Professional Documents
Culture Documents
questions/investigations
The MeE framework, a psychological model that allows for teachers to evaluate
engagement and motivation levels of students, promotes the need for analysis of
The MeE framework supports an insider classroom, which involves power shared
amongst the teacher and the students. This reflects my views on substantive
this and has been found to be more academically beneficial to students than
extrinsic motivation (Vialle, Lysaght & Verenikina, 2005). When students are given a
voice in their learning, they are more likely to engage in in-task behaviour, as they
are interested. This leads them to appreciate, value and understand the relevance of
school (Fair Go Project, 2006; Munns, Sawyer & Cole, 2013). I had taken this into
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cognitive, affective and operative level simultaneously (Fair Go Project, 2006; Munns
et al., 2006). This represents the lower case e within the MeE framework. This
refers to short-term engagement within the classroom, where students are actively
engaged in a challenging task and have positive feelings about it (Fair Go Project,
2006). The upper case E refers to long-term engagement, when students realise
the value of education and become lifelong learners (Munns et al., 2006). Real world
the framework. I find that the teacher plays an essential role in fostering long-term
make creative connections between their learning and their everyday lives.
Intrinsic motivation and creative learning are innovative pedagogies that frame my
students. Since then I have gained more teaching experience and reviewed literature
surrounding this area, which has helped me to become confident enough to move
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away from extrinsic motivation and focus on intrinsically motivating students through
creative learning.
choice of questions and topics. They were given the freedom to find solutions to
I had taught them. I did not make students feel as though they were under
surveillance or that they were being evaluated (Goleman et al., 1992). This made
them more motivated. I acted as a role model for my students, as rather than telling
them to be creative, I gave them the opportunities to discover and develop their
creativity through the real world open ended investigations I designed (Sternberg &
Williams, 1996). As students enjoyed learning and were determined to find a solution
to the maths investigations, they were intrinsically motivated and completed activities
model of flow, which highlights the mental state in which a person is completely
immersed within the task or activity undertaken. Doing so enabled me to be sure that
all students were challenged according to their abilities and pushed themselves to
find solutions, ultimately evoking intrinsic motivation when students stayed focused
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Maths lessons most often consisted of completing worksheets that had little
relevance to their own lives. I believe this to be the core reason for their lack of
engagement and negative perceptions of maths. From here I asked myself, how can
I make them more engaged in maths? The answer was to provide them with real
word open ended questions and investigations to see if this made a difference to
Real world questions and investigations offer high cognitive investigations in the way
that students construct their own knowledge about how mathematics relates to their
world (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2013). They are able to see the value of mathematics
creative and think outside of the box (Sawyer, 2013). By exploring problems that
they are interested in and find important, students are engaged at a highly affective
level. Subsequently, their intrinsic motivation increases as they are given time to
explore a particular investigation and make it their own. This is a crucial key to
student creativity (Goleman, Kaufman & Ray, 1992). By encouraging curiosity and
creativity through open-ended questions that linked with their everyday lives,
high operative learning experiences are evoked through critical thinking skills that
lives. Evidently, the focus question of this report covers all parts of the MeE
framework, but centres primarily on the small e and how students can take this
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2 Methodology
I had conducted my action research cycle at Mount Pritchard Public School in a year
2 class of 21 students with mixed abilities. The school is in a low socioeconomic area
and is located near community housing for refugees. I took this into consideration
when thinking of an action research question to make sure students are able to
meant that differentiation was necessary in order for them to work to their full
potential. Most students are excited and enthusiastic, while there were 5 students
My teacher is close to retirement and because of the vast age gap, I found that our
values and practices clashed. She was fond of extrinsic rewards, while I was not.
Worksheets were the focus of most lessons and I disagreed with this because they
engagement, as they were easily distracted and off-task, particularly during maths
wanted to see them intrinsically motivated to learn, rather than merely being on-task
in order to receive Dojo points (Munns et al., 2013). I believed that this will also
interested to see how much more engaged they were. She could see that students
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were benefiting and during the second block of my second professional experience,
she made space in the class timetable for my maths lessons. However, my lessons
were often cut short by the speech pathologist, who came into class weekly.
Planning
designed a chart of the different strategies that I believe were best suited for the
class. These included working backwards, revising, checking and evaluating, using
investigations that I could implement in my class and used them to plan my lessons.
Acting
I displayed the maths problem solving strategies chart at the front of the class and
with several questions, which we answered together, that allowed them to properly
understand each strategy. I also taught them to break down questions by circling the
numbers, underlining key words and italicising the key question in order to ensure
questions and choose the most appropriate strategy for a certain question allowed
them to develop these skills before putting them into practice (Banchi and Bell,
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2008). Once they began to develop these skills I introduced them to more
collaborative group work in order for students to share their skills and knowledge to
reach a common goal (Applefield, Huber & Moallem, 2000). I provided students with
Observing
My mentor teacher and I observed the quality of student engagement and learning
through their conversations to make lesson adjustments. She had written her
and investigations were substantively engaging all students and were suited to their
Reflecting
achievements after each lesson. I used the MeE framework to reflect on how well I
Project, 2006). I also shared my thoughts and experiences with the other preservice
teacher, my focus group and teachers each day. This provided me with refreshing
perspectives that I could reflect on. Discussions with my focus group particularly
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Work samples
I took photos of students individual and group work samples after each lesson. This
determination to find a solution. Through the work samples I was also able to
understand how each student learns and their learning style, based on their working
out and reasoning or lack of it. From here I made changes to lessons in order to
make sure students are challenged according to their ability (Csikzentmihalyi, 1996).
among students and between myself and students. I found that overhearing student
conversations was more valuable than when they were aware of my presence, as it
provided me with a more authentic idea of how well they understood the task, how
much they enjoyed it and whether they were challenging themselves. Thus, I was
able to measure engagement levels related to the MeE framework and whether real
Observations
moved around the classroom from group to group or student to student and noted
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creativity.
Student self-assessment
assessment, as they addressed the thoughts, feelings and actions of students during
students engagement and learning were highlighted. I used this data to plan future
lessons, find out who enjoyed individual work and who enjoyed group work, what
they enjoyed and if they found any relevance between the investigations and their
Students were unfamiliar with open-ended tasks, as they often completed work
sheets. This was evident during my first open-ended investigation lesson, as I noted,
many students sitting in their seats with blank faces, looking around the room and
tapping their legs while waiting for me to provide them with the answer. I realised
that they struggled to think creatively. Taking this into consideration, I spent time
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Students often thought the solutions were simple and would give me an answer
immediately after reading the question. From this it was clear that they lacked the
worksheets were close-ended and usually had a time limit. I assured students that
finishing first or quickly is not always a good thing for it might mean that the task is
I made sure to observe and mix with groups and individual students to measure their
encouraged students during lessons and advised them on choosing more suitable
strategies (Figure 2-4). I aimed to promote creativity by acting as a role model for
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students, showing them how to think creatively rather than telling them what to do
and reasoning, which they were excited about (Figure 5). This allowed them to
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I believe that their initial difficulties to think creatively stemmed from previous maths
learning, which either did not challenge them or challenged them too much for their
abilities. During my mentor teachers maths lessons, I often heard students say, I
dont know what to do, Im bored, I dont get it, This is too easy. It was clear that
lack of differentiation was a great concern, as students were all given the same tasks
to complete, regardless of their skills and knowledge. For advanced learners, this
meant that maths tasks were often boring because they were too easy, while
emergent learners had difficulties because the tasks were too difficult for them to feel
complete the task at hand. The different tasks given to students are evident in
Figures 6 - 8. I noticed a positive shift in their confidence and engagement and noted
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The below work samples (Figure 10 & 11) further confirm that the students were
engaged in finding solutions for their open-ended questions, as even when they
made mistakes they corrected them to find a solution. Figure 11: Student work
sample
Engaging Learning
Experience e
Highly operative:
she worked hard
even though her
answers were not
entirely correct.
(Figure 11)
engaging
Messages
Knowledge:
Figure 10: Emergent learners work Student noticed a
sample
pattern, which she
engaging Messages began to complete.
Ability: by attempting the question for Ability: She then
advanced learners she is challenging realised that she
herself and feels she is capable.
made a mistake
(Figure 10)
and fixed it up.
Usually she does
Engaging Learning Experience e
not like to accept
Highly operative: she worked hard and
that she has made
was in control of her learning
a mistake. Thus,
Highly affective: student took a risk with
she has shown
her learning because she was curious
intrinsic motivation
knows she needs to be challenged
(Figure 11)
(Figure 10)
Syllabus: MA1-3WM Supports conclusions by explaining or demonstrating how answers were obtained.
(Figures 11 & 12)
At first It was clear that students were not reading the questions properly. I showed
students how to break down questions by circling the numbers, underlining the key
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Figure 13: Screenshots of how students broke down the questions on interactive whiteboard
After breaking the question down as a class I asked students for thumbs up if they
understand the question, thumbs to the side if they are not sure or thumbs down if
they do not understand. This helped me to check for understanding, as they need to
know what the question is asking them in order to find a solution. I wrote down the
names students who I observed usually putting their thumbs down and made sure to
simplify the question again with them at their desks. A conversation between student
B. and I demonstrated that he was working at a higher level than I initially thought. It
was the breaking down and understanding of the question that made him
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unconfident (Figure 14). His work sample (Figure 15) showcases substantive
engagement in the way that he had challenged himself to find all the possible
solutions, show his reasoning and extend the question by changing a key word.
Figure 14:
Transcribed
conversation that I
had with student B. I
found out that his
mathematical skills
and knowledge were
better than I thought.
Syllabus:
MA1-4NA applies place value, informally, to count, order,
read and represent two- and three-digit numbers
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I appointed a leader in each group. The leaders were students who were easily
distracted, gave up easily or were shy. I had purposely implemented this strategy to
ensure that these students were given a sense of responsibility in managing the
group work and making sure each group member had a role. This was effective, as it
kept the students in task and allowed the shy students to have a voice, which is
engagement in collaborative group work. Students were excited about working with
students they usually would not work well with and were surprised at how much less
Photos taken of group work from that same maths lesson show that students are
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engaging Messages
Place: feel valued as individual and
group learners and feels a sense of
belonging over learning
Syllabus:
MA1-17SP gathers and organises data,
displays data in lists, tables and picture
graphs, and interprets the results
MA1-1WM describes mathematical
situations and methods using every
day and some mathematical language,
actions, materials, diagrams and
symbols
MA1-2WM Uses objects, diagrams and
technology to explore mathematical
problems
MA1-3WM Supports conclusions by
explaining or demonstrating how
answers were obtained
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(Figures 17 & 18)
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Highly operative: Working hard and in
control of learning. Can see relevance to
own world.
Highly affective: students chose BBQ
question and choose their shopping list
based on what they like and the costs. They
enjoyed it.
High cognitive: students are able to take
their knowledge and skills surrounding
money and data collection/displays beyond
the classroom.
Figure 18: Collaborative group work during real world open-ended mathematical
investigation.
Ultimately, my goal was to enhance student engagement in maths through real world
curious, it took some time before they truly gained intrinsic motivation to complete
tasks. While they did require some scaffolding and guidance at the end of the action
research, they became much more autonomous, engaged and could see how
questions were relevant to their own lives. The student self-assessments (Figure 17)
shows that they were able to recognise how and where they could use the
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student work, engagement and performance. When I reflected upon this with my
mentor teacher, she agreed that there was a vast difference in their engagement in
maths lessons.
In the short term, students were extremely snagged and motivated when solving real
problem solving strategies, which they have found helpful. They now have positive
views of maths but this may change if they are forced to return to close-ended
worksheets. In relation to my practice in the short term I have learned that positive
teacher attitudes towards maths greatly influence students attitudes. I will keep this
As my action research spanned over only six weeks, I lacked the time to involve
problem solving strategies and the skill of breaking down questions, it is difficult to
effectively engage in a larger investigation. If I continued to work with the same class
encourage physical discovery and collaboration. Thus, my next step would be to plan
A major long-term implication for the students is the ability to see the relavence of
their learning and transfer that knowledge in the real world. As for my own teaching
practice, I will continue to plan and implement lessons that spark student curiosity
and interest. I believe that with the proper resources, persistence and determination,
it is possible to make any area schooling relevant to students own world. Creativity
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and motivation spark each other. If tasks are irrelevant and students feel that they
will never need that specific knowledge, then their creative learning will suffer.
linked to the real world, students will continue to see the value in their learning. This
attitude will support their development into lifelong learners. This is linked to my long-
term goals.
students will eventually become intrinsically motivated when they find learning
engaging, relevant and are able to have a voice in the classroom. I hope to create an
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References
and practice: Toward a better understanding. The high school journal, 84(2).
Banchi, H., & Bell, R. (2008). The many levels of inquiry. Science and
children, 46(2).
Fair Go Project. (2006). School is for me: Pathways to student engagement. Sydney,
and Training.
Goleman, D., Kaufman, P., & Ray, M. L. (1992). The creative spirit. New York:
Dutton.
math classroom.
Sawyer, K. (2013). Zig zag: The surprising path to greater creativity. John Wiley &
Sons.
Sternberg, R. J., & Williams, W. M. (1996). How to develop student creativity. ASCD.
Munns, G., Lawson, J., O'Brian, M. L., & Johnson, K. (2006). Student
engagement and the fair go project. School is For Me: Pathways to Student
Engagement.
Munns, G., Sawyer, W., & Cole, B. (Eds.). (2013). Exemplary teachers of
Munns, G., & Woodward, H. (2006). Student engagement and student self
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Vialle, W., Lysaght, P., & Verenikina, I. (2005). Motivation. In P. Lysaght & I.
Learning.
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Note: focus
group
members
mobile
numbers
and names
have been
blacked out
to protect
their
privacy.
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Me
My focus group and I thought it would be a good idea to partner up and mark/check each
others drafts.
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