INTRODUCTION

Context
This curriculum is specifically designed for my fifth grade science students at
Basalt Middle School (BMS) in Basalt, Colorado. BMS is a fifth through eighth grade
public middle school that serves around 480 students of diverse backgrounds. Around
40% of the students are eligible for free and reduced price lunch. About 53% of students
are Hispanic, about 44% are white, and less than 2% are Asian. Around 33% of our
students have limited English proficiency. Of these students, most speak Spanish as
their first language and English as their second language.
The town of Basalt has a population of around 4,000 people and a similar
demographic to Basalt Middle School. It is the bedroom community to Aspen, a famous
ski resort destination, and many of the students parents are associated with the ski
resorts and tourism industry in different ways. In the small mountain town there are
mansions on the mountain as well as several trailer parks.
It has been a privilege to work at this middle school for the past three years. BMS
has been recognized as a Colorado Trailblazer School to Watch for 2014 and 2015
because it exemplifies a long-term commitment to building a positive, engaging, and
academically rich environment for students and families. Most notable is the growth
mindset culture and Academic All-Star program to hold students accountable for
turning in assignments.

The Problem
As I reflect on my pedagogy and the observations I have made regarding the
experience that students have in science class, I realize that student engagement
fluctuates depending on the activity. As one might expect, students are highly engaged
when conducting the hands-on experiments that we do throughout the year. On the
other hand, Ive observed a lack of student engagement when students create the handwritten lab report for the experiment. In particular, I have informally noted resistance
from students who have low self-efficacy in writing.
Over the past three years I have observed that when students arrive to middle
school, they have a lack of extensive experience in using 2.0 web applications and
other technological resources used for educational purposes. Throughout the
coursework in this masters degree program, I have become aware of the digital
resources available and how I can incorporate them to improve my pedagogy and
students learning experience.
In particular, I see an opportunity to transform lessons on the lab reports that
students create for each experiment. For each experiment conducted in class, students
write out the scientific method by hand in their science notebooks. The scientific method
lab report includes the following components: problem, hypothesis, materials,
procedure, data and observations, and a conclusion. Learning the scientific method is
an integral part of 5th grade science and science in general. Students will continually use
the scientific method throughout the rest of their science courses middle school, high
school, college and beyond if they choose a science career.

By the end of fifth grade, students know the steps of the scientific method like the
back of their hand. This is valuable and I want to continue this. However, I do see that
by mid-year, writing a lab report quickly becomes mundane and repetitive for students.
I believe the problem is that it does not involve enough of the Four Cs, as defined in
the Common Core Standards: critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and
creativity. I need to make this lab report writing process more engaging, challenging,
collaborative and creative for students. I plan to do this by incorporating lessons that
use technological tools and resources into this part of the science curriculum.
Needs Assessment
My observation of lack of student engagement was confirmed with quantifiable
student data. The students that I had in my science class last year took an anonymous
online survey. The online survey included questions regarding their experience of writing
lab reports and as well as their preferred tool for learning and creating.
As you can see from the first graph below, less than 40% of my students last
year actually found the processing of writing lab reports in notebooks to be engaging.
Perhaps using a computer would be more engaging for the students as 75% of students
prefer typing on a computer to writing in a notebook (graph 2).
Graphs 3 and 4 focus on students preference in explaining a scientific concept.
Over 95% of students responded yes or maybe when asked if they thought that digital
resources would assist them in explaining a scientific concept. Finally, when my
students were asked which specific method they preferred for explaining a scientific
concept, less than 10% chose writing a paper. The rest of the responses were
dispersed around different digital tools with an overwhelming majority being creating a

powerpoint. It is my observation that students may have chosen this method because
we created powerpoints last year. If students were familiar with creating podcasts and
videos, perhaps those methods would have gained more positive responses.
Nonetheless, most students prefer to use digital tools instead of writing a paper.

Graph 1

Graph 2

Graph 3

Graph 4

Research Question & Sub Questions

As a result of my needs assessment, my observation is confirmed. There is room
for improvement regarding student engagement in scientific method writing process of
the curriculum. I can see that students prefer to use digital tools in general and most
students prefer typing versus writing. To address these needs, I have developed the
following research question and sub questions:

Research Question

How would the integration of technology into curriculum on the scientific method
improve students collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking
skills?

Sub Questions
1. How would incorporating digital writing into such a curriculum support students
written communication skills?
2. How do digital tools affect students ability to think critically and creatively in the
context of writing a lab-report?
3. In what ways do digital tools affect students collaboration and communication
skills?