1. An Action Research Presentation by Ben Sexton
STEAMed, Flipped, and Blended:
Rethinking the Elementary Fine Arts Classroom
An Action Research Presentation by Ben Sexton

2. The purpose of this action research project was to compare the participation levels of fifth grade students in a fine arts flipped classroom with the participation levels of fifth grade students in a traditional fine arts classroom.
Purpose

3. 1. To what degree will the institution of a flipped classroom in an elementary fine arts setting produce increased student engagement among fifth grade students? How does the use of a flipped classroom model influence fifth-graders’ perceptions about STEAM education? To what degree does the institution of a flipped classroom in an elementary fine arts setting produce increased student achievement among fifth grade students?
Research Questions

4. What is a flipped classroom?

5. Project Description
Students were introduced to the amazing Professor McDuffin of Quaver Music. After listening to the song, Professor McDuffin, students discovered that he is actually a robot who builds all sorts of robotic animals. Using the WFES STEM Design and Engineering Model, students made sketches of robotic sheep, then used air dry clay to make a model. From this model, the students created a prototype from a 2 liter bottle and aluminum foil. This prototype was moved around the room by a BlueBot, a BlueTooth robot controlled by an iPad. The students then created a storyboard based on the song, filmed, edited and presented a music video featuring their bots and their interpretation of the song.

6. Participants Intervention Group Control Group
43 fifth grade students from two different homerooms. Mixed ability levels. Multiple learning styles.
44 fifth grade students from two different homerooms. Mixed ability levels. Multiple learning styles.

7. Intervention Sessions
10 Individual Lessons
TES Blendspace LMS platform
Lesson included videos, slides, and a quiz. Following the quiz, a how-to video for the next day’s activity was shown.
Each session lasted 60 minutes (includes online lesson)
Intervention Sessions

8. Traditional Sessions Each lesson conducted in whole group setting.
Lecture plus videos.
Demonstration by instructor for activity.
Each session lasted 60 minutes.
Traditional Sessions

9. WFES STEM and Engineering Design Model
Featured in EVERY Lesson!

10. Example Lesson

11. One of the Final Products...

12. Results of the Project

13. Results of the Project

14. Results of the Project

15. Results of the Project

16. Results of the Project

17. Results of the Project

18. Results of the Project

19. Results of the Project

20. “Quotable Quotes”
“Sometimes I need help with understanding, but sometimes I do better with fewer distractions.”
“I don’t work well with others because I find myself going with their opinions rather than my own.”
“Sometimes I needed help, but the teacher only has two arms.”
“My ideas were my ideas and I loved having no one telling me what to do.”
“Some of this stuff didn’t make sense to me! Learning to code a BlueBot was hard!”
“It has to be hands on for me. Visual works sometimes but hands on always works.”
“I trusted the teacher to help me get through when it got hard.”
One student said that it was one of the most fun projects they had ever done in school. Other students voiced the appreciation for giving them some time to, “try out something new and different.”

21. The overall conclusion for RQ1 is that the data collected indicated that students demonstrated a higher degree of engagement in the flipped classroom. Students also demonstrated a higher degree of acceptance of and appreciation for the flipped classroom model at the conclusion of the project.
Conclusions

22. The overall conclusion for RQ2 is that the flipped classroom model had a positive influence on fifth graders’ perceptions about STEAM education. The responses from the observed students indicate that the flipped classroom provided them with the opportunity to learn on a much more personal and intimate level than in a traditional whole group setting. Furthermore, it provided students with frequent opportunities to utilize the school’s design process loop across multiple areas of the curriculum, including science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Conclusions

23. The overall conclusion for RQ3 is that the flipped classroom did not produce a significant increase in student achievement among fifth grade students. It should not, however, be interpreted as a failure or as a complete waste of time. Many individual students demonstrated growth in achievement despite the lack of evidence supporting significant increases across the intervention group as a whole. The intervention also provided new and usable data for further study into the use of the flipped classroom model both at the elementary level and for arts education in general.
Conclusions

24. “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”

25. Thank you for coming!
If you would like a full copy of my action research proposal, please let me know.