Topics

=Action Research Ideas = 
 * = **Topic** ||= **Research Question** ||= **Summary** ||=  ||
 * Understanding science methodology || How can students eliminate unwarranted assumptions from the formulation of hypotheses? || Students often define a hypothesis, canonically, as "an educated guess." Currently, many students interpret a "guess" as a thought, quickly arrived at, incorporating little previous knowledge. Students will understand that science requires accurate data–-facts–-to hypothesize about particular behaviors or phenomena. Sources of data used to analyze student progress will include: critique of hypotheses before and after collecting information, personal reflections, and student self-evaluations. ||  ||
 * Reading comprehension using vocabulary strategies || What influence does the use of mind-mapping techniques and free web 2.0 technologies have on student vocabulary comprehension, and ultimately reading comprehension, in life science? || I will be using web 2.0 technologies that create concept maps to help students to develop connections to vocabulary in the science context. I plan to test student's understanding of life science vocabulary and reading understanding using a pretest. Students will then create concept maps that can be saved on-line and ultimately used to connect concepts throughout the curriculum. During the learning process, students will be evaluated using teacher observations, rubrics/checklists, as well as work samples throughout the school year. Students will then take a post-test for the teacher researcher to evaluate student comprehension. ||  ||
 * Audience response systems vs. written assessment || How does using an audience response (clicker) device affect students’ performance on assessments? || I would like to determine if different assessment methods affect student results. I plan to use two assessment methods; written assessments and audience response. There will be several introductions and practice sessions to work with the audience response systems so that the students will be familiar with them before data is recorded. The questions will be written the same on both assessments. ||  ||
 * Vocabulary strategies || What are the benefits of metacognition in vocabulary acquisition in the science classroom? || I plan to utilize 4 strategies for learning vocabulary. I will spend time in the classroom showing the students how to use these strategies so that they can better acquire the terms. By teaching strategies, the students will be able to eventually use these techniques on their own. The idea here is that teaching them to learn is important, and they will find that using these strategies are helpful and can then be transferred to other subjects. ||  ||