Impact on Student Learning Study
Student:
The student I will be researching during this study is a C or B student in Social Studies. This student, which from now on will be called ZN, is in class with one of their best friends. ZN has trouble staying on task and completing their assignments but does not have a 504 or IEP. It seems this student is more focused on fashion and their social life than their school work. This information has been relayed to their parents as well and they have agreed with this observation. They described the same attitude towards school work at home. I have picked this student because I believe they have the potential to understand the material and grow in their history skills, however, they are just not applying themselves.
Assessments:
Every assignment in this class has a component that asks for a claim and then evidence to support that claim. For this study I will be looking at an assignment that ZN completed that asked them to answer essential questions to a lesson plan. I will then look at their intervention assignment, a sort that helped students understand how to provide evidence for their claims, and then student work on a 7th grade SGO on the Dakota Access Pipeline where the student must provide evidence for the claims they make.
Executive Summary of Study:
The main goal of this study was to evaluate ZN’s growth in their ability to create a claim and then provide evidence for that claim. This is essential to this Social Studies classroom considering that students are required to make a claim in each assignment and support it with evidence. This is part of the AREI method that is used in every class debate and discussion. The AREI method stands for Assertion, Reasoning, Evidence, and Impact. Students are aware that they are expected to always support their claims/assertions, with evidence, However, ZN’s work seemed to be full of assertions without much evidence to back up these assertions. See the work sample below titled “before” in order to see ZN’s work and lack of evidence before the intervention.
The intervention, shown below under “Intervention” is a sort. This sort as used as an intervention for some of the students struggling with providing evidence for their claims, but also as a way to introduce and discuss President Trump’s Immigration Order to the students. In this sort, students were asked to sort the different parts of two arguments that used the AREI method. There were 2 Assertions, 2 Reasons, 4 pieces of Evidence, and 3 Impact statements. To kick start this intervention, we sorted the first assertion into the correct box as a class. Students then worked in their table groups in order to sort the rest of the AREI components. At the end, students helped me fill in the chart on the smartboard, giving evidence and reasoning to why they were putting each of these components into the boxes where they belong. The students were able to get extra practice with AREI as well as learning about the differing viewpoints of a very controversial current event.
After my intervention and further practice in making claims with evidence in different assignments, ZN improved upon their ability to provide evidence for their claims. This evidence is exemplified in the “After” portion of the work samples. ZN is able to make several claims about the bias of different sources on the Dakota Access Pipeline. ZN is also able to provide evidence from these sources that exemplifies their claim that the sources are biased. Overall, there is a huge improvement from their early work on the Constitution Essential and Guiding questions.
Looking back on this process, it’s possible that there were some external factors that contributed to this outcome. ZN’s parents attended a conference with the team teachers and myself. We were able to address our concerns about ZN and their tendency to not apply themselves. It is possible that the parents played a role in Zahra’s newfound dedication to their work. However, I did see an improvement in the use of evidence to support claims across the board in the classroom. I have reason to believe that this AREI method sort helped students to understand how to provide evidence for their claims. By supplying students with the different components of an AREI argument, students were able to see examples for each part of AREI that they could model their own claims and evidence off of. I do plan on using the AREI method and sorts like this one in future classrooms. Students seemed to enjoy it and it was a great way to approach a controversial topic such as this one.
The intervention, shown below under “Intervention” is a sort. This sort as used as an intervention for some of the students struggling with providing evidence for their claims, but also as a way to introduce and discuss President Trump’s Immigration Order to the students. In this sort, students were asked to sort the different parts of two arguments that used the AREI method. There were 2 Assertions, 2 Reasons, 4 pieces of Evidence, and 3 Impact statements. To kick start this intervention, we sorted the first assertion into the correct box as a class. Students then worked in their table groups in order to sort the rest of the AREI components. At the end, students helped me fill in the chart on the smartboard, giving evidence and reasoning to why they were putting each of these components into the boxes where they belong. The students were able to get extra practice with AREI as well as learning about the differing viewpoints of a very controversial current event.
After my intervention and further practice in making claims with evidence in different assignments, ZN improved upon their ability to provide evidence for their claims. This evidence is exemplified in the “After” portion of the work samples. ZN is able to make several claims about the bias of different sources on the Dakota Access Pipeline. ZN is also able to provide evidence from these sources that exemplifies their claim that the sources are biased. Overall, there is a huge improvement from their early work on the Constitution Essential and Guiding questions.
Looking back on this process, it’s possible that there were some external factors that contributed to this outcome. ZN’s parents attended a conference with the team teachers and myself. We were able to address our concerns about ZN and their tendency to not apply themselves. It is possible that the parents played a role in Zahra’s newfound dedication to their work. However, I did see an improvement in the use of evidence to support claims across the board in the classroom. I have reason to believe that this AREI method sort helped students to understand how to provide evidence for their claims. By supplying students with the different components of an AREI argument, students were able to see examples for each part of AREI that they could model their own claims and evidence off of. I do plan on using the AREI method and sorts like this one in future classrooms. Students seemed to enjoy it and it was a great way to approach a controversial topic such as this one.