Technology has been important in the delivery of knowledge in educational settings by providing an alternative means of engaging the student. However, this engagement has taken place as the student sits at a computer and interacts with a software program or through the collection of data from resources available on the Internet. This project extends the engagement of the student into the classroom discussion and lecture by using CPS (Classroom Performance System). With the use of CPS, students participate in discussions by providing feedback and entering responses to questions posed by the teacher. The use of CPS in the classroom has the potential to engage students in the learning process, keep students on task and raising their performance level, allow for discussion of the best possible answer to a posed question, fosters social engagement between students, and boost confidence levels of students.
The project would involve designing lesson activities in various content areas that would integrate the use of the Classroom Performance System (CPS). The teacher is able to obtain real-time comprehension of material being presented, track the results of individual students, and produce reports exploring the results of student feedback. In the content areas of social studies and science, lessons would be developed to encourage student discussion and exploration of values related to environmental issues. These lessons would use instructional strategies such as jigsaw, Socratic seminars, and inquiry to promote student learning while integrating technology to promote student motivation and engagement in the classroom. In reading, the CPS tool would be integrated to provide feedback on student comprehension of text, as well as integrated within the use of such strategies as Anticipation Guides and GIST. In the content area of mathematics, the CPS tool would be used to provide an innovative and interactive learning situation for addressing mathematical content.
Once student have become familiar with the use of CPS, research would be conducted to determine if the use of the interactive CPS has an impact on student learning. Lessons designed would be taught to comparative groups with the variable being the integration of technology through the use of the CPS.
Additionally, the classroom teacher would be interviewed to obtain information on his/her attitude towards the integration of this technology tool. It is also projected that once the classroom teacher interacts with this tool; other teachers will be identified as potential candidates to be included in the research component of this project and as future users of the Classroom Performance System.
Steven H. White, Associate Professor, School of Education
Ryan Tucker, Sixth Grade Teacher, Blue Valley School District
Nic Slayton, Student, KU School of Education
Student to be named at a later date.
The cohort group will meet once every three weeks during the summer to review curriculum and select content areas in which to develop lessons integrating the CPS. Once topics are chosen, the students working with the teacher and faculty member will design multimedia presentations for classroom use that include at least one activity where classroom students will be using the CPS.
Once the new school year begins, the cohort will continue to meet (every 3 weeks or biweekly) to create lessons and to design experimental studies that examine the use of technology in the form of CPS for instruction in the classroom. Once designed, the experimental studies will be conducted and data collected for analysis.
The Classroom Performance System
Computer with a Pentium processor, 64 MB of RAM or higher, Windows 95 OS or higher, with one available serial port.
Projection system
This project will begin June 1, 2001 and continue until May 31, 2002. Results from this project will be written and submitted for formal presentations at NCSS, IRA, and possibly SITE. Proposal submission deadlines usually occur at the end of January. Additionally, demonstration and use of the CPS will be given for other teachers interested in the integration of technology and used in undergraduate and graduate courses taught by the faculty member.
A request to LearnGen to provide the Classroom Performance System and a projector would be submitted. It is possible that the School of Education would provide help in securing the Classroom Performance System. This is an item that could easily be adapted for instruction in media enhanced classrooms of Joseph R. Pearson Hall.
The School of Education could support this project by supplying a laptop with a Pentium processor and a minimum of 64 MB of RAM.
The faculty member can provide a laptop with a Pentium processor and a minimum of 64MB of RAM.
The use of the Classroom Performance System would promote the use of technology training of preservice and inservice teachers. Lessons presented by the faculty member would demonstrate how to integrate the use of this technology tool into the classroom as well as how to produce reports of student-generated data for classroom assessment or general reports on student progress.
Once the Classroom Performance System is purchased and available for use, faculty could be trained to use the tool in their various classes. This would be one tool that could engage student in large lecture halls such as Room 150 in JRP, and promote student learning and engagement of all students in large classroom situations.
The cohort’s projects will be evaluated through informal and formal research experiences. Simple diagnostic test will be developed and administered to classroom students to assess their comprehension of content material. Additionally, a survey will be developed to assess students’ attitudes towards the use of the Classroom Performance System.
The cohort will develop presentations and submit manuscripts based on the research experiences conducted on the use of the Classroom Performance System tool in various content areas.
The outcomes of the above mentioned activities would provide sufficient information to determine the success of this project.