Level III Inquiry Brief

Part 1: Wondering & Rationale

(FEAP 5a)
 Describe the context of your work: details about your field experience school, classroom & students that are relevant to your
inquiry.
o I am currently a level 3 intern at the same elementary school that I have been interning at for the past year. The school is located in a
primarily middle-class suburban area. I am currently in a first grade placement. The classroom is a very brightly colored, inviting,
Disney themed room that the students seem to love. We have 18 students in my class, who range in ability levels. We have students
who are still reading at a kindergarten level, and others who are reading at the third grade level.

 Include data/literature/course connections you collected in Level 2, if applicable, that helps to support why you chose this
question. Also, connect with school/classroom improvement goals and/or standards.
o This inquiry connects back to the course work from last semester from our Social studies class. For this inquiry, so far I have been
collection observational data based on what practices engage students. I am also looking at academic data to support the students who
are academically struggling to engage them in the social studies lessons
o My inquiry connects to the school and classroom standards by helping students to become responsible and productive citizens in
society.
 Clearly articulate why you chose this topic area/wondering. State why the area of inquiry (wondering) is important for student
learning and continued professional growth.
o I chose this wondering for a couple of reasons. First of all, Social Studies is one of my favorite subject to teach and one that I feel gets
passed over the most. I have also noticed in the past that students do not necessarily seems the most engaged in their social studies
learning. Secondly, a peer and I submitted to a proposal to the National Council of Social Studies (NCSS) about the effect of stationed
work on student’s social studies engagement. This inquiry will help me acquire additional data for our presentation this coming
November.
 Explicitly share your actual wondering/inquiry question.

o How can I increase student engagement in social studies lessons?”

Part 2: Literature as Data

Using correct APA formatting, provide citations for the literature (practitioner articles, course texts, empirical articles) you collected as

data to inform your inquiry. Provide key quotes or ideas from each piece of literature and ideas for taking action in your classroom.
 As you revisit literature, add more literature, and begin formative data collection, is your wondering shifting or changing? If so,
explain…
CITATION
Lenz, Bob, (2011) “How Will Technology
Change Learning—and Teaching?”
Edutopia.
Thea Lindquist, Holley Long, (2011)
"How can educational technology
facilitate student engagement with online
primary sources?: A user needs
assessment", Library Hi Tech, Vol. 29
Issue: 2, pp.224-241
NCSS, (2010), “The College, Career, and
Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social
Studies State Standards: Guidance for
Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics,
Economics, Geography, and History,”
tional Council for the Social Studies,
Silver Spring, MD.
Level III Inquiry Brief
KEY QUOTES/IDEAS
The use of technology makes student’s
learning more applicable real world
Technology use “as a powerful tool for
facilitating and managing learning.”
Students are engaging with Primary
Sources in an online environment. Would
have worked well with my Social Studies In addition to providing content for the
stations.
“Developing explanations and making
and supporting arguments can take form
in individual essays, group projects, and
other classroom-based written
assessments, both formal and informal.”
“. Students need opportunities to work
IDEAS FOR ACTION IN THE
CLASSROOM
Utilize different technologies over the
course of this unit to try to improve student
engagement in the content material.
Unfortunately I found this source after I had
already taught my Social Studies lesson, but
this will be a fantastic tool to use the next
time I am teaching a social studies lesson.
centers, it is important to scaffold my
students to ensure that they gain these
important skills as well, not only to help
them during centers, but to help them in life.
Actively engage students in inquiry and
allow students to take a personal stake in
their learning. Using this framework to
design units and over the course of units
will allow students to be able to use their
prior knowledge in conjunction with what
they have learned to create a fuller picture
 Level III Inquiry Brief

individually, with partners, in small of the material.

groups, and within whole class settings.”

Part 3: Action/Data Collection Plan

(FEAPs 1d, 1e, 3c, 3d, 4b, ESOL 5.1, 5.3)

Using your Data Collection Table, share the data collected/actions taken during the course of your inquiry work. Include your data
analysis/what the data told you and conclusions you could draw/findings you might suggest from each piece of data you collected/action
you implemented.

 Describe at least 1 formative and 1 summative data collection method you utilized during your inquiry in the chart below. Indicate
whether you consider data formative or summative. (Indicate in the DATA COLECTED/ACTION TAKEN Column)
 Describe at least 3 teaching strategies OR iterations of teaching strategies implemented. Cite at least 3 pieces of relevant literature
supporting the use of the strategies (APA style) (Indicate in the DATA COLECTED/ACTION TAKEN Column)
 How did you make sense of your data? Provide an explanation of how you (can be a collaboration with your CT) looked at the
data you gathered to inform your understanding of student learning. (In the Appendix, include at least one chart, picture, or
representation demonstrating your process of analyzing data). (indicate in the ANALYSIS Column)
 Describe how you will differentiate strategies based on students’ needs. How will this help you meet the needs of ELL learners?
Make connections with your ESOL/TSL & EDP course texts as a resource for differentiation strategies. (include in FINDING
FROM THIS DATA/NEXT STEPS column)

DATA COLLECTED/ACTION TAKEN ANALYSIS/HOW DID YOU MAKE FINDING FROM THIS DATA & NEXT
SENSE OF THE DATA? STEPS

Data Collected- Materials Students used to
learn about Florida
 ABC’s of Florida
 Florida Nearpod- whole class
 Florida Nearpod- station (videos)
 Florida booklet- station
Field notes during the actual implementation
(focusing on behavioral management)
Action Taken/Teaching Strategy
Used a variety of sources of information to
teach students about Florida including
writing booklets, videos, and an ABC
Florida book.
Used a variety of teaching strategies to
identify which format students seems to be
more engaged in.
Literature:
The use of technology makes student’s
learning more applicable real world
Technology use “as a powerful tool for
facilitating and managing learning.”
Lenz, Bob, (2011) “How Will Technology
Change Learning—and Teaching?”
Edutopia.
Level III Inquiry Brief
I went through students graphic organizers.
Each student had 4 boxes filled out on facts
that they found most important about Florida.
For each fact I identified which material that
the students learned it through and then made a
chart showing where the class collectively
found their data from.
I did the same for the students final product
(their letters)
Finding: Students pulled more information
from the video portions of this unit, than
from other sources of information.
High-quality materials that students can
complete individually are extremely
difficult to procure for younger students.
Next steps-
Find a way to make video learning more
productive, interactive, and hands on, in
order to continue to build content
knowledge.
Would there be an effective way to create a
Nearpod in which all students could collaborate
and solve problems together?
Furthermore, would there be a way to make
this learning more problem-based?

Data Collected-
Formative Assessment- Students graphic
organizer
Summative Assessment- Students final
product- letter
Action taken/Teaching Strategy:
I discovered this, over the course of my
social studies lesson, but didn’t come
across
Literature:
Students are engaging with Primary
Sources in an online environment. Would
have worked well with my Social Studies
stations (Long, 2011). Would allow me to
combine influential primary sources, which
would allow students to engage in inquiry
with them while also combining with
technology which I found during this
inquiry to be extremely beneficial for my
students.
Data Collected-
Formative Assessment- Students graphic
organizers
Summative Assessment- Final product-
letter
Action Taken/Teaching Strategy:
Level III Inquiry Brief
This data was drawn from my field notes.
I noticed in the student’s responses that
while they were able to have a personal
stake in the information that they chose to
share, they were still simply stating what
they learned throughout this unit, they were
not able to come to any conclusion on their
own. While they were able to engage with
the material that they chose to share, if I
had somehow utilized primary sources in
this unit their learning would have even
been more relevant.
I looked at the students graphic organizers
before I asked them to share why they felt
it was the most important and noticed only
a few words written down (field notes)
After asking students to explain to me why
Finding- High-quality materials that
students can complete individually and
engage with on an inquiry level are needed
to make learning even more relevant to
students.
Next Steps- . Implement more primary
sources into my social studies lessons. For
the younger kiddos, use resources like Kid
Citizen to provide opportunities to the
kiddos to engage with primary sources
Finding- Activities in which students can
collaborate and actively engage in inquiry
and with materials in which students can
relate to provide the best kind of learning
experience.
 Level III Inquiry Brief

something was important, I looked at their Next Steps- Continue to use C3 framework
I noticed that students were just writing one graphic organizers again to engage students in inquiry and provide
or two words on their graphic organizers more meaningful interactions with
about something that they learned about materials for students to keep them
Florida- ie: Jacksonville. engaged and excited to learn.

Once I noticed this was a common

occurrence across all of my kiddos, I used
the C3 framework- which I designed my
unit around- to further engage them in
inquiry. If you told me Jacksonville is
important, what about Jacksonville do you
think it is important and why did you feel
that this was worth sharing with me?

Literature:
NCSS, (2010), “The College, Career, and
Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social
Studies State Standards: Guidance for
Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics,
Economics, Geography, and History,”
tional Council for the Social Studies, Silver
Spring, MD.

“Developing explanations and making and

supporting arguments can take form in
individual essays, group projects, and other
classroom-based written assessments, both
formal and informal.”

“. Students need opportunities to work

individually, with partners, in small groups,
and within whole class settings.”
 Level III Inquiry Brief

Part 4: Learning Statements/Claims

After looking across/analyzing all of the data collected and actions taken, what learning statements/claims might you make (minimum of
3 statements)? For each learning statement, describe the data or evidence that you used to develop that claim, including proper citations if
literature/course connections served as evidence.

FINDING/CLAIM EVIDENCE SUPPORTING FINDING

Students pulled more information from the video portions of this
unit, than from other sources of information
When analyzing students graphic organizers, 38 pieces of the total
69 pieces of evidence came from the different videos that students
watched, while the remaining 31 pieces were spread amongst 4
different categories showing a significant difference amongst the 5
categories.

Just over 50% of students pulled facts from the planning portion
and 67% of information in the final product came from the
NearPod videos.

On another note, when students were watching this video, they

required virtually no redirection and were all engrossed in the
videos, whereas students working in other stations required much
more behavioral management.

High-quality materials that students can complete individually are
extremely difficult to procure for younger students.
Struggled when planning content lessons on Florida. Many of the
videos were way to long, and the ones that were the appropriate
length for stations were not high quality and I was not a huge fan
of the content. All of the resources that provided quality
information included a lot of reading which many of my kiddos
 Level III Inquiry Brief

wouldn’t be able to do.

It took hours of digging before I found adequate resources for this

lesson.

Activities in which students can collaborate and actively engage in Students were excited to learn in this unit for a number of reasons.
inquiry and with materials in which students can relate to provide
the best kind of learning experience.
1. Students were excited to learn about Florida, because that
is where they are all currently living
2. Students had all had prior experience with letters and could
explain the purpose.
3. The idea of writing to someone to share their knowledge
really appealed to them.- They kept asking “Can we write
our letters to Cash now?”
4. When the kiddos got letters back, they felt like their was a
reason behind there assignment- plus, who doesn’t love
opening letters.
Once I asked students to tell me why they chose to include certain
facts (the fact that Florida is a Peninsula, that Disney is in Florida,
or about Manatees) they took ownership of their ideas and many
of the students made their claims by stating “I think…”

Part 5: Conclusion/Reflection
(Feap 5b, 5c)

In your conclusion, reflect upon your inquiry work as a whole. Write a paragraph that thoroughly addresses the following questions:
Reflection: Interns will answer the following questions and support their answers using the most powerful data (FEAP 5c):
1. What did you learn about yourself as a teacher?

I learned that I really enjoy providing students with real life experience over the course of their learning. This Florida/Writing unit that I
designed was based on a lesson that I found online (Link to online lesson). I liked the basic premise but disliked the logistics, so I scraped
 Level III Inquiry Brief

everything (except the basic premise) and asked myself how I could align this idea with my Social studies stations for NCSS, teach the
writing cycle, and more importantly, how could I make this unit more relatable to my students. So I looked up Social Studies sequence
online and saw that Florida was supposed to be taught- easy, students can all relate to this topic. Social Studies- check. But how to
incorporate the writing cycle? A letter, this would allow students to explain their thinking to an outside audience. Writing Cycle- check.
How to engage students, have them write a letter, but ensure that they get a response! This would provide the most relatable and real life
experience for my kiddos- check. So I had my students write to a friend in Vietnam all about Florida, and he was able to write back to
them. This way, students were able to see that theur assignment had a purpose and they were excited by the fact that someone else read
their writing and took their advice! So in short, I learned just how much I enjoy designing learning experiences for my students that are
relevant to them.

2. What were the most powerful adjustments you made during the planning process? What do you believe would be the most
beneficial changes you could make next to improve student learning?

Unfortunately, the claims that I made didn’t necessarily come from adjustments from my during the planning process, but from
identifying gaps in student learning based upon the evidence that I gathered from students. As much as my students enjoyed this lesson, I
still felt that they were just reciting facts that they had learned as opposed to actually investigating Florida. This is why I came to the
conclusion that I need to use more primary sources in my teaching so that students can come to their own conclusions. In addition, once I
noticed that my students weren’t giving any details about Florida, I amended my instruction to include a more inquiry based portion so
students would justify their reasoning. This is one of the most beneficial changes that I believe that I can make next. I also want to find
and/or create more high quality resources for my students.

3. What have you learned about using data as a part of your teaching? What did you learn by evaluating data with your teaching
peers (CT, cohort, resource teachers?

Assessing throughout my unit allowed me to make adjustments as needed. In prior semesters, I was making adjustments to my demeanor
based on student’s reactions to my actions. This semester I was making adjustments to my teaching passed on the data I was collecting
from my students. I wouldn’t say that I learned this but more experienced it. I experienced what it was like to share data with my CT and
have her state things that I didn’t necessarily see at first in my data. This also allowed for another perspective when reviewing the data
that I had collected and someone to suggest next steps as well as to bounce new ideas off of.

4. What new wonderings do you have?

How does the use of primary sources impact the way that students interact with Social Studies?
 Level III Inquiry Brief

How does the use of brain breaks impact student behavior throughout the day?

APPENDIX

A. Data Analysis Tool (Part 3: include at least one chart, picture, or representation demonstrating your process of analyzing data)
 Level III Inquiry Brief

Planning

ABC's of Florida
Florida Nearpod
Florida Booklet
Personal Experience
Not Relevant
 Level III Inquiry Brief

Final Product (Letter)

ABC's of Florida
Florida Nearpod
Florida Booklet
Personal Experience
Not Relevant