Week 31 - Evaluate Your Impact (Check)

Week 31 Evaluate Your Impacts

Task 1: What is the observed impact after the ‘Take Action’ phase?

Moving into the checking phase of Timperly, Kaiser and Halberts Spiral of Inquiry (2014), I am checking and analysing what I have done and what the observed impact has been.

I initially started the inquiry process to investigate "How the use of robotics and learning with collaborative groups, could be used to promote student engagement and have a positive impact on mathematical outcomes?" my initial hunch was that using robotics would increase engagement which would in turn have a positive impact on on mathematical outcomes. This was based on the fact that I had surveyed the students towards the end of 2018 and they had expressed an interest in robotics. However through informal observations I found that the robots where more of a distraction to the lesson.  There was a lot of time taken to get to know how to use the robots, time that could have been better spent doing other tasks. Interesting to note that the robots have been sitting in the class untouched by any child since the last math session. If the students had been really engaged with and wanted to use the robots there would be no way of me being able to keep them away from them. The interest is just not there.

So while there has been an obvious increase in students mathematical outcomes. I can not say that it is because of the use of robotics. I believe it could be because of the urgency that was created by having to complete a set amount of maths sessions. I have also observed the positive impact of the collaborative groups within the class. The students are mixed abilities and during groups sessions there has been a lot of discussion and sharing of ideas and thoughts from all students. I can see an increase in the students willingness to share and having the confidence in doing so. There seems to be less competitiveness. The students are developing a more growth mindset about maths also.

For my next inquiry I will ensure that I only have one area of focus in my big question. I would ensure there are resources available to support what I am wanting to teach. I would also ensure that it is over a longer time frame. I would like to further investigate how working within collaborative groups improves mathematical outcomes for all learners.

Halbert, J., Kaser, L., & Koehn, D. (2011). Spirals of Inquiry: Building Professional Inquiry to Foster Student Learning. Paper presented at 24th International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement. Limassol, Cyprus. Retrieved from http://www.icsei.net/icsei2011/Full%20Papers/0053.pdf