Running Head: NEW LITERACIES & MEDIA PROJECT BASED INQUIRY 1

New Literacies & Media Project Based Inquiry

ECI 546

Corrie Dobis, Rachael Hayes, & Mariah Jackson

North Carolina State University

PBI Video

Introduction & Theories of Learning

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Integrating technology into the classroom can often have an emphasis on increasing

student engagement in the classroom. As educators however, we need to become cognizant of

the fact that there are different types of engagement when using technology with students. For

our inquiry project, we wanted to look specifically into authentically engaging students. This

means that we looked into the students’ learning outcomes first and the technology choice

second (Kolb, 2017). As a group, we were particularly interested in increasing students’

automaticity when fluently reading. We aimed to provide students a way to independently

interact with one another's reading samples so they could have time to reflect with their peers as

well as by themselves. In order to authentically engage students, our project-based inquiry lesson

addressed the following question: To what extent does Seesaw impact students automaticity in

fluency?

In order to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the digital tool we chose for this

project, we grounded our lesson in the Triple E framework. This framework stands for Engage,

Enhance, & Extend (Kolb, 2017). The Triple E design allows us as teachers to make instructional

choices based on learning outcomes we want students to accomplish and then choose digital

technologies to support these goals. By using the Triple E framework we looked at how the

technology we chose would help Engage, or motivate our students to help them focus on the

learning task. Next, we wanted to Enhance students’ understanding of the fluency content

specific to automaticity and analyzed whether the technology would be a good scaffold to make

the concept more understandable. Finally, we discussed whether our technology choice of

SeeSaw allowed students to Extend their learning by connecting their school learning with their

lives outside of the classroom.

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Our compelling question is also grounded in the TPACK Framework which stands for

“The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge” (Kolb, 2017, p.20). TPACK is a model

that is a big picture view of how teachers can implement technology in the classroom. Integrating

meaningful use of technology in the classroom should be dependent on the students learning

goals. “TPACK asks educators to use their content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and

technology knowledge to guide their students in meeting specific classroom learning goals”

(Kolb, 2017). We began our project with the specific goal of learning how the use of Seesaw

would impact students’ automaticity in fluency. All third grade students have a fluency standard

focusing on sufficient accuracy. In this standard, students accuracy while fluently reading can be

defined as using the “context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, and

rereading as necessary”(NCDPI, 2017). Each individual student also had their own learning goal

based off of their specific needs in this area. Their learning goals were based off of their

beginning of the year data in WCPM (words correct per minute). After deciding on the standards

and content we wanted students to master, we then needed to look at the pedagogical approach

we wanted to take. We aimed to integrate a technology tool that allowed students to

independently work on this fluency goal while also having the opportunity to review and reflect

their practice with peers. We chose to integrate the technology tool called Seesaw because we

thought that it was a tool that would support our content and pedagogical structures of increasing

students automaticity in their reading. This tool would also allow students to share their progress

with peers and family members and would serve as an extension of their learning.

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy consists of six levels of cognitive learning, each level being

conceptually different. The six levels are remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing,

evaluating, and creating (Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy). For our inquiry lesson, we wanted the
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students to focus on the higher cognitive dimensions in order to expand their current awareness

of their fluency goals in automaticity. The students were creating and designing a read aloud

video of their independent reading in order to watch and then analyze whether they used

strategies such as self-correction to fix any reading errors. With partners, students evaluated

whether their read aloud videos showed an increase of words correct per minute and effortless

word recognition skills. Students also had to apply their phonics knowledge in order to

automatically decode words to increase their goal. Using the Seesaw app allowed us to address

these levels in the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy triangle and make a meaningful learning

experience for the selected students in this class.

Finally, our lesson was prepared with our research under Vygotsky’s Sociocultural

Theory of Development. In this theory, Vygotsky explains that students learning occurs in the

Zone of Proximal Development. This is when children are able to learn a new task and perform

this task with support in order to accomplish it successfully (Gabrielle, Tyozua, Taumoeanga, &

Yepusa, 2019). According to this theory, students also learn through social interaction with

individuals such as teachers and peers. Students were not only receiving feedback and directions

on the structure and use of the Seesaw videos but they were also being scaffolded to engage in

these fluency activities independently. The temporary guidance given to the students in this

project was subjective to each of their individual needs.

In order to create a lesson that was authentically engaging for the selected third grade

students, our project aimed to introduce a new technology tool that could advance their

automaticity when fluently reading. Integrating Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of

Development, the levels of the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy, the TPACK Framework, and the
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Triple E Framework allowed our team to design a lesson that could successfully work on this

specific skill for students.

Implementation

Our project was conducted with a small group of third grade students at Sandy Ridge

Elementary School in Durham Public Schools. Students began their work in a small group lesson

with the teacher about what they thought it meant to be a fluent reader. As students discussed

their thoughts, the teacher reiterated their thoughts that fluent readers have automaticity, meaning

that they read at an appropriate pace with few errors. To sample the effectiveness of Seesaw with

automaticity in fluency, the small group of students varied in educational backgrounds. The

teacher selected two readers that struggled in fluent reading, two English language learners, and

two above grade average readers. We also wanted to make sure that we could provide accurate

data to analyze whether Seesaw made any impact on students reading. In order to do this, the

passages read by students were selected from AIMSweb. All of the passages read by students

were at their current 3rd grade level. These were used so that we could take the number of words

per sentence, per passage to calculate their words correct per minute (WCPM). In order to do

this, we took the total number of words read in one minute and subtracted the total number of

errors. We created equitable access to technology for this project, by giving each student their

own laptop and headphones, along with their reading passages to read independently.

Upon completing their first reading selection on Seesaw, students were then given a self

evaluation review sheet. The evaluation was based on the mini lesson and peer discussion before

the activity, graded students speed and accuracy (how many errors were made or how many

words required pauses before continuing) on a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest rating.

Students were also in charge of counting how many words they read in 1 minute so that the
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teacher could then look at their WCPM for further accuracy. Three weeks later, students were

given the same task and read a different passage using Seesaw to compare their words read per

minute with accuracy.

As stated previously, the Triple E framework includes the E for Extension of students’

learning. We also wanted students to have time to self-reflect on their independent reading of the

selected passages, and be able to collaborate with their peers. When choosing a learning theory

to ground our project in, Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory of Development also paired nicely

with our intention of scaffolding students technology experience to include peer reflections. To

accomplish this the teacher printed off a personal QR code from each students’ video submission

for students to scan and watch their peers Seesaw videos. Students then partnered up and listened

to each others Seesaw videos. Using the self-evaluation rubric, students then used it to grade

their peers on the same 1-5 scale. Students read over their peer feedback and then wrote a

paragraph reflection on whether or not they thought Seesaw helped them grow as a more fluent

reader!

Lesson Outcomes

The teacher discovered that each student increased in not only their self confidence as

readers, based on their self- evaluations, but they were also all able to increase the correct

number of words that they read per minute. Seesaw allowed students the opportunity to listen to

other students read by providing QR codes that were easily accessible by classroom

Chromebooks. Listening to students examples provided students with an opportunity to

demonstrate that they were able to identify automaticity in other students reading examples.

Through individual interviews, students expressed whether they felt like they grew or not. One

of the AIG students who is considered to be a very fluent reader, said that he liked using Seesaw.
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He thought that it was a fun and engaging way to practice his reading. Although he enjoyed it,

surprisingly, he mentioned that he does not feel as though he grew as a more accurate fluent

reader. The student who is an English language learner stated that she felt that her significant

increase with her correct word count per minute was due to the fact that she was able to listen to

her words and practice them again by recording it. In order to further connect this learning with

students outside of the classroom, the teacher shared student Seesaw accounts with the family

members of the students so that they could experience their child’s success and progress with

fluent reading. This allowed students to even begin listening to their readings at home for further

practice.

Challenges & Successes

One of the challenges we faced in this project was initially designing an inquiry based

question around fluency. At first we wanted to address all the areas of fluency including

expression, automaticity, phrasing, and volume. We realized that one of these areas would only

need to be addressed when looking at student outcomes with our choice of technology and

automaticity was chosen because we knew that this was a specific and measurable goal. Another

challenge was that two of our group members were unable to be involved with students during

the lesson firsthand. If we were able to see students’ Seesaw videos this would have been

beneficial to witness. One success we encountered was the positive student reactions after using

Seesaw. Students loved being able to work on a personal fluency goal independently and also

receiving feedback from their peers after using the QR codes to watch their videos. As a group,

we were all excited to review the students’ data and see the increase of students overall WCPM.

Collaboration
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Our team consisted of three members. One teacher is in a third grade classroom, another

is in a kindergarten classroom and the third teacher is not currently in the classroom this school

year. This allowed for varied degrees of experience and knowledge as well as diverse classroom

settings and needs. These differences allowed for meaningful and insightful input from each

member of our team. We originally began with the thought of integrating our inquiry process

with Seesaw in the kindergarten and third grade classrooms, to then report the findings and

experiences for both. However, upon clarification, we determined that we were to do the project

with one class only. It was decided that this would be a more practical and useful tool to

implement in the third grade classroom. This decision was grounded in the TPACK framework,

as we wanted the technology tool to be meaningfully paired with the student content and

pedagogical approaches. The team was very flexible and agreed immediately to change the

course of our plan. Upon further questioning we changed the tool we were going to originally

use, Voicethread, to the tool Seesaw. Our group remained flexible and agreed to change the tool

to better suit the 21st century classroom. The third grade teacher was willing and able to allow

her students to “plearn” with the tool before implementing it for our project. Ultimately, letting

students take the time in advance to engage with Seesaw gave them the confidence to use this

tool individually and collaboratively. Together as a group we were able to effectively implement

the project-based inquiry process.

Data Appendices

Students’ words correct per minute were calculated by taking the total number of words read in
one minute and subtracting the total number of errors. In the table below, you will see students
WCPM goal based on their beginning of the year data along with their two scores from both
AIMSweb passages. Pseudonyms were given for each childs’ name to protect confidentiality.
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Student Name WCPM Goal Reading #1: WCPM Reading #2: WCPM

Ally 79 74 95

Edward 70 56 84

Diane 100 95 102

Jayden 145 138 161

Understanding the NC English Language Arts Standard Course of Study

(NCDPI, 2017)

AIMSweb Passage #1 (Student & Teacher Copy)

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AIMSweb Passage #2 (Student & Teacher Copy)

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Example Student Evaluation Sheet

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Resources
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Gabrielle, Tyozua, P., Taumoeanga, T., & Yepusa, A. (2019, July 30). Vygotsky's Sociocultural

Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from

https://www.psychologynoteshq.com/vygotsky-theory/.

Kolb, L. (2017). Learning first, technology second: the educators guide to designing authentic

lessons. Portland: International Society for Technology in Education.

Understanding the NC English Language Arts Standard Course of Study. (2017).

Retrieved from

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/curriculum/languagearts/parents/standards-3.pdf

(2001). Retrieved from

http://www.laingsburg.k12.mi.us/UserFiles/Servers/Server_453543/File/Elementary

School/Title One/fluency-passages-grade3.pdf.

(2019, November 15). Revised bloom’s taxonomy. Retrieved from Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

website: https://tlc.iitm.ac.in/PDF/Blooms%20Tax.pdf