Volume IX: 2019
Haley Hawkins
The Efficacy of Approaching Homework as a Formative Self-Assessment in a High School Mathematics Classroom
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of treating homework as a formative selfassessment, where participants graded and corrected their own assignments, had on a summative unit assessment. The researcher also wanted to determine the effect the treatment had on the participants’ mathematics self-efficacy. Two research questions guided this study: Does the treatment of homework as a formative self-assessment have an effect on the participants’ average scores on a summative unit assessment compared to those whose homework was graded and handed back by the teacher? And does grading treating homework as a formative selfassessment have an effect on participants’ self-efficacy towards mathematics?
It was hypothesized that by treating homework as a formative self-assessment, participants in the experimental group would have higher average scores on the summative assessment than the control group of participants. Also, it was hypothesized that the participants in the experimental group would have higher self-efficacies. Thirty-four ninth and tenth grade students from two of the researcher’s Algebra I classes participated in the six-week study: one class was the experimental group and the other was the control group. The researcher used two different instruments on both groups: A summative unit assessment that was used to compare the two groups’ average scores. And a five-point Likert-scale mathematics self-efficacy survey used to compare the two groups’ average rating scores. The experimental group’s average score was 7.20% higher than the control group on the unit assessment. Also, compared to the control group, the average rating score for the experimental group was 0.30 points higher on the selfefficacy survey.
Sarah C. Hall
Investigation of the Effectiveness of Graphic Organizers on Science Nonfiction Text Comprehension
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine if using Thinking Maps graphic organizers increased student comprehension of science nonfiction texts. The researcher wanted to further determine how Thinking Maps graphic organizers would help students who were categorized in different ability levels on the Winter 2019 MAP test. Two research questions guided the study: Does the use of Thinking Maps graphic organizers, such as circle maps, multi-flow maps, and tree maps, affect student comprehension of science nonfiction texts? And does the use of Thinking Maps graphic organizers affect the comprehension of students of different reading abilities as determined by the Winter 2019 MAP test scores in both Informational Text and the Vocabulary Acquisition and Use categories?
Twenty-eight fifth grade students from one classroom participated in the study with 26 completing the study; two did not complete the study due to absences. All participants increased in comprehension during the study. Of the participants completing the study, 76.92% scored 80% or above on the unit post-test compared to no participants scoring 80% or above on the pre-test.
