Instructor: Caitlyn Hinnerschitz Grade: Third Subject: Mathematics
Assessment of Learner Achievement: During the lesson, I monitored the students’ achievement by conducting both formative and summative assessments. To begin the lesson, I formatively assessed the learners during the review phase by having students conduct a think-pair-share. This provided me with valuable information regarding the students’ prior knowledge. I was also able to assess the students understanding of the content by discussing the challenges they faced during gameplay and their comments during the Game Debrief. The web-based educational game selected (Prodigy) offered me rich data on student performance regarding the content, as well. The game enabled me as the teacher to see the strengths, weaknesses, and progress of each student. This let me know where I needed to focus and what areas students had mastered. All of the material presented on Prodigy was directly aligned with my chosen state standard and objectives. The summative assessment used was the exit slip where students had to supply the answers to three questions. Originally, I planned to judge if the instruction was successful if 70% of the students answered at least two out of three questions correctly on the exit slip. But due to running short on time, some students did not finish the exit slip, so I felt I could not use it as a form of an assessment. I also created an observational checklist to formatively assess the students that was directly aligned with my standard and objectives. As I saw students completing or exhibiting the wanted behaviors aligned with the objectives, I put a check by their name.
*Copies of the observational checklist and exit slip can be found in the selection of strategies phase of the A.S.S.U.R.E. MODEL*
Evaluation of Methods and Media: To evaluate the strategies and resources utilized, I made sure to conduct a Gameplay Debrief after students talked about the challenges, questions, or comments raised during gameplay. During the debrief, we had a whole group class discussion about what students thought about the game, if they enjoyed playing it, or any changes they would make to the game. Overall, the goal of the debrief session was to determine is students found the web-based educational game meaningful, fun, and worthwhile. I also made sure to talk informally with the students throughout the lesson to assess their dispositions and attitudes towards the content and Prodigy. While talking with the students informally, I also made sure to convey the importance and relevance of the game with the content being learned. Prodigy definitely impacted the students’ performance; they were on task, motivated, and were in a flow state when playing the game. The entire instructional process was successful, and I believe that is in part to completing all the parts of the A.S.S.U.R.E. model.
Efficiency of the Game-Based Learning Model From my observations, it was evident that the majority of students really enjoyed the game component of the lesson. In fact, they enjoyed it so much that they did not want to stop playing Prodigy and even played it for a substantial amount of time at home. The parts of Prodigy that worked well were (1) the data it provided, (2) the engagement and intrinsic motivation provided, and (3) the feedback provided to students. The parts of the game that did not work so well were that students struggled with logging into their Prodigy accounts and took a very long time to design their avatar. The students struggled with the repeated addition strategy, especially if they were not asked to provide the equal grouping strategy with it!
Revisions: As mentioned above, the majority of students were intrigued by the integrated web-based educational game. However, I did notice that a couple of female students lost interest after fifteen minutes of playing the game. To fix this, I would change my method of instruction. Instead of having students play the game for a longer period of time, I would incorporate the use of stations. For example, at one station students would play the game, at a second station students would complete a page in their workbook, and at a third station, I would work with small groups reinforcing key concepts or essential terms. This would (1) shorten the amount of time students are playing the game in one sitting and (2) reach more learning styles, modalities, and intelligences present.
During the Game Debrief, students offered ideas of how to make the learning experience even more engaging. The biggest suggestion was having more practice problems and less teacher directed instruction. I would also make my PowerPoint slides less content heavy and incorporate more wait time when questioning students. I carefully considered these suggestions and plan to implement the ones that I feel would make the experience even more meaningful the next time I teach this lesson on repeated addition and equal groups. I also compared their thoughts and evaluations of the strategies and resources used with my own opinions of the lesson. Another major revision I would make would be taking out the exit slip altogether. Time was limited and students were rushed through the assessment, in fact, most did not even get the chance to finish.