astlportfolioashishvadalia.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewThis study explored the study habits and skills exhibited by students in the IB DP cohort at Meade High School. Students within

Running head: Investigation of Study habits within Ib cohort 1

Investigation of Study Habits and Skills within the Advanced Culture of the IB

Cohort

Ashish M. Vadalia

George Mason University

Investigation of Study habits within Ib cohort 2

Abstract

This study explored the study habits and skills exhibited by students in the IB DP cohort at

Meade High School. Students within the cohort were selected into the programme for their

ability to achieve at a higher level and thus it seemed rational to assume they have the study

habits needed to excel in advanced classes. An inquiry into the culture of school, teachers, and

student cohort determined that this was not true and students needed to be supported if they were

expected to succeed. An action plan was devised upon the completion of a literature review and

monitored over the course of 2 months. With support in critical areas such as motivation,

organization, and time management, students were able to demonstrate a greater ability to have

faith in their own study skills as well as score higher on assessments.

Keywords: IBDP, Cohort, Study Skills, College prep skills


Investigation of Study Habits and Skills within the Advanced Culture of the IB

Cohort

Table of Contents

Puzzlement ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

What is known? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4

Background --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Cultural Questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Reviewed Literature ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Data Collection and Analysis: Phase One ---------------------------------------------- 10

Action Plan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14

Data Collection and Analysis: Phase Two---------------------------------------------- 15

Emerging Findings and Action Plan Monitoring -------------------------------------- 19

Conclusions and Implications ------------------------------------------------------------- 20

Reflection ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 22

References ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 25

Appendix ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 27

A: Student examination data

B: Student questionnaire and results

C: Action Plan: Calendar


Puzzlement

As a teacher I have always wanted my students to acquire all of the knowledge I am

presenting and demonstrate it on various assessments. For the entirety of my teaching career I

have taught chemistry, both at the introductory level (9th-10th grade) and advanced level (11th-12th

grade). The advanced level of chemistry that is taught at my school is known as the International

Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). Regardless of the level of chemistry taught, both

have an increased emphasis on acquiring science concepts and applying them to various

chemical reactions as well as conducting calculations to determine missing variables.

Assessments in any chemistry course are chalk full of chemical symbols, equations, numbers,

and unfamiliar situations for students. In order to excel on these types of assessments, students

need to adequately prepare by reviewing concepts and completing practice problems. For many

students, a failure to prepare means literally failing the chemistry course.

Recently I have noticed a trend in my IBDP students that is both alarming and shocking.

As a best practice, I constantly greet students at the door every class and on exam days usually

ask them if they are ready. Usually I get the same old yes, no, sort of, but recently I have been

bombarded with the no’s. Having witnessed a good number of these students failing multiple

examinations, I had begun to wonder what the issue was. From this wonderment arose the

purpose of this study, to determine the actual cause of student’s poor performance as it pertains

to Diploma students.


What is known

Students come from various backgrounds, home lives, and thus have varying work ethics

and ideals when it comes to education. While culture is not a true summarizer in terms of work

ethic, it plays a role as some cultures view education values differently than others. Within my

own school, students have a separate culture based on the classes they are in. Some in honors

classes build their own subculture and make relationships with those around them whereas those

in standard classes make their own. However, the largest subset of culture that I see within my

school is that of the IB cohort students. They were selected at the beginning of high school and

have classes with each other for over 3 years. By the time I see them in 11th grade, they know

everything about each other’s lives and the only unknown is their teachers. In this type of setting

many of the students form strong bonds with each other and push each other to excel, as they are

always competing with the same individuals. While this motivation to do better is great, some of

the draw backs include feelings of inadequacy and of not being able to measure up to some of the

higher achieving students. Due to their title of being seen as the chosen or gifted ones, they are

constantly being held to a higher standard than peers their own age.

Another major influence aside from the cohort nature, and high expectations is the major

transition these specific students face from 10th grade into the 11th grade. During their first two

years in high school, these students are in classes that are much easier and require much less

work in order to excel. For most of these students they are able to get by with their sheer ability

to memorize facts and have had to apply little work into studding. Their new courses in 11th

grade however require them to handle a larger workload and juggle their time effectively in order

to succeed. These skills of multitasking, studying by practicing problems, and by working

together to excel are areas of the cohort students life’s that they struggle with.


Background.

Meade high school is an IB world school in which there are four grade levels, 9th-12th.

The school caterers to two of the three International Baccalaureate programmes: MYP and DP

students and also has many other signature programmes such as AVID, Homeland Security, and

JROTC. Meade is composed of just over 2,070 students, with a majority of them qualifying for

free and reduced lunch from the federal government (AACPS, 2014). The school tracks about 75

students as cohort students within the DP programme and are placed in classes together due to

their ability to have shown great academic ability. It is the schools hope that these specific

students will be able to help form positive relationships with their peers and thus push each other

through their similar courses of study. For the purpose of this study I plan on looking into the

specifics of the 27 DP students I have. I plan on looking into their cultural backgrounds and

conduct surveys to dig deeper into the individual learning needs and preferences.

Overview of IB Diploma Programme and Diploma level chemistry.

The International Baccalaureate is set up a mission “aims to develop inquiring,

knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world

through intercultural understanding and respect. To this end the organization works with schools,

governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international

education and rigorous assessment. These programmes encourage students across the world to

become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their

differences, can also be right” (IBO, 2015). It seems obvious that the IBO has set up its

programmes to not only teach students content knowledge but to also interact with others as a

means to make their knowledge applicable to real world situations.


The IB programme is seen as one of the most challenging college preparation

programmes around due to its requirement for students to be in almost all upper level courses

and thus be fully immersed in the mission statement. The goal of such a programme is to not

only make student’s well rounded students but to also acquaint them with such skills as time

management and prioritization. Students within this programme have been shown to translate

this persistence into their college lives and have had an increase of college completion

percentages over those who were not in the Diploma Programme (Conley, 2014). Conley (2014)

also discovered, through interviews with Diploma Programme students, they had a deeper

understanding of the structure of knowledge, large concepts and how content connects across

disciplines. Conley (2014) goes on to discover that students also reported being better able to

cope with the exam based grading systems in college than their non-Diploma undergraduates due

to the expose of multiple high stakes testing at the end of their Diploma courses.

Cultural Questions.

Culture is a very important concept that plays many roles within the school setting. In this

study, culture will play a central role in determining the background causes for the puzzlement

that is evident within the cohort students. Due to the tracking nature of the DP students, they

develop their own advanced culture of completion and excellence in education. In order to

determine to what extent culture plays, various cultural questions can be used to as a guideline.

The following will examining specific cultural questions that will be addressed as well as their

purpose of selection.

3.1 How might your beliefs or values, or those of other educators, be contributing to the puzzling

situation (Jacob, 1999)?


As teachers we must first look in the mirror to see how our actions are influencing

students and their performance. In the case of the IB cohort students, the common factor of

having the same classes with each other also means they share the same 8-10 teachers. If I am to

look for correlations between this specific subsections of the school population, it only seems

fitting to also examine the educators who are in charge of the corresponding students.

3.2 How might aspects of the school’s culture(s) be contributing to the puzzling situation?

3.2.1 How might competition be contributing to the puzzling situation?

3.2.2 How might tracking or ability-grouping be contributing to the puzzling situation?

(Jacob, 1999)

The second cultural question(s) that will be addressed deals with the schools culture and

how it has compounded the problem I am seeing. The ability group tracking of the cohort

students and the schools believes of the type of student that belongs in the programme has

developed a subset culture within the school. This subculture of advanced students has also

forced the students to compete in order to be enter the cohort and then prove that they belong,

once they are in.

Reviewed Literature.

Link between Study Habits and Achievement

A sample of 300 students in secondary level school in Nigeria were observed in order to

track their progress as it related to various major subjects such as math, english, and science.

(Oluwatimilehin & Owoyele, 2012). The results from this study held major consequences not

only for the students within the study but those all over the world. The researchers determined

that students who performed the highest on academic assessments were also those who had


“teacher consultation” rather than those who only focused on various assignments. In this study

the teacher consultation was focused around supporting the study skills and habits of students on

a one on one basis. Therefore it was concluded that having the ability to train students on skills

and strategies that centered on studying was the key indicator of student performance. As a result

of this study I believe that there is actual proof to the idea or notion that with added support on

study skills, students in my puzzlement will be able to succeed.

Link between Collegiate Success and Study Habits

Due to the college prep nature of the IBDP programme, it is only natural that as a teacher

I assume most of my students are going to move on to college. Thus as an instructor I want my

goal of education to not only be teaching chemistry content, but also skills needed to succeed in

college. A recent study by Marcus Crede (2008) showed that study habits, skills and attitudes

were more important predictors of college success then standardized test scores were. From this

finding it can be concluded that performing on a test is all good and well, the most important

thing that will translate to next level education is the ability to study and do so with an intrinsic

motivation (Crede, 2008). This finding further pushes my puzzlement to focus on the skills

students need in order to study rather than just the performance on the assessment they are

studying for.

Science Classroom Observation Tool

MacNevin and Warren (2009), are partners in the North Cascades and Olympic Science

Partnership and are supporters of the Science Classroom Observation Guide. In their guide they

suggest classroom culture is conducive to learning science, science content is intellectually

engaging, instruction fosters and monitors student understanding, and students organize, relate,

and apply their scientific knowledge. Having conducted much research and compiled a plethora


of scientific data led the research of this tool to determine what makes for best practices in

science education. These specific areas are ones in which data suggest students need support in

order to better understand and apply any scientific information. The learned material from this

study leads me to believe that in order to address my puzzlement, I will need to evaluate my

current curriculum and address specific factors as identified by MacNevin and Warren.

Advanced/Gifted Culture

Since the focus of this paper is not only on my puzzlement but the subculture of the

cohort students, it only makes sense to look into this area of research for guidance. As previously

mentioned it seems that students in the IBDP cohort have developed their own advanced student

culture in which their experiences with education are vastly different then peers their same age in

lower ability tracks. Multiple studies (Coleman, Micko, and Cross, 2015; Berlin, 2009; Kelemen,

2015) have been conducted to show how students experience issues concerning identity, passion,

labeling, stigma, and expectation. These same studies have shown support for my previous

understandings of the advanced subculture and how it can negatively affect students and their

ability to meet up to lofty expectations. Studies such as Kelemen (2015) help to provide teachers

with a deeper understanding of how to support these specific students through the lens of

motivation. Kelemen argues that if we focus on motivation strategies and self-motivation

methods, gifted students will thrive and be able to translate these lessons to multiple aspects of

their lives.

Data Collection and Analysis: Phase One

Prior to deciding the best course of action to support the IB cohort students, I needed to

get a true idea of the extent of the issues they face. It was my belief that in order to do so I would


have to understand how the students currently approached studying, how their teachers felt about

their study skills, and how their parents felt about their study skills. While these three areas are

merely a glimmer into the true puzzlement involving the study habits of IB cohort students, they

will allow me to explore the nature of the issue as well as how the culture of both the cohort and

school has impacted it. If a link is to be established between the cohort nature of the students and

their ability to study and exhibit good student skills, these three aspects of data would reveal

them.

Students Self Reflection:

As the original idea of the puzzlement came from the notion that I felt students weren’t

adequately prepared for their exams, I decided to center their initial data collection on an

examination. At the conclusion of their 6th unit of chemistry I had told them to study all topics

covered in preparation for an examination. On the day of the test I had students write down what

they believed they would get on the examination prior to taking the test. This number was an

estimate out of 7 possible points according to the IB scale. Students were directed to base their

scores out of 7 by their level of preparedness and study’s in prep for the test. The full results can

be found in Appendix A, but a summary of the findings is seen in Figure 1. As the figure shows

8 students predicted a 1, 9 predicted a 2, 5 predicted a 3, and only 5 students predicted a passing

score of 4 or 5. These results showed me that students had not felt confident in either their

abilities or their study skills in preparation for the examination they were about to take.


30%

33%

19%

11%7%

Figure 1: Students predicated grades prior to seeing test 1

234567

Upon completion of the test I asked the students to again predict how they did on the

exam, but this time they had seen the questions and known of how well they believed they did.

The full student results can be seen in Appendix A, but a summary is provided in Figure 2. The

figure shows that after seeing the questions and having time to complete the test, 5 students still

felt confident in their ability to pass, however the rest saw a decrease in their predicted grades or

a repeated score was placed.

37%

37%

7%

11% 7%

Figure 2: Students predicated grades after taking test

1234567

Students were also given a posttest survey in which they were asked about their study

habits, as well as their ability to study at home. They were asked to discuss how they prepare for


test such as the one they just took and what strategies they used to accomplish the task. The

survey also asked then to discuss how they would rate their study habits. The full results can be

found in Appendix B, but a summary is provided in figure 4. It could be concluded that while 17

out of 27 stated they study over an hour in preparation for an exam, not many of them chunk the

material over time nor use practice problems or study groups as a possible study method.

Parents don’t get it

A phone call was placed to all of the parents of the 27 students in the study prior to the

conduction of their study. These phone calls while not scripted nor recorded did discover a few

key points. Generally parents described their students change from 10th grade to 11th as a difficult

one, both in terms of workload and expectations placed upon them. Less than 30% of the parents

stated that their student worked with others on homework or studying for an examination even

though the cohort students all have similar class schedules. A majority of the parents felt their

Findings

Time Spent

Figure 3Studying

Over 1 hour 17 students

Students who studied over an hour stated the following

* Review notes (83%)* Practice Problems(47%)

* Study groups (29%)* Chunked Studying into days

(58%)

Under 1 hour 10 students

A majority of the students who studied less than an hour stated the following:

* Review notes (60%)* Practice Problems (70%)

* Study Groups (0%) * Chunked studying (0%)


students were struggling in part due to the heavy workload and poor time management their

students had demonstrated on the course of their 11th grade year, thus far.

Teachers Agree

There are currently 21 teachers who make up the IBDP cohort. During one of our

monthly meetings I was given a time slot to poll the teachers on a few key questions that I

thought would help elaborate on my puzzlement. The first key question was, how well they

believed their students did at studying for an exam in their subject areas. The results showed that

over 75% of the teachers thought the student’s struggled with studying and it showed in their

exam grades. The second major question was how well they thought they did with helping to

facilitate the study habits of the students. While a few teachers cited helping students by showing

them links to outside sources or sample practice problems, only three directly stated actually

focusing class time on how to adequately study at home. Those three teachers shared their

lessons on analyzing the textbook, chunking material, and forced studying through mandatory

grouping. These findings suggested to me that while the teachers of the DP cohort have high

expectations of these exceptionally bright students, little support seems to be provided in terms

of study skills or how to form study habits. It seems most teachers focus their class resources to

content and the acquisition of it rather than the skills needed to acquire it.

Action Plan

Based on my preliminary data collected, it was concluded that students were not

adequately preparing for exams and thus felt like they were going to fail exams prior to even


seeing the questions. These feelings of inadequacy only got worse upon receiving the

examination and led students to fall into a cycle of hopelessness and despair. It was also evident

that the expectations for these advanced students were high from both their parents and their

teachers. However, there was little support in place to help students who were either unmotivated

or not focused enough in their studies. In order to help the IB cohort student’s actions needed to

be taken in order to increase both the amount of studying as well as the effectiveness of it. After

consulting the literature, that was previously discussed, the following actions were taking in

order to support the target audience.

Action Target area MonitoringCompile all study material( videos, practice problems, past exams, etc.) into a single central location (a website page)

Organization

Time management

Examine the page views (hits) over time and see how often the website is being used as a source of study material.

Form mandatory study groups Group study skills Have students bring evidence of any nature to proof that they worked on study material with their partners over the timeframe assigned.

Layout a calendar for the rest of the year with assignment and assessment dates, as well as suggest breakdowns of which material to review when. (Appendix C)

Organization

Time management

Chunking

Require all students to place this calendar as the cover for their class binders and refer to it both at the beginning and end of class. Set up reminders for students to review the calendar as a form of chunking for a test.

Relate content material to students in real world examples to motivate them to learn about the topic being discussed.

Motivation Discuss various applications for the chemistry content and gauge how students are being motivated to learn the material. Provide a post unit survey in order to see how motivated the students were to review the content.

Form Saturday study sessions in which students would be provided an opportunity to study in groups with the supervision of the teacher.

Time Management

Chunking

Group study skills

Record the list of students who came for Saturday sessions and correlate them doing so to their grades on the assessments that followed.

Table 1: Action plan supports, areas of support, and methods for monitoring.


Data Collection and Analysis: Phase Two

Compilation of study materials

In order to support the students, all study materials were compiled and placed in a central

location, a website. The website became the house of all of the course PowerPoints, worksheets,

practice exam questions, and links to videos. Students were informed of this change and asked to

refer to it both in class and at home. As a result of this action, students were afforded the ability

to study for examinations from one location, as well as have the ability to access the material

from multiple sources such as computers and smartphones. In order to track the actual use of

these resources, students were both informally asked about how often they used the website as

well as tracking of website views was done. An analysis of the findings will be discussed in the

following emerging findings section.

Mandatory study groups

In order to facilitate collaborative learning I assigned students a study buddy and

mandated that they reach out to their buddy prior to any assessment tasks. Students were told to

provide proof of contact either in the form of an email chain, text chain, or phone call log. When

students were asked to present this information, I only placed a check mark next to their names

on the attendance sheet. As this action was only applicable for one examination cycle, only one

evidence point was available for this study.

Calendar

For organizational and time management purposes I provided students a calendar with all

upcoming dates for homework’s and readings for class. Multiple copies were available for

students to take anytime. A track of homework turn in rates was recorded and resulting the

findings discussed in the next section.


Real World Application

Preliminary findings found that some students were unmotivated to study due to lack of

interest in the content material being provided. Through the action plan, students were provided

various links between content knowledge to real world scenarios such as the Flint Michigan

water crisis and plastic formations. The student’s motivation/ interest level was only measured

through observational means, and were analyzed to discover any impact they may have had.

Unlike other actions, this one resulted in no observable change in students and this was excluded

from the findings section.

Saturday Sessions

There is nothing as valuable as providing teacher time to demonstrate useful ways to

study for the content material being covered. Unfortunately as time is of the essence during the

normal school day, having the luxury of providing this resource is difficult. Being able to offer

Saturday’s study session in which students could come in for 4 hours at a time and go over

practice problems and review notes together and with the aid of the teacher thus becomes a very

important resource. During the action plan period three Saturday sessions were conducted and

had the following attendance: 15 (55%) students on day 1, 11 (41%) students on day 2, and 12

(44%) students on day 3.

Examination Results

Arguably the most important aspect of the post action plan data collection is the results of

student’s examinations after the various supports were provided. The students were again asked

to predict their scores before taking the test, after taking the test, and then assigned an actual

score on the test. Table 2 shows the results of this data collection.


Predicated prior to test

Predicated after testing

Actual Score Predicated prior to test (Post Action)

Predicated after testing (Post Action)

Actual Score (Post Action)

1 1 2 2 3 23 3 2 4 4 41 1 2 1 1 14 4 3 5 5 51 1 2 3 3 32 2 2 2 3 31 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 12 1 1 2 3 32 2 2 3 4 41 1 1 2 3 12 2 3 4 5 53 2 2 4 5 52 1 2 3 3 32 2 1 3 3 42 1 3 3 4 42 2 3 3 2 25 5 7 6 5 53 2 3 4 4 41 2 3 2 2 23 2 3 3 2 33 3 4 3 2 32 1 3 2 1 14 4 3 5 5 61 2 2 2 2 34 4 5 5 4 45 5 6 5 5 5

AVG: 2.334 AVG: 2.148 AVG: 2.667 AVG: 3.074 AVG: 3.148 AVG:3.222Table 2: Assessment data both prior (grey section) to action plan supports, and post (green section) action plan supports.

Parent Contact

In the first round of data collection I discovered that parents felt their students weren’t

spending adequate amounts of time preparing for tests and spacing their already short time out

properly. I decided to reach out to parents again and see what their thoughts were on the students

as it pertained to studding after the supports had to put in place. Many parents felt that their


students were doing a better job of spacing out their reading now that they had the calendar and

they stated the vast benefits of the Saturday sessions. One parent even joking said, “Susana

(students name) really likes going to see you on Saturday for both the free food and help

studying. It’s like you're the unpaid tutor he never had. Thank you for everything.” This parents

findings were similar to those of many parents who found the benefits of tutoring sessions that

lasted 4 hours and helped students gather resources and make use of the material by practicing

past exams.

Emerging Findings and Action plan Monitoring

Once all the previously mentioned data points were collected it was only a matter of time

before findings could start to emerge. A few of the notable findings included the increase in

organization, better ability to predict scores, and greater confidence in students own abilities.

These three findings were arrived upon as a result of multiple factors and stem directly from the

actions provided.

The increase in student’s organization was seen by both myself and the students’ parents.

It seems that the calendar and centralization of study material helped students both find and

access the materials whenever they needed them. Students also began to use the provided

calendar for recording other class assignments and thus it became a useful tool for them to plan

out their study times. Due to the limited time students have afterschool to complete homework or

study, the calendar helped them allocate the time properly and visually see what could get done

and when. The centralization of the study material also helped students stay organized because

many of them stopped carrying binders of loose paper and began to use their smartphones as a


source of papers. Since all of the handouts and worksheets could be found their many students

found it easy to leave the paper clutter out and focus their limited binder space on other subjects.

The second major finding was the students increase in ability to accurately predict their

exam grades prior to receiving their actual grades from me. Before any action was taken,

students predicted their scores as an average of 2.148 and actually scored a 2.667; which comes

out to be a .518 differential. After the actions were taken the students predicted a 3.148 and

actually scored a 3.222 average; which comes out to be a differential of .074. This difference

comes out to be an 85.7% increase on average, of student’s ability to predict their scores.

It can also be noted that students scored both higher and predicted higher after action was

taken showing a possibility of larger increase in confidence in their studies. While this can only

be seen as a correlational observation due to the facts provided, it also seems likely that students

felt they improved their study habits as it pertained to chemistry. In order to gain a larger

understanding of these findings another survey should have been given to students to mirror the

one done in the first round of data collection. Due to time constraints this couldn't be done, and

thus this findings is merely an observational one and not based in solid data.

Conclusions and Implications

If we examine the findings and observe them through the lens of the cultural questions

referenced previously, we can see that valid conclusions can be arrived at. At Meade High

School there is clearly a correlation between ability group tracking and the pedagogical strategies

teachers use. It seems that the more advanced students in the IB cohort are subjected to higher

abilities in terms of study skills and habits and thus expected to be model students without extra


needed supports. Teachers who teach these students are so syllabus focused due to a variety of

possible factors such as high stakes tests to content rich curriculum, that they are not able to

provide the needed requisite skills need to be good students. As the previous research suggests

students need to not only have a wide depth of knowledge but also applicable skills to help

adequately prepare them for their next ventures after high school. The schools culture of ability

group tracking is also causing students in the upper level courses to see themselves as better than

their peers and thus feel the need to both live up to this expectation and take on more work in

their lives. Many of these students are in multiple groups or societies afterschool and/or in duel

sports programs. These students feel that they need to make sure they stand out for college

applications and thus strive to be well rounded by dispersing their times both academically and

socially. The culture of completion among these students themselves has shown to push them to

achieve higher grades and constantly worry about their class rank. Many of the students in the

cohort are adversely affected by the need to get a particular grade that they are constantly

looking for a quick way to earn it by memorizing rather than actually getting to understand the

content at a higher level. For this reason it can be correlated that students are struggling with

Chemistry, which happens to be a very circular subject in which previously material is needed to

learn new material. These conclusions based on a study of the cultural questions addressed have

shown both the beneficial and destructive nature of ability grouping on the students, teachers,

and school involved.

The actions taken in this study as well as the conclusions that resulted from it, have left

me with a few implications to share with both my cohort colleagues as well as the administrative

team at my school. The first implication is that it is clear that students in the cohort need a

centralized calendar system for organization that helps keep them focused and on task from night


to night. Currently the school has provided the students with a calendar of major IB assessments

such as the dates for internal investigations and extended essays, but this program needs to be

expanded to include daily assessments and class readings. If we as the cohort teachers could plan

out an entire month ahead of schedule and place it into the calendar, we would be able to help

students space out their learning and maybe the same results seem from this study could be

applied to all of their subject areas. The second implication from this study is that need for

support for students entering the DP cohort. To this end I am planning a summer camp for

students who transition from 10th to 11th on school skills and study habits.

Reflection

Coming from a science background allowed me to focus on this cultural research as if it

were any run of the mill research project. Some of the errors I would like to address in this study

would be the small sample size and the preexisting study habits that were already in place. The

small sample size was a factor due to not having a lengthy amount of time needed for a larger

span of data to be collected. An increase in time would also have allowed me to implement my

actions for a longer time frame and thus hopefully see a larger change in students’ performance.

The research should span multiple units and theoretically should cover the entire scope of a

curriculum in order to see the effects the requisite skills have on the learning students are able to

accomplish.

The process of gathering information on an aspect of my teaching and using it to further

my craft was by far the most interesting aspect of the assignment. As teachers we can sometimes

get caught in the day to day routine and seldom do we get to gather out thoughts and examine

our own teachings for flaws or improvements. While there is a large push for collaborative


planning and making sure that best practices get shared from one instructor to another, it always

helps to be able to stop and reflect on what you are currently implementing and clearly see the

results of your findings. While the amount of work and effort that goes into conducting research

is extensive, it is well worth the useful knowledge you receive in the end.

Culture played a huge role in my ability to understand the behavior of the cohort students

and why they had the struggles they did. Through my exposure to the ASTL courses I learned

that Fecho (2004), described link between culture and the classroom and how they two are

linked. Fecho discusses the concept of transaction in relation to inquiry-based learning and

defines this theory of transaction as that “in which readers shape new text based on their

experiences, and the text shapes the readers’ sense of themselves, that meaning, simultaneously

social and personal, is made (Fecho, 2004, p. 45).” The ability for students and teachers to shape

text and arrive at unique meanings due to their individual upbringings is an interesting concept. I

felt that I was able to tap into this aspect of culture by presenting the real world examples to the

students who lacked motivation to study. For those students, the ability to link the material to

things they cared about, helped motivate them and helped them focus their attention to chemistry.

As Dewey (1933) points, the things we go through in life help shape the future

interactions we have. If I was to examine my own personal cultural and linguistic influences I

would say that the largest help to me has been my varying cultures. As a student in high school I

was also part of the higher level ability group at my school, and thus had a similar subculture to

the students I studied. Thus I can say that I stand as a good example to the students I teach, and

was able to relate to them on some of their concerns over time management and high stakes

expectations. The students are constantly being changed due to varying life’s outside of school as

well as the events that happen in which they live. One of the best messages that I am able to send


to my students is of equality and equal ability of all students to succeed. Throughout this study I

was able to showcase the skills needed to shape learning for students of an advanced culture and

thus hopefully elevate my students.

The last aspect of my own educational practice I was able to tackle through this research

was the notion of unearthing misconceptions. A recent study by Alan Colburn (2008) shed light

on the problems that arise from teacher misconceptions within the science field. While Colburn’s

findings were limited to science curriculum and improvement of it, they can be extrapolated to

apply to my general study. We as the cohort program at Meade High were doing a disservice to

our students by assuming our students had all of the prerequisite skills needed to study properly.

By conducting this cultural study, I was able to discover that this not only wasn’t the case but the

problems was far reaching, beyond just my classroom. I believe that through the use of this study

I was able to help not only my own educational practices but that of the students in the entire

programme and fellow teachers within the cohort. It truly is amazing to see what a little bit of

time and research can do for both you and the students which you serve.


References

Berlin, J. E. (2009). It's all a matter of perspective: Student perceptions on the impact of being

labeled gifted and talented. Roeper Review, 31(4), 217-223.

Colburn, A. (2008). Shedding light on misconceptions. Science Teacher, 75(7), 10.

Coleman, L. J., Micko, K. J., & Cross, T. L. (2015). Twenty-five years of research on the lived

experience of being gifted in school. Journal For The Education Of The Gifted,38(4),

358-376.

Conley, D. (2014). Getting ready for college, careers, and the Common Core: What every

educator needs to know. San Francisco, California, USA. Jossey-Bass.

Credé, M., & Kuncel, N. R. (2008). Study habits, skills, and attitudes: The third pillar supporting

collegiate academic performance. Perspectives On Psychological Science (Wiley-

Blackwell), 3(6), 425-453.

Dewey, J. (1933). What is thinking? How we think (pp. 3 –23). Boston, MA: D.C. Heath &

Company.

Fecho, B. (2004). Is this English? Race, language, and culture in the classroom. New York, NY:

Teachers College Press.

Hertzog, N. B., & Bennett, T. (2003). In whose eyes? Parents' perspectives on the learning needs

of their gifted children. Roeper Review, 26(2), 96-104.

IBO. (2015). Diploma Programme chemistry guide.

Jacob, E. (1999). The cultural inquiry process. Retrieved from http://cehdclass.gmu.edu/cip/

Kelemen, G. (2015). Gifted children and their special needs. Journal Plus Education / Educatia

Plus, 12A128-138.

http://cehdclass.gmu.edu/cip/


MacNevin, B., & Warren, S. (2009). Building a vision of effective science instruction: How an

observation guide supports dialogue. Science Scope,33(4), 52-54

Oluwatimilehin, J.B., & Owoyele, J.W. (2012). Study habits and academic achievement in core

subjects among junior secondary school students in Ondo state, Nigeria. Bulgarian

Journal of Science & Education Policy, 6(1), 155-169.


Appendix A: Student test results with the names removed.

Name Predicated prior to test

Predicated after testing

Actual Score

Letter Grade

Predicated prior to test (Post Action)

Predicated after testing (Post Action)

Actual Score (Post Action)

Letter Grade

X 1 1 2 69 2 3 2 69X 3 3 2 69 4 4 4 84X 1 1 2 69 1 1 1 64X 4 4 3 79 5 5 5 89X 1 1 2 69 3 3 3 79X 2 2 2 69 2 3 3 79X 1 1 1 64 1 1 1 64X 1 1 1 64 1 1 1 64X 2 1 1 64 2 3 3 79X 2 2 2 69 3 4 4 84X 1 1 1 64 2 3 1 64X 2 2 3 79 4 5 5 89X 3 2 2 69 4 5 5 89X 2 1 2 69 3 3 3 79X 2 2 1 64 3 3 4 84X 2 1 3 79 3 4 4 84X 2 2 3 79 3 2 2 69X 5 5 7 100 6 5 5 89X 3 2 3 79 4 4 4 84X 1 2 3 79 2 2 2 69X 3 2 3 79 3 2 3 79X 3 3 4 84 3 2 3 79X 2 1 3 79 2 1 1 64X 4 4 3 79 5 5 6 94X 1 2 2 69 2 2 3 79X 4 4 5 89 5 4 4 84X 5 5 6 94 5 5 5 89

AVG: 2.334

AVG: 2.148

AVG: 2.667

AVG: 3.074

AVG: 3.148

AVG:3.222


Appendix B: Student Questionnaire and Appendix C are in the following

pdf link

Appendix B and C.pdf

Documents

astlportfolioashishvadalia.weebly.com€¦ · Web viewThis study explored the study habits and skills exhibited by students in the IB DP cohort at Meade High School. Students within