My Research Project By Camille Braud

My research question `Do children learn more in a lesson with the help of technology or without it?’

My hypothesis Based on my personal experience, I predicted that some children would feel greater enjoyment and engagement when technology was used in lessons but that others would find it to be a distraction. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they do learn more and make more progress. Lots of children don’t complete the work that is set in a lesson if they are using technology because they get distracted and drift off task.

Why ? I chose to research this topic because lots of lessons are now being taught using some form of technology. I was very curious as to whether teaching in this way actually helped children learn.

My method I spent a lot of time on my research. Rather than relying solely on completed questionnaires I decided that the best way to collect the data I needed was to carry out a controlled experiment. I planned a lesson, the exact same lesson for 2 classes, one using technology, the other relying on traditional teaching methods. I also devised a questionnaire for pupils, to find out additional information.

What I did? I decided to do an experiment with 2 classes both of them in Year 7 and both in top set. Red Band had a lesson without technology and Blue Band had a lesson using an interactive whiteboard. To make it a fair test both classes had exactly the same lesson and the same teacher

data The number of girls who did not think they learnt more with the help of technology The number of girls who thought they learnt more with the help of technology

The number of boys who thought they didn’t learn more with the help of technology More data The number of boys who thought they learnt more with the help of technology

Pre test These are the 20 spellings that my teacher chose for for the pre test: Abhorrence Behavior Cacophony Dichotomy Eloquent Particularly Quintessential Reiterate Subtlety Ubiquitous The pre test was to find out the averages of both Red Band and Blue Band. Here are my findings: Red Band’s average: 6.7 Blue Band’s average: 5.9

Lesson The Red Band lesson, the one without the use of technology, helped them learn the 20 spellings. In the lesson the children had to find the meanings of the words then put the words in the sentences to demonstrate their understanding

Spelling exercises – fill in the gaps 1.She turned her nose up in ______________ at the over-cooked sprouts. 2.The children’s _______________ was appalling. 3.My favourite _______________ of film is horror. 4.Our homework was totally _______________ to the topic we were studying. 5.The food was awful, _______________ the potatoes. 6.The language teacher spoke _______________ French. 7.The________________ of sound made me cringe. 8.The choice I had to make was a real________________. 9.The maths sum he worked out was________________. 10. I had a ________________ craving for chocolate. 11. His attitude to work was________________. 12. Mr Brown hated teaching during third lesson because it was impossible to overcome his students’ ________________ and capture their attention. 13. The teacher used a __________________ assortment of teaching methods to help us learn. 14. Warm coats were ________________for the ski trip to America. 15._______________, I would go to work today but since I am sick I am staying at home in the hope of getting better. 16.Beyond our solar system, the heavens are made up of only _______________elements 17.Could you _______________ your sentence please? 18.Netting over beds is made necessary by the _______________ mosquitoes that fill the jungle. 19.As you get older you develop a wider range of_________________. 20.Her delicate make-up was applied with great _________________. WORDS NECESSARY HABITUAL LASSITUDE REITERATE CACOPHONY ELOQUENT GENRE MISCELLANEOUS VOCABULARY BEHAVIOUR IRRELEVANT SUBTLETY ORDINARILY JUDICIOUS DICHOTOMY PARTICULARLY ERRONEOUS UBIQUITOUS ABHORRENCE QUINTESSENTIAL

An observation… As I got further into the project, it occurred to me of course that geniuses like Einstein and Charles Darwin developed their intelligence without the use of technology, probably fuelled by books. Maybe this will be reflected in my results!

The Blue Band lesson Blue Band’s lesson was exactly the same as Red Band’s lesson, the only difference being that it made use of the interactive whiteboard. The children had to come up to the board and drag the words to the sentences to demonstrate they understood the meanings.

The questionnaire After the lesson I gave out a questionnaire to find out whether the children enjoyed the lesson. These are some of the questions I asked: Did you find the test hard? What part of the lesson did you enjoy most? What part of the lesson did you least enjoy?

The results After conducting the 2 experiments my findings showed that both Red Band and Blue Band scored a higher average than before. However, it was clear that one class had learnt more than the other class before after Red Band = 6.7 Red Band =13.1 Blue Band = 5.9 Blue Band= 6.2

Extending my research Future aims: In the future I would like to further develop the project and carry out research into why some children find it easier to learn with technology and why some find it harder. Also I would have like to research why so much technology has been introduced into lessons, extending my research to gather staff views as these might differ from those of the pupils I canvassed.

Does anyone have any questions?