Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2023

Document Type

Project (696 or 796 registration)

Degree Name

Master of Science in Curriculum & Instruction

Department

Graduate Studies

Committee Chair

Kathy Enger

Keywords

Motivation, Formative Assessment, Feedback, Self-Efficacy, Self-Reflection, Bridges

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on an elementary school in the Midwest region of the United States; this community serves as a regional center of education, commerce, and health care. Participants in this study are a classroom of 17 fifth grade students; 35% girls and 65% boys. The school district in this study recently adopted a new mathematics curriculum, Bridges. In using this new mathematics curriculum, the teachers have noticed that many of the fifth-grade students are consistently scoring in the red on the assessments. This research study will investigate whether implementing goal setting and individual student conference sessions will improve fifth grade students' academic achievement, specifically related to mathematics. The following research questions will be used: Does using Student Goal Setting and Individual Student Conferences Increase Academic Achievement in Mathematics? What happens to students’ self-evaluation skills when they are required to evaluate their own work? This research will investigate whether implementing goal setting and individual student conference sessions will improve fifth grade students' academic achievement, specifically related to mathematics.

With the Bridges math curriculum, students are given a pre-assessment for a unit followed by a post-assessment. After each of these assessments the students complete a self-reflection sheet based on their scores and feelings on the assessment. The unit pre and post assessments will measure student growth through the unit and the assignments will show how the formative assessment process is helping them with the mastery of skills. Data will be compared after each assessment to see if improvements have been made since implementing the goals and conference interventions. The research design selected was a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative action research. The quantitative approach uses the rubric in the Bridges math curriculum, while the self-reflection sheets can be analyzed using a qualitative grounded theory approach. A mixed-methods approach was chosen because the researcher wanted to measure growth, but also understand how students felt about the use of setting and reaching goals, feedback on formative assessment, and the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

Data will be collected via individual, small group, and whole group observations; student conference (discussion); scores from formal and informal assessments, and work samples. Five minutes will be set aside each day to allow students to complete and/or reflect on their mathematics goals. Each student will meet with the teacher at least once a unit (lower students more frequently) for an individual student conference related to their mathematics goals and academic progress. Each unit lasts approximately twenty class periods. With the Bridges math curriculum, students are given a pre-assessment for each unit followed by a post-assessment. After each of these assessments the students will complete a self-reflection sheet based on their scores and feelings on the assessment. After gathering the data from the methods above, the pre-assessment score and post- assessment score will be calculated and compared to summarize growth in learning from the beginning to the end of the unit.

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