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PHASE 5

Documenting Project Outcomes and
Recommending Revisions

Overview

In this final phase of the project, the data collected in the previous phase will be interpreted and the success of the project will be determined.  Recommendations for revisions, improvements, and future research will be given.

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Summary Data

Two objectives were set at the beginning of this project drawing from the learning issue identified in students’ performance on text-rich problems through quantitative analysis of their past test results (See Phase 1).  Through supplemental online interactions and assessment, the two indicators that corresponded to the objectives were tested. Prior to the implementation, a pre-project assessment was administered to find out how the particular group of students with whom the implementation will take place was currently performing in text-rich problems that required rigorous problem-solving skills.  Figure 1 shows a histogram of the students’ scores in the pre-test.  As can be seen in the figure, out of the ten students, only one was able to score an A grade (80-100) in these types of assessment. A majority of the students were scoring Bs and Cs (60-79) while four students scored below C (two D-Es and two Us). Note that the grading scales are strictly according to CIE standards; thus there is no F grade. 

Figure 1—Pre-test Results
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Figure 2—Post-test Results
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Recommendations for Adoption

The implementation of this project gave more insight on the impact of flipped learning in high school.  Although many advantages of flipped learning have been identified by scholars and practitioners ( Bates & Galloway, 2012; Enfield, 2013; Goedhart et al., 2019; Pearson, 2012; Subramaniam & Muniandy, 2016; Wright, 2011), its efficacy depends on the students to whom it is implemented. For high school learners, the approach would be best utilized with self-motivated students who are highly interested in learning and trying new things.  To successfully implement this approach on demotivated high schoolers, it would be important that a learning coach be involved. A learning coach could be a parent, guardian, or some other adult who is able to spend time with the student, encourage and guide them through the online content. 

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Recommendations for Future Research

Several studies have found that the flipped method improves students’ interest and engagement in mathematics (Butler, 2020; Clark, 2015; Muir & Geiger, 2016), increases their understanding of math concepts (Bhagat et al., 2016), improves theirs mathematical skills (Belmonte et al., 2019), and consequently increases their overall achievement in mathematics (Carlisle, 2018).  These studies, however, have focused on post-secondary education where students already know what they want in life and have a drive towards accomplishing their goals. Based on the results of this project, three recommendations are suggested for future research

First, future research on this approach should focus more on secondary education. Instructional approaches that work in tertiary education classrooms would not necessarily work in secondary education. This may be due to the age difference of the students involved, but it may also be a result of a lack of understanding of what the students really want to achieve. For instance, while andragogical teaching style is suitable for tertiary education, pedagogical approaches are better in secondary education. Flipped learning, being self-directed, is more of an andragogical approach and future research needs to find ways to modify the approach to fit pedagogical styles.

Second, research on flipped learning needs to investigate its impact on the less motivated students in secondary schools. An instructional approach that works excellently with self-motivated students would not necessarily work on the less motivated. This is especially true for teenage classrooms.

Lastly, the duration of the current project was not long enough to have a significant impact on the students. Future research should take into account the duration over which the flipped learning approach should be implemented for it to have an impact on students.  This will help practitioners (instructors) plan better and more effective projects that utilize the approach. I personally believe that as I will continue with the approach after this project is complete, I will eventually win the less motivated students and they will equally benefit from the approach. 

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Conclusions

My goal was to use blended learning to help students achieve better results in their CIE mathematics learning.  More specifically,  the project objectives were to help students to:

(a) be able to interpret and formulate a mathematical equation from text-rich problems without error,

(b) be able to present a correctly communicated solution from a text-rich mathematical problem with more than 90 % accuracy.

Data was collected using quantitative and qualitative approaches to test whether these goals were met.  An analysis of the data indicated that the technology solution to the learning issue could only work for highly motivated students. While most of my students benefited from the approach, it did not have any significant positive influence on a few students. However, this was not because of the approach but because there are some students who would generally not welcome new instructional approaches, especially if their relationship with the teacher wasn't very good initially. Despite the unoptimistic outcome of the project, the flipped learning approach remains an excellent 21st-century approach of instruction that can benefit all students in the long run.

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References

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Bates, S., & Galloway, R. (2012). The inverted classroom in a large enrolment introductory physics course: A case study. Proceedings of the HEA STEM Learning and Teaching Conference.                                                                                             https://www2.ph.ed.ac.uk/~rgallowa/Bates_Galloway.pdf

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Belmonte, J. L., Cabrera, A. F., Núñez, J. A. L., & Sánchez, S. P. (2019). Formative transcendence of flipped learning in mathematics students of secondary education. Mathematics, 7(12), 1226. https://doi.org/10.3390/MATH7121226

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Bhagat, K. K., Chang, C.-N., Chang, C.-Y., Bhagat, K. K., Chang, C.-N., & Chang, C.-Y. (2016). The Impact of the Flipped Classroom on Mathematics Concept Learning in High School. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 19(3), 134–142. http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.19.3.134

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Butler James, R. (2020). Technology and mathematics teaching and learning: Using flipped instruction to teach middle school mathematics (Doctoral dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/technology-mathematics-teaching-learning-using/docview/2481091761/se-2?accountid=188730

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Carlisle, C. S. (2018). How the flipped classroom impacts students’ math achievement (Doctoral Dissertation). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/how-flipped-classroom-impacts-students-math/docview/2065145464/se-2?accountid=188730

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Clark, K. R. (2015). The Effects of the Flipped Model of Instruction on Student Engagement and Performance in the Secondary Mathematics Classroom. Journal of Educators Online, 12(1), 91–115. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1051042

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Enfield, J. (2013). Looking at the impact of the flipped classroom model of instruction on undergraduate multimedia students at CSUN. TechTrends 2013 57:6, 57(6), 14–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/S11528-013-0698-1

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Goedhart, N. S., Blignaut-van Westrhenen, N., Moser, C., & Zweekhorst, M. B. M. (2019). The flipped classroom: Supporting a diverse group of students in their learning. Learning Environments Research 2019 22:2, 22(2), 297–310. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10984-019-09281-2

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Muir, T., & Geiger, V. (2016). The affordances of using a flipped classroom approach in the teaching of mathematics: a case study of a grade 10 mathematics class. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 28(1), 149–171. https://doi.org/10.1007/S13394-015-0165-8

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Pearson, G. (2012). Biology teacher’s Flipped Classroom: ‘A simple thing, but it’s so powerful’ . https://www.edcan.ca/articles/biology-teachers-flipped-classroom-a-simple-thing-but-its-so-powerful/

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Subramaniam, S. R., & Muniandy, B. (2016). Concept and characteristics of flipped classroom. International Journal of Emerging Trends in Science and Technology, 3(10), 4668–4670. https://doi.org/10.18535/ijetst/v3i10.01

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Wright, S. (2011). The Flip: Why I Love It, How I Use It. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/14109/the-flip-why-i-love-it-how-i-use-it

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Lesson 5 (Day 5)
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When the unit in which the project focused was completed, a post-project assessment was administered to test whether the solution was effective or not. Just as in the pre-test, the post-test questions were taken from CIE past examination papers and they were carefully selected to have the same style, difficulty and to test the same skills as in the pre-test (See Phase 2 for sample assessments). The assessment duration was also the same for the pre-test and post-test and each followed CIE requirements.  Figure 2 displays the results of the post-test in the form of a histogram to be compared with the pre-test. 

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In addition to the quantitative data that was collected through the pre-test and post-test, qualitative data was collected through observation of students’ attitudes towards the instructional approach as well as their interaction in the online discussion forum.  Although a significant number of the students welcomed the approach and participated with lots of enthusiasm, up to two students were reluctant to learn with the approach and always displayed negative attitudes towards learning.  While the enthusiastic students would interact online with high-quality posts that help build their critical thinking skills, the reluctant students would reply to posts with very short phrases just to meet the required number of replies. They frequently used phrases such as “True”, “I agree”, “You’re right” as their replies to posts and their main posts were not of high quality either.  

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Data interpretation

The project had the following two objectives:

  1. Given a set of word problems, students will be able to interpret and formulate a mathematical equation from it without error.

  2. Given a multistep mathematical problem, students will be able to present a correctly communicated solution with more than 90 % accuracy.

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Comparing the quantitative results presented in Figure 1 and Figure 2, we see a big surge of students from the low performance to higher performance end. There are many more students in the upper quartile of the range of test scores in Figure 2 than there are in Figure 1. This suggests that the solution was effective in raising students from lower to higher performers.  However, there are still many more students in the lower quartile than was expected. Although the figures show that a significant majority of students improved their test scores, the degree to which they improved and the percentage of students who positively benefited from the project is not as expected. Therefore, it can be concluded that these objectives were not met. 

The qualitative data also shows that there was a distinct lack of motivation in some students that affected the potential of the project (see the summary data above).  These less motivated students were those whose online interactions were halfhearted.  Therefore, they neither improved their test scores nor gained the 21st-century skills that were a side-benefit of the project. 

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Recommendations for revisions

Blended learning is a great approach to supplement teacher instruction with content and self-assessment.  There was definitely a lack of motivation for students to participate in the project at times.  In order for the approach to be effective motivationally, students need to be able to see the benefit and application of the content being covered.  Students need to own the process and want to see improvement in themselves. If given the chance to repeat this project, I would add a piece at the very beginning that would share the learning issue found with the class.  I would lay out the purpose of the project in a more transparent manner.  Perhaps seeing the learning issue identified in their own work and then working to improve their own baseline scores would fill the motivation gaps that we ran into at times during this project.

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Recommendations for revisions

Blended learning is a great approach to supplement teacher instruction with content and self-assessment.  There was definitely a lack of motivation for students to participate in the project at times.  In order for the approach to be effective motivationally, students need to be able to see the benefit and application of the content being covered.  Students need to own the process and want to see improvement in themselves. If given the chance to repeat this project, I would add a piece at the very beginning that would share the learning issue found with the class.  I would lay out the purpose of the project in a more transparent manner.  Perhaps seeing the learning issue identified in their own work and then working to improve their own baseline scores would fill the motivation gaps that we ran into at times during this project.

Workshop 6 (Day 5): TEACHER LEADERSHIP: Welcome
technology-vision-for-the-future_orig.jp
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