Action Research Project

Alex Boshaw APU Murrieta Campus EDUC 526: Capstone Experience in Digital Teaching and Learning Professor: Dr. Joanne Gilbreath Voicethread and the Flipped Classroom Model November 1, 2013

I am a high school history teacher and I face the same struggle each year in my AP World History class. Our school year begins in early September and my students take the AP Exam in mid-May. I have a hard time covering the entire curriculum in such a short period of time. I would like to research strategies that will help me maximize my class time and help me to get through the course curriculum in a more efficient manner. I am intrigued by the concept of the flipped classroom. I would love to find a way to have the students learn the lesson at home and come to class ready to discuss the material and engage in critical thinking activities and interactive group projects. I would also like to find an effective way for my students to collaborate on projects and interact with each other outside of the classroom. Email and Facebook can be cumbersome ways to share information in an academic setting. I was introduced to Voicethread during the teacher credential program. I would like to use Voicethread to teach the lesson to the students while they are at home (or anywhere with an internet connection). Voicethread allows me to upload my PowerPoint presentations and narrate them and make the available for students to view. There is also a student comment feature, which makes it possible for students to post questions and comments to the Voicethread slides, and interact with each other outside of the classroom. Students will view the Voicethread presentation and input the lesson as a homework assignment. That will leave us more class time to work on essays, engage in group-activities, and conduct Socratic seminars where the students are able to drive the conversation.

Procedure:
Step 1: The baseline assessment will be given after the students have read the assigned material. The students will answer 4 questions, which represent 4 different levels of critical thinking, according to Blooms Taxonomy. I will use specific questions from the Blooms Taxonomy pyramid. The questions will all be free response questions.

Step 2: 1 week after the results of the baseline assessment are collected, a second series of 4 questions will be asked, using the same critical thinking levels of Blooms Taxonomy that were used in the baseline assessment. Students will respond to these questions after having viewed the Voicethread presentation for homework prior to the lesson. I will use the same scoring guide to as I used in the baseline assessment. That way I can accurately measure the students improvement, after having access to the frontloading strategy of Voicethread. A scoring guide will be used to interpret the results of the baseline assessment. I will chart the students results according to the levels of questions that they were able to respond correctly to. I will use specific question types from Blooms Taxonomy to represent 4 different levels of critical thinking and analysis.

Here is a link to one of the Voicethread presentations that was used in this study:

http://voicethread.com/?#u2089079.b4105594.i21010096 I am hoping that I can collect clear data that reveals the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model of instruction. THE QUESTION: The goal of the flipped classroom is spend valuable class time pushing students to higher levels of critical thinking and analysis instead of spending time actually teaching the lesson. Does frontloading my students using Voicethread increase their ability to think critically and come to class more prepared for higher-level discussions? On Friday, September 20, 2013, I collected the baseline questions from my 2nd period AP World History class. I have attached the chart below, which shows how

many students were able to answer questions related to the first 4 levels of Blooms Taxonomy.

Baseline Questions Period 2-AP World History

NAME ES MR TH WW SD CL AV GJ EJ BW SR IC MR BJ LEVEL 1 X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 2 X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 3 X X X X LEVEL 4 X X

X X X X

X X X X

Students will receive an X if they have answered that question correctly. These questions are based on Blooms Taxonomy of higher-order thinking skills Level 1: Knowledge Question Level 2: Comprehension Question Level 3: Application Question Level 4: Analysis Question My baseline questions were designed to measure my students ability to answer level 4 analysis questions based on Blooms Taxonomy. There were 8 students that did not meet this initial objective. This shows me that these students needed more than just textbook reading to accomplish the lesson objectives. An analysis of this data leads me to the following conclusions: 1 student was not able to respond correctly to any of the questions corresponding to the first 4 levels critical thinking according to Blooms Taxonomy

2 students were able to answer 1 question correctly. BJ answered the level 1 question correctly, while ES was able to answer the level 3 question correctly.

3 students were able to answer the level 1 and level 2 questions correctly (EJ, GJ, andTH) One student correctly answered the level 2 and level 3 questions only (CL) 6 students were able to answer all critical thinking questions correctly. (MR, IC, SR, BW, WW, MR) In summary, 45% of my students did not achieve the desired result on the entry-level assessment. In other words, they were not able to answer the level 4 analysis question, based on Blooms Taxonomy. I suspect that these students did not take the time to do the reading assignment that was assigned. I will need to give extra support and scaffolding to these students during the lesson to ensure that they are able to participate in higher-order class discussions about the lesson content. I am certain that, when these students view my Voicethread presentation, in addition to doing the assigned reading, they will all be able to respond correctly to the level 4 questions.

55% of my students were able to respond correctly to the level 4 analysis question, based on Blooms Taxonomy. They gave detailed responses that showed that they read and understood the assigned chapter reading. This is not surprising. It is recommended that students take AP World History if they have a reading comprehension level at least above grade level, preferably at the post high school level.

What Next?
I will provide these students with an opportunity to watch my Voicethread presentation prior to the next lesson. The Voicethread presentation will explain the content at a deeper level and clarify some of the confusing points. The VT is designed to complement the assigned reading, and give the

students a chance to listen to a narrated summary of the main points of the lesson. Students are also able to post comments and questions on the Voicethread slides. They can then receive feedback from their classmates and myself to clarify and explain the challenging concepts prior to the actual in-class lesson (Front-loading). It is my expectation that these students will be able to answer the level 4 analysis questions during the next class period. One week later, I asked my students to view a Voicethread presentation on the early years of the Roman Republic, in addition to reading the assigned textbook reading for that day. Here are my students results on the assessment that I gave the following day. After viewing the Voicethread, only 1 student did not meet the desired outcome, which was to respond correctly to a level 4 analysis question, based on Blooms Taxonomy. If fact, that student did not respond correctly to the level 3 question either. Students were also able to post questions on the Voicethread slides and receive answers to those questions prior to the lesson. That feature allows students to receive clarification on complex issues before class time.

Summative Assessment Questions (Part 1) Period 2-AP World History

NAME ES MR TH WW SD CL AV GJ EJ BW SR IC MR BJ LEVEL 1 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 2 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X

The 3rd and final assessment was given several weeks later. The results were phenomenal. All students were able to answer all 4 questions, demonstrating the first 4 levels of critical thinking and analysis according to Blooms Taxonomy.

Summative Assessment Questions (Part 2) Period 2-AP World History

NAME ES MR TH WW SD CL AV GJ EJ BW SR IC MR BJ LEVEL 1 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 2 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X LEVEL 4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Technology is a great way to impact student learning. Using Web 2.0, I was able to provide my students with Voicethread presentations and frontload them with valuable content prior to the lesson. This strategy empowers the students to interact with the material and review some of the basic lesson content prior to class time. Valuable class time is then able to be dedicated to higher-order discussions and group projects. My students ability to answer critical thinking questions was the measurable goal in this case. Using technology directly led to greater student performance on the summative assessment questions. This was measured by using Blooms Taxonomy level 4 analysis questions. This frontloading strategy led directly to higher student scores on the summative assessment (critical thinking questions). I will continue to create Voicethread presentations and Boshaw podcasts to help my students connect more deeply with the AP World History content, and prepare them for the AP Exam in May. I enjoy making my course

content available to students when they are outside of the classroom. Any student with access to the Internet can view my presentations and interact with their classmates and myself. Below is a chart describing the levels of critical thinking according to Blooms Taxonomy.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Level 1-Remembering: Can the student recall of remember the information? Level 2-Understanding: Can the student explain ideas or concepts? Level 3-Applying: Can the student use the information in a new way? Level 4-Analyzing: Can the student distinguish between the different parts? Level 5-Evaluating: Can the student justify a stand or decision? Level 6-Creating: Can the student create a new product or point of view?