Preliminary Data for the Inspiration Software Field Study
Did anything go right this time? Did anything go wrong this time?
Ok Crawford, how’s that for a deck? Too little, too much? I’m workin’ it here!
I’ve been working this Inspiration Software Field Study thing and my frustration and stress levels are nose to nose like the running of the Kentucky Derby! It has been the WORST two weeks! To think I actually entertained the notion of laddering into a Master’s program! Must have lost my mind! Actually, I’m sure I did!
What went right? The Canucks slaughtered LA! How good was that! Yes, if the Canucks can actually pull off a miracle I guess so can I. There were some successes, finally. My wonderful Super Techie Man fixed my stupid office computer so now I can actually do my job AND access my hand in folder to see what the “hellcats” have handed in or not handed in. My hand in file that I copied to my external hard drive actually opened at home! I re-created a new note-taking system that should transfer to the Inspiration Web in a manner that makes more sense to the kids.
We brainstormed the “big ideas” we would want people from other countries to know about Canadians. We then transferred those “big ideas” to the people of Nepal and the new note-taking sheet I had made up. The “hell-cats” actually listened and when I left them to finish on their own, they DID! Unbelievable!
What continues to go wrong you ask? Hmm, let’s see! I had to use the prehistoric overhead one LAST time to teach the “hellcats”. I’m miles behind in this research project with the kids, I need this damn research project to stay on-track, I have to have the field study finished by the end of November. I have never had so much trouble teaching research! I’m sure I have that Stupid Teacher of the Year Award neatly tied up with a bow! There are still three computers in the lab that are not working, Inspiration is still saving in French and I have kids who did not hand in their webs! The stress levels are at max and the insomnia is back with a vengeance! AND while I was creating a line graph in Word (haven’t a clue how to use Excel) it (Word) decided to have a problem, reconfigure, lose my data and I had to start all over again! Go figure! AND I can’t get screen shots of some of the webs to embed into this post! Sue Waters, I need you!
What does the data show so far? It shows exactly what it said it would show, improvement in the factual recall. The study I created was simple because I am a prep relief teacher who only has these kids for 45 minutes once a week – thank GOD! I initially gave a pre-test to see how much the kids knew about Nepal. The class average for both classes was 1 out of a possible 10. The kids researched geographical landforms and plants/animals and created Inspiration webs. The criteria is that each subtopic has a different colour and/or shape – shape is optional and that each subtopic has web bubbles with facts, these bubbles are to be the same colour as the subtopic heading. They could choose any web format they liked, ie: webbing all around the heading “Nepal” or creating more linear forms. They have to add pictures to the web to help with the “visual” memory theory. I then gave a post-test on geographical landforms, animals and plants. The total possible marks were 14. Class One’s average was 12 and Class Two’s average was 9. (Can you guess which class are the “hell-cats”?)
I do have a significant increase in marks – from 1 to 9 or 12, but of course as this is an action field study and there is no control group so one could say the class averages would have gone up anyway just by doing the research itself. Question would be by how much? By looking at individual test scores compared to scores for the web, it does appear to correlate with Inspiration’s claims. If the web scores were low, the post-test scores were low and vice-versa. Also, my bonus question was answered correctly only by those students who had that information on their web. Interesting.
I’m very curious to see what the test scores are like for the second post-test. What will happen to the class averages? Will I get an increase in the class average for Class Two? Will the individual web scores improve this time?
