Action Research: Analyzing Student Achievement in Aquatics

           Over the course of my time student teaching at Elizabethtown, I completed an action research project with the guidance of my cooperating teacher Mr. Anderson. I chose the aquatic resources course I was teaching as the basis for my action research. After getting to know the dynamics and ability levels of the students in the course, I developed the following research question: does student achievement occur at a higher rate when students work together versus working alone on an assignment? This particular class was made up of 22 mixed level ability students in grades 10^th through 12^th.  10 of the 22 students have IEP’s of all scopes. I also noticed early on that students liked to work in pairs or small groups on assignments. Because of these factors, I thought the research question I posed was appropriate.

            The data I collected would be used to determine if student achievement occurred at a higher level when students worked individually on an assignment or when they worked with partners. If higher student achievement occurred one way rather than the other way, I would try to incorporate more of this type of activity into the course. I hypothesized that student achievement would be higher when students worked in pairs rather than alone on assignments. In order to test this hypothesis, I collected data over a four week time period in the same unit of instruction: water quality. Each assignment was graded out of 20 points.

            The first set of individual data was collected on Wednesday February 25^th, 2015. Students were required to create a poster on water quality impacts. This information was based on material covered in that day’s lesson. The first set of partner data was collected on Friday February 27^th, 2015. Students worked together to create a poster that explained one of four agricultural impacts on water quality of their choosing. This information was also based on material covered in the day’s lesson. The second set of individual data was collected on Tuesday March ^10th, 2015. Students created a poster that displayed water testing results from testing water quality in the fish tanks in the aquatics lab. The second set of partner data was collected on Monday March 23^rd, 2015. This information was based off of March measurements from weighing and measuring fish.

            On the first individual assignment, student achievement averaged at 86%. On the second individual assignment, student achievement averaged at 98%, a 12% increase. On the first partner assignment, student achievement averaged at 88%. On the second partner assignment, student achievement averaged at 97%. a 9% increase. After much analysis with Mr. Anderson and myself, it was determined that the data collected was not sufficient in answering the overall research question. However, a conclusion was reached that overall student achievement improved as the course went on. This could be a result of several things. Students may have been more comfortable with my teaching style. I know for certain that during this time, I realized that students need to have verbal and written directions as to what exactly I want from students on an assignment. Students may have found the water testing and measurement results more interesting and meaningful because it is something they carried out on their own.

            After much personal reflection, as well as reflecting on the project with Mr. Anderson, I came to several more conclusions regarding the action research, as well as recommendations for future research. One conclusion I reached is that the data might be slightly biased because students were allowed to choose their own partners. If I chose partners for students, I would have mixed ability levels. I noticed that similar ability students tended to work with each other on these assignments rather than work with different ability level students. One recommendation for future research is to assign partners for the group posters rather than allowing students to select their own. I feel that I would be able to control possible bias in this way.

            Another recommendation that was reached is to collect and compare data across courses. The ag mechanics course I taught had mixed ability levels and half of the students had IEPs, similar to my aquatics class. In order to provide a wider range of data to analyze, I could have collected data from more than four assignments. Many of the assignments I gave students in the class have been individual and I was somewhat limited in what assignments I could assign with partners. Students did not seem more or less on task when working on both individual and partner assignments. One fear I had when assigning partner projects was that one student would do most or all of the work while the other student did not contribute.

            Overall, I was pleased with my action research project. Mr. Anderson and I both felt that it was worthwhile to complete and the research question was valid. I think it was appropriate for a mixed ability class such as my aquatic resources class. If I completed a similar action research project in the future, I would be sure to have a larger source of data to analyze. I would also assign partners rather than allowing students to choose their own. Even though I reject my original hypothesis because I did not have sufficient data to answer the question, I still found data and reached a conclusion. I think this project was somewhat easier for me to understand and carry out than my peers because of my undergraduate research project. This project helped me understand the dynamics of my class and have prepared me future action research projects!