was that they liked using Kahoot more when the questions were set by the teacher. Although, the children said that developing their own questions had helped them with skimming and scanning and identifying key words. They also reported that it had helped them understand the content content and challenged their thinking as they had to create questions from an answer(s). Although, the children struggled with developing questions based on the different reading behaviours and also when using multiple choice questions –finding similar answers to challenge the player.

Digital game based learning was found to be motivating and engaging for the children. Kahoot encouraged collaboration and the making own questions, although I had to check spellings or others couldn’t understand.  Also the quizzes and on-line reading sites were limited to content only and didn’t question the author’s purpose or how and what they have used persuade the reader. There was also no real evidence that they had improved reading comprehension as there had to be a lot of scaffolding around reading behaviours and doing activities around them may have increased reading comprehension. It was also difficult to measure any progress quantitatively.

What next 

Continue using quizzes and try and incorporate questions on author’s purpose, what they have used to portray their message and how they influence the reader. Google forms is possibly more suited to this as it has a larger variety of question types and response options. Use quizzes to aid and assess reading across the curriculum.

References

Chan, M. Y. H., Chu, S. K. W., & Mok, S. W. S. Cited as: Chan, MYH, Chu, SKW, Mok, SWS (2015).
Fostering interest in reading and strengthening reading comprehension ability of primary school
students using a children’s literature e-quiz bank on the cloud. Paper presented at the Quality
Education Fund Project Seminar: Learning through Gamification: Cultivating a Love of Reading
in Primary Students, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, June 30, 2015. Retrieved from                  http://web.edu.hku.hk/f/acadstaff/447/Chan%202015%20Fostering%20interest%20in%20reading%      20and%20strengthening%20reading%20comprehension%20ability-v2015-10-6.doc

Education Review office, (2011 ). Directions for Learning: The New Zealand Curriculum Principles, and Teaching as Inquiry May 2011* : 22/07/2011. Retrieved from http://www.ero.govt.nz/National-Reports/Directions-for-Learning-The-New-Zealand-Curriculum-Principles-and-Teaching-as-Inquiry-May-2011

Kapp, K. (2012). The gamification of learning and instruction: game-based methods and strategies for training and education. San Francisco: pfeiffer. Retrieved from http://reader.eblib.com.au.libproxy.unitec.ac.nz/(S(izinnmrmypv0cawn4yejerav))/Reader.aspx?p=821714&o=105&u=sTkfAMpGuhFlBUfuyCbjHA%3d%3d&t=1455432160&h=1015A2D33417C62E06A11CAE1420968D03A41E8B&s=22890232&ut=292&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n&cms=-1&sd=1

Ministry of Education. (2007). The New Zealand Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministy of Education. (2014). Rukuiha Rarangahia, Aromatawai, Ministry of Education Position Paper. Retrieved from http://tmoa.tki.org.nz/Mataiako/Rukuhia-Rarangahia

Rangahau, (2016). Kaupapa Māori as Research. Retrieved from http://www.rangahau.co.nz/research-idea/31/

Schleicher, A. (2012). Preparing Teachers and Developing School Leaders for the
21^st Century: Lessons from around the World. OECD Publishing. Retrieved
from http://www.oecd.org/site/eduistp2012/49850576.pdf

Turner, W., Chapman, J., Greaney, K., Prochnow, J., & Arrow, A. (2013) Why the New Zealand Literacy Strategy Has Failed and What Can Be Done About It. Evidence from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 and Reading Recovery Monitoring Reports Retrieved from http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Massey%20News/2013/8/docs/Report-
National-Literacy-Strategy-2013.pdf

Wang, A. (2015). The wear out effect of a game-based student response system. Computers & Education, 82(c, March 2015), 217–227. Retrieved from http://ac.els-cdn.com.libproxy.unitec.ac.nz/S0360131514002516/1-s2.0-S0360131514002516-main.pdf?_tid=c1ea845e-052e-11e6-8b31-00000aab0f6c&acdnat=1460961086_17d022fc970834c58c359363445ef4bb