I regret that I did not write down all of the research options that popped into my head as I read through the text! There seem to be so many options out there, several that I have personally considered, but then actually nailing one down will certainly be the hardest thing. Dr. McCoy assured us in class today that it is very early in the process and not something to lose sleep over at this point, but as is apparent from the previous posts, it seems we are all at least a bit concerned. As others pointed out, I also would like to conduct a study that will have significance for me in my future classrooms as well as for my colleagues. One of my biggest fears is conducting a futile study that would have little or no benefit for anyone.
In brainstorming topics, I have considered different experiences I’ve had in the classroom through teaching as an intern last summer and through substitute teaching. As Matt mentioned in his blog, I also have been considering the effect of seating arrangements on student achievement, particularly in math classes. So far, the studies I have found seem to focus more on seating arrangements and discipline, but not very much on seating arrangements and academic success. In substituting this spring, I had a math class that was arranged at tables of five or six students, and I was appalled by what I observed! They tended to socialize more and simply copy the answers of the smartest child at the table rather than learn for themselves and do their own work. Obviously, I was only substituting and they certainly weren’t on their best behavior for me, but it still bothered me to see that happening, and leads me to question just how detrimental or, if I’m wrong, beneficial to the students such a seating arrangement could be in a math class. As I debate in my head whether or not this would be a good topic for me to pursue, I will continue investigating others as well and look forward to feedback and opinions from my classmates!
2 comments:
Christina, I'm hoping that your personal experience is due to your "substitute factor" and that, were you their normal teacher, the grouping wouldn't have had that effect. However, there is always the possibility that for that group of kids grouping simply didn't work. That's exactly the kind of dilemma research is geared to help understand or explore. Maybe it was that group of kids, or maybe it's all kids that age, or maybe they were disrespecting their sub. Then again, maybe their normal teacher allowed such behavior. Without doing more rigorous testing it would be very hard to come to any sort of valid conclusion. I do think, however, that your idea has lots of merit.
Christina, I won't let you do a "futile" study. I am interested in your experiences as a substitute. I would ask the nature of the assignments and whether their talk was social or academic. I think a richer topic might be student discourse in the classroom. Or you could think about teacher expectations... There are lots of possibilities here. Keep exploring.
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