Collaborative Action Research: Perspectives on Student Engagement

• In Event: 21.027 - Mathematics Teachers and Researchers Supporting Student Voice in Mathematics: Collaborative Action Research or Allywork?

Abstract

Our collaborative project centered on improving student engagement in the mathematics classroom. To identify the features of interactions that are important to our students, we incorporated student observations and orientations while considering the district initiative of using Marzano and Pickering’s (2010) framework of the highly engaged classroom. In pursuit of those aims, we asked, what strengths & weaknesses do students observe in a teacher working toward a ‘highly engaged classroom?’
To frame the elements of student engagement, we started with the indicators of “the highly engaged classroom” (Marzano & Pickering, 2010). Because those indicators were solely focused on what teachers do, we also adapted three indicators of student engagement based on what students do from the Instructional Quality Assessment classroom observation protocol (Boston, 2012). The observation indicators were phrased in language that could be easily understood by the student’s using them to indicate the following:
Students share their mathematical ideas.
Students explain why to the whole class.
Students talk about other people’s idea.
Teacher gives choices to students.
Teacher shows a positive attitude to students.
Teacher makes a decision based on how students feel about the lesson.
Teacher waits for enough time after asking a question.
Teacher encourages the student to move their bodies to learn mathematics.
Over three consecutive days, we asked students in a high school geometry class to choose one or two observation items and record the counts of observation along with descriptive inputs. In addition, we used two video cameras to record verbal and embodied exchanges during the process.
The student generated data showed that most students, in all three days, indicated that the teacher’s positive attitude toward students was an important aspect of classroom interaction. This suggests that students are attuned to how the teacher feels about them and the class, and that the positive attitudes influenced student engagement positively. The student data also showed that the physical movement––as little as writing on a whiteboard––assists with the classroom engagement. Our video data showed that the positive attitude of the teacher was amplified by students’ expression of their noticing (e.g., “Oh look at you. You are doing number eight again!). Therefore, student noticing and acknowledging of a particular teacher move can encourage the teacher to do it more frequently.
In reflection, the leveraging of a district initiative to design and implement a mechanism of student-led feedback on student engagement was effective, and student generated data offered insights on how particular teacher moves are perceived by the students. A further discussion was had about using the indicators during themed weeks at the beginning of the following school year to commonly define how student and teacher actions can lead to a highly engaged classroom.

Authors

• Sunghwan Byun, Michigan State University

• Joel Amidon, The University of Mississippi

• Kim Hatfield