Instructional Design Report

Instructional Design Report

Catherine Haight

ESE 6939

Summary Article 1: 

     Designing groups in problem-based learning to promote problem-solving skill and self directedness by M. Lohman and M.Finkelstein is a study on if the working group size for PBL problems has an effect on the learning skills and technical knowledge of students.  The study targeted a group of 72 dental students in an oral pathology course of a large Midwest University in the United States.  The participation in the study was voluntary but all 72 students agreed to engage in the study groups of the 3 week PBL experience.  The students were pretested for self-directedness and technical knowledge and placed randomly assigned small (3), medium (6), and large (9) group sizes. The medium sized groups where considered the control group because it is the most frequently used group size in PBL structured problems.  The self-directedness pretest allowed the researchers to assign equal numbers of students with low, medium and high scores to each of the 12 groups.  The goal of this study was to examine three premises: 1) will group size affect the technical knowledge of individuals, 2) will group size effect the transfer of problem-solving skills and 3) will groups develop different levels of self-directedness.  The article went on to describe all the specifics of how they set up study for the 12 groups including facilitators of the groups, training of the facilitators, the development of the problems used and how the outcomes were measured. 

    The results for the three research questions were asked are that there was no significant difference on the technical knowledge development in all the PBL groupings and in fact the knowledge gained was negligible for all.  The transfer of problem solving skill resulted in no significant difference as well for the groups.  The self-directedness measurement researchers found that students in the medium and large groups did have a significant difference. The large group individuals actually decreasing in this measure from the pretest to posttest after the PBL experience.

   This article interested me, because I am focusing on a technical skill for problem solving for my own classroom.  Students in Algebra 2 and above are required to using graphing technology in their classes.  I have found that while many are naturally and easily learn how to use this tool others struggle and seam to fear using it.  Problem Based learning is a model I feel suits the course and the technical skill of learning graphing calculators.  The ultimate goal is to have students be able to use a combination of technical and non-technical devises and skills to solve ill-structured problems.  Students need to understand the basic functions, menus, capabilities of their graphing calculator in order to transfer those skills into problem solving situations.  Group work has always been a troublesome area for my teaching because I feel many times that a few students bear the brunt of the work and the other will willingly float through not really learning or doing anything.  Over the years, I have mainly developed my groups for PBL or Cooperative projects out of convenience, necessity or resource limitations instead of thoughtful practices to insure equity and balance.  In looking at this research on grouping I can see that event-though no significant difference was determined in two measurements that careful and thoughtful grouping of students is important to successful learning gains. The article also mentions that continual feedback is an important motivation for students to stay involved in the process.  Here is another place I feel my classroom could use improvement.  The study had one facilitator per group that helped the communication process along during the PBL, but since I am only one person I get stretched very thin trying to monitor and encourage effective group work.  I may consider using student peers or volunteers to do this in my future design plan.  Students in PBL situations need an extensive knowledge base in technical domains to be effective problem solvers, to be self-directed and to transfer the skills into new situations.

Summery Article 2:

   A Course for pre-service Mathematics Teachers that focuses on Mathematics and the integration of Technology by W. Blubaugh is a description of a course for future mathematics teacher preparation in using technology with students.  Concept in math can be acquired or enhanced by the use of technology at any stage of development but teaching with it is a process that should be experienced prior to trying to do it.  The advantages of teacher preparation in this area is that many future teachers feel that it is the greatest challenge which is keeping them from trying it because of the significant changes that has to be made to their pedagogy.  Technology integration requires time, energy and patience.  The preparation program described is a requirement at the University of North Colorado called the Tools of Technology of Secondary Mathematics.   The goals of the course include helping teachers become competent users of graphing calculators, exposure to other technologies for mathematics, building confidence for use in the classroom, and help in making informed decisions about appropriate technology uses.  In the concluding remarks of the article the author felt his students were excited by their new knowledge base and felt they would use it in their student teaching and beyond.

 

    This article was chosen by me for because it directly discussed the importance of using technology in mathematics classrooms to create multiple representations of concepts, facilitate problem solving and bring our student toward the 21^st century learning we all want.  I enjoy the use of most technology in the classroom with my students but I have had the technology meltdown moments that cause a lesson to be ineffective or pointless.  The project I am working on for this course is in hopes of easing my own pains and frustrations that come with students who are techno-phobic and lack basic graphing calculator skills.  In trying to teach problem solving in math a lesson can be completely ruined when several students can’t make their calculator work.  They give up and the lesson has to stop so that you can go figure out what is causing the problem.  Many times is just a basic setting, typing error, key stroke error, or listening problem that shuts us down.  This is further complicated by having multiple types of graphing technology in the same room.  There may be four or more different calculators that students have purchased which means I have to be an expert on each model and brand.  I guarantee this is virtually an impossible task to keep up with.   The students in my classes as a result of my design should become competent users of their own calculators so we can make greater strides towards problem solving.  Many of the links in the article were also helpful for finding examples of calculator activities, mini lessons and problem based learning that I can develop into a program for my classes.

     

 Works Sited

Lohman, M., & Finkelstein, M. (2000). Designing groups in problem-based learning to promote problem-solving skills and self-directedness. Instructional Science, 28(4), 291-307. Retrieved from Education Full Text database

Blubaugh, W. (2009). A Course for Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers that Focuses on Mathematics and the Integration of Technology. Mathematics and Computer Education, 43(1), 41-6. Retrieved from Education Full Text database

Dewey, B., Singletary, T., & Kinzel, M. (2009). Graphing Calculator Use in Algebra Teaching. School Science and Mathematics, 109(7), 383-93. doi: 10.1111/j.1949-8594.2009.tb17869.x