Phase 1 Findings
The inclusion of choice had an overall positive impact for my students.
Motivation and Engagement
At the onset of this project, I observed what appeared to be a high degree of intrinsic motivation. My students were enthusiastic about choosing a topic and were coming up with questions that they were genuinely curious about, ranging from pop culture: “Why couldn’t Frozone put away the fire when he was in the burning building?” to real life situations: “Why does pool water feel warmer at night than during the day?” Quite a few of my students had genuinely fierce wonderings about these questions they came up with and wanted to seek out the answers. During this time, engagement was high and students were participating in discussions with their peers about their questions, intense google searches for information, outlining their presentations, and searching for visuals. Engagement was also high on the final day of this project.
In the post-project feedback nearly all of my students indicated that they liked having choice and they were able to choose something that interested them. My students were, for the most part, engaged during this assignment. Students were contacting me outside of class with questions about their projects, they indicated when justifying why they deserved a particular grade that they had put a lot of time and effort into their projects, and the turn-in rate was much higher than it was for the packet. Based on my observations, my measurements of engagement, and student feedback, I can say that the majority of my students enjoyed the project and were motivated and engaged with the project.
Perceptions of Science
I would also argue that the choice provided in this project had a positive impact on student perceptions of science. After completion of the project, the percentage of students believing that science is relevant to their life jumped 18%, a fairly significant change. This, coupled with student feedback such as “Now I can apply endo and exothermic to my daily life and understand how it works,” “This project helped me because it shows me how it's in almost everything that surrounds us,” and “I can relate it to real life situations,” leads me to believe that my students having the ability to choose a topic with relevance to their lives played a role in this change in perception. Additionally, several students mentioned that the project gave them an opportunity to apply their knowledge and extend beyond book information and worksheets into real life situations.
My students’ engagement appeared to be influenced by perceptions of the task at hand.
I observed that perceptions of task seemed to play a role in engagement. On the first day, my students were excited about their projects and engaged. They were engaging their curiosity and creativity to come up with a topic that interested them. I also noticed that many students were working on the visual aspect of the project, finding pictures and sketching drawings more than they were incorporating content. On the second day when engagement dropped many of these students were stuck on the content piece of the project. When asked, many students responded that they did not know how to answer their questions, were having a difficult time with the research, and some wanted to switch to an easier topic. There was an apparent inverse relationship between the perceived difficulty of the task and student engagement.
My students value grades and believe grades are based on effort and following directions over content mastery.
There were several indicators that my students value grades. First, they ranked grades as the #1 most important thing in chemistry class. They also gravitated towards worksheets when asked how they would prefer to show their knowledge because, based on feedback and discussions, they believed that worksheets were the easiest way to get a good grade. However, when I informed my students that I would be making worksheets more difficult they moved away from the idea of worksheets.
The changes in engagement surrounding due dates speaks to the importance of grades for my students. On the second day my students worked on the project in class there was a severe drop in engagement. I observed many students choosing to study and prepare for exams and projects that were due in other classes rather than using the devoted class time to work on their chemistry projects. I asked them to put away work for other classes and they pleaded with me, arguing that these things were due next period and they had to finish. In this case it appeared to me that the due date itself was an extrinsic motivator. I even wondered in my teacher journal, “When my project is due will my students be frantically working on this project in other classes?” And in fact the due date appeared to have the same effect when my project was due. Students came in with half finished projects begging me to let them finish and turn them in at the end of the period. Engagement on the final day when the project was due was the same as it was the first day when the excitement of the project seemed to drive engagement, only this time it was the fear of missing an assignment (which influences their grades) that seemed to impact motivation.
I went into this research armed with Deci's theories on motivation, Dweck's mindsets, and a grand plan on how I would turn my students into intrinsically motivated mastery oriented students by giving them choice in assessment. However it appears that one project is not enough to change the deep seated beliefs about mindsets and motivation that my students continue to hold. Because of the value my students continue to place on grades it is difficult to move beyond extrinsic motivation. Even after working on a project where intrinsic motivation initially appeared very high, the extrinsic motivation of grades ultimately overshadowed interest. Furthermore, my students' insistence on finding the easiest path to good grades indicates that they have not adopted a growth mindset where they would persevere in the face of difficulty in order to achieve mastery. Instead they continue to opt for the path of least resistance.
My students have a clear understanding on what scientists do but do not position themselves as scientists.
When asking my students the best/preferred way to show their knowledge, student after student responded with “worksheets and packets.” I was curious about this response and wondered if they know how a scientist would show their knowledge. Their understanding of how a scientist would show their knowledge was very accurate. A clear discrepancy was present between how my students showed their knowledge and how a scientist did. I suspected that my students did not view themselves as scientists based on these surveys and discussions. When asked when a person becomes a scientist, my students’ responses focused on formal college education and labcoats. At this time my students do not meet their perceptions of a scientist and in fact when asked, 72% responded that they do not think they are scientists. This raised questions for me about social ideas of what makes a scientist, as well as wonderings of how to get my students to see themselves as scientists.
Reflections: The Value of Alternative Assessment
Beyond the findings related to student choice, I found value in this assessment piece as a teacher. Particularly in science, exams seem to be the gold standard in assessment. It’s almost as if there is a belief that the only way to really see what a student knows is by giving them an isolated exam.
This project opened up a new world of assessment for me. In the past year I have struggled with the testing structure. Nearly half of my students fail the exams and I can never truly pinpoint why. With this project I could. Because my students had to apply their knowledge and explain using words and visuals, it was easy for me to pick out misconceptions and see the thought processes that led to errors in content understanding. Not to mention the joy I got from watching my students’ curiosity and creativity bloom. During this project I wrote in my teacher journal, "At the end of 6th period today Jorge (who is going to do an experiment) told me all about haw he is going to buy a thermometer for his experiment. I'm glad to get him talking! He barely has said a word all year." This is the reason I get into science teaching: to spark excitement in science.
It was also beneficial for my students. They enjoyed the freedom to choose a topic that interested them, the ability to tap into their other talents (particularly drawing). It also allowed them the flexibility to show me what they know in a way that adapted to their own learning styles. One of my students shared this piece of advice for teachers incorporating this type of project: “Individuality is the best choice when it comes to successful students.”
Motivation and Engagement
At the onset of this project, I observed what appeared to be a high degree of intrinsic motivation. My students were enthusiastic about choosing a topic and were coming up with questions that they were genuinely curious about, ranging from pop culture: “Why couldn’t Frozone put away the fire when he was in the burning building?” to real life situations: “Why does pool water feel warmer at night than during the day?” Quite a few of my students had genuinely fierce wonderings about these questions they came up with and wanted to seek out the answers. During this time, engagement was high and students were participating in discussions with their peers about their questions, intense google searches for information, outlining their presentations, and searching for visuals. Engagement was also high on the final day of this project.
In the post-project feedback nearly all of my students indicated that they liked having choice and they were able to choose something that interested them. My students were, for the most part, engaged during this assignment. Students were contacting me outside of class with questions about their projects, they indicated when justifying why they deserved a particular grade that they had put a lot of time and effort into their projects, and the turn-in rate was much higher than it was for the packet. Based on my observations, my measurements of engagement, and student feedback, I can say that the majority of my students enjoyed the project and were motivated and engaged with the project.
Perceptions of Science
I would also argue that the choice provided in this project had a positive impact on student perceptions of science. After completion of the project, the percentage of students believing that science is relevant to their life jumped 18%, a fairly significant change. This, coupled with student feedback such as “Now I can apply endo and exothermic to my daily life and understand how it works,” “This project helped me because it shows me how it's in almost everything that surrounds us,” and “I can relate it to real life situations,” leads me to believe that my students having the ability to choose a topic with relevance to their lives played a role in this change in perception. Additionally, several students mentioned that the project gave them an opportunity to apply their knowledge and extend beyond book information and worksheets into real life situations.
My students’ engagement appeared to be influenced by perceptions of the task at hand.
I observed that perceptions of task seemed to play a role in engagement. On the first day, my students were excited about their projects and engaged. They were engaging their curiosity and creativity to come up with a topic that interested them. I also noticed that many students were working on the visual aspect of the project, finding pictures and sketching drawings more than they were incorporating content. On the second day when engagement dropped many of these students were stuck on the content piece of the project. When asked, many students responded that they did not know how to answer their questions, were having a difficult time with the research, and some wanted to switch to an easier topic. There was an apparent inverse relationship between the perceived difficulty of the task and student engagement.
My students value grades and believe grades are based on effort and following directions over content mastery.
There were several indicators that my students value grades. First, they ranked grades as the #1 most important thing in chemistry class. They also gravitated towards worksheets when asked how they would prefer to show their knowledge because, based on feedback and discussions, they believed that worksheets were the easiest way to get a good grade. However, when I informed my students that I would be making worksheets more difficult they moved away from the idea of worksheets.
The changes in engagement surrounding due dates speaks to the importance of grades for my students. On the second day my students worked on the project in class there was a severe drop in engagement. I observed many students choosing to study and prepare for exams and projects that were due in other classes rather than using the devoted class time to work on their chemistry projects. I asked them to put away work for other classes and they pleaded with me, arguing that these things were due next period and they had to finish. In this case it appeared to me that the due date itself was an extrinsic motivator. I even wondered in my teacher journal, “When my project is due will my students be frantically working on this project in other classes?” And in fact the due date appeared to have the same effect when my project was due. Students came in with half finished projects begging me to let them finish and turn them in at the end of the period. Engagement on the final day when the project was due was the same as it was the first day when the excitement of the project seemed to drive engagement, only this time it was the fear of missing an assignment (which influences their grades) that seemed to impact motivation.
I went into this research armed with Deci's theories on motivation, Dweck's mindsets, and a grand plan on how I would turn my students into intrinsically motivated mastery oriented students by giving them choice in assessment. However it appears that one project is not enough to change the deep seated beliefs about mindsets and motivation that my students continue to hold. Because of the value my students continue to place on grades it is difficult to move beyond extrinsic motivation. Even after working on a project where intrinsic motivation initially appeared very high, the extrinsic motivation of grades ultimately overshadowed interest. Furthermore, my students' insistence on finding the easiest path to good grades indicates that they have not adopted a growth mindset where they would persevere in the face of difficulty in order to achieve mastery. Instead they continue to opt for the path of least resistance.
My students have a clear understanding on what scientists do but do not position themselves as scientists.
When asking my students the best/preferred way to show their knowledge, student after student responded with “worksheets and packets.” I was curious about this response and wondered if they know how a scientist would show their knowledge. Their understanding of how a scientist would show their knowledge was very accurate. A clear discrepancy was present between how my students showed their knowledge and how a scientist did. I suspected that my students did not view themselves as scientists based on these surveys and discussions. When asked when a person becomes a scientist, my students’ responses focused on formal college education and labcoats. At this time my students do not meet their perceptions of a scientist and in fact when asked, 72% responded that they do not think they are scientists. This raised questions for me about social ideas of what makes a scientist, as well as wonderings of how to get my students to see themselves as scientists.
Reflections: The Value of Alternative Assessment
Beyond the findings related to student choice, I found value in this assessment piece as a teacher. Particularly in science, exams seem to be the gold standard in assessment. It’s almost as if there is a belief that the only way to really see what a student knows is by giving them an isolated exam.
This project opened up a new world of assessment for me. In the past year I have struggled with the testing structure. Nearly half of my students fail the exams and I can never truly pinpoint why. With this project I could. Because my students had to apply their knowledge and explain using words and visuals, it was easy for me to pick out misconceptions and see the thought processes that led to errors in content understanding. Not to mention the joy I got from watching my students’ curiosity and creativity bloom. During this project I wrote in my teacher journal, "At the end of 6th period today Jorge (who is going to do an experiment) told me all about haw he is going to buy a thermometer for his experiment. I'm glad to get him talking! He barely has said a word all year." This is the reason I get into science teaching: to spark excitement in science.
It was also beneficial for my students. They enjoyed the freedom to choose a topic that interested them, the ability to tap into their other talents (particularly drawing). It also allowed them the flexibility to show me what they know in a way that adapted to their own learning styles. One of my students shared this piece of advice for teachers incorporating this type of project: “Individuality is the best choice when it comes to successful students.”