What learning activities do students find as most effective in engaging their interest and increasing their understanding and application of developmental theories and concepts

What learning activities do students find as most effective in engaging their interest and increasing their understanding and application of developmental theories and concepts?

Robin Muza

Summary:

Learning Question: ≥What learning activities do students find as most effective in engaging their interest and increasing their understanding and application of developmental theories and concepts?≤

I have taught the HDFS 124 (Human Development: Early Childhood) for a number of years. This course deals with an in-depth study of physical, cognitive and social-emotional development from prenatal through age eight. The information to cover in a semester is enormous. I have taught the course primarily by lecture, video and readings. From my perception students have struggled with the amount of information and its application as observed by their anxiety and/or preoccupation with tests and grades. In fact students are often more concerned with knowing only what is needed for the test as opposed to truly understanding the information at hand. What I have struggled with is resisting the temptation to ≥teach≤ to the test and to help the students see the importance and application of this information. My goal is to increase students' ability to ≥step back≤ and apply theories and concepts of the course to real life situations.

Data Collection:

To assist me in exploring my research question, I revised the course so that it was more balanced between tests and student activities. In the past the class had been heavily ≥test driven≤ with test accounting for 2/3 to 3/4 of their grade. This semester, the value of tests dropped to 50% with the 50% comprised of a variety of assignments for the students to participate in. These learning activities included on line discussion questions and responses, observations and in-class activities that included case studies, discussions and reflective writings. Students in the HDFS 124 course at various points in the semester reflected on how they were learning (what seemed to be working for them). This was done first at the beginning of the semester will an open ended ≥free write≤ as to how they believed they learned best. After the spring break they were asked to reflect about the class to that point by answering two questions: What activities this semester had aided you in learning the material for this course and why did you find the items that you mentioned helpful? Finally at the end of the semester the students completed two surveys with regards to the class. The first survey asked them to rate from 1 (lowest to five highest) how effective various items were to understanding the course material. With this survey was also a space for them to respond to the question: ≥What was most helpful in aiding your learning in this class: Please also explain why it was helpful. The second survey from the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Project asked the students to rate a variety of statements from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). In all cases these were completed anonymously. The number of students that participated was the entire class, which this semester consisted of 27 students. In addition, I also kept a log of my perceptions of what seemed to be engaging student interest in materials as based upon the various activities.

Data Analysis:

The open ended reflections were analyzed for reoccurring themes. In addition, the surveys were analyzed for the means of each question. Finally my perceptions were analyzed for themes as well as to see if there is continuity with student perceptions.

Context:

HDFS 124 (Human Development: Early Childhood) is an entry level course taken usually in the freshmen year by students in three different majors, Human Development and Family Studies, Early Childhood Education and Family and Consumer Education. This course is important for all three majors as it is information that the individuals will be using in their chosen careers. In addition, for both of the education majors this is also information that they will be tested on in their content exams for teacher licensure. Also, students who are early childhood majors are required to earn a minimum of B- in this course. The expectation in all 3 majors is that students will leave the course with the ability to identify, describe and explain the principles of child growth and development as they apply to children prenatal through age 8. This includes the ability to compare and contrast the major theories of child development; explain the importance of systems in which child development occurs; and describe fundamental sequences of physical, cognitive, language, perceptual, emotional and social development for the age range.

Key Learning Activities:

The teaching strategies listed below were chosen as avenues that would allow students to engage in dialogue, collaborative learning, application of knowledge and choice.

On-line discussions: Students worked in pairs for this activity. The pairing was done by the instructor and the pair worked as such for the entire semester. The discussion was a series of questions that the students were to answer as well as respond to other students' answers five times throughout the semester. Questions were application of course material. Students could pick from a variety of questions for each unit of development (i.e. prenatal, infant/toddler, preschool, and school-age). Students could choose a maximum of 3 questions from a unit. Therefore answers and responses were based on student interest. A rubric was shared with the student as to expectations for answers and responses. This rubric gave the expectations for what would be an unacceptable, minimally acceptable, adequate, above average and exemplary answer. In addition after the first set of answers students met with the instructor for feedback.

Observations: Students were to complete 2 for the semester. Students had a variety of observations that they could choose from, that allowed the student to choose an age group as well as degree of involvement. These observations included the following:

Parent/Caregiver Interview: the student needed to develop a minimum of 15 questions to ask 2 individuals that had a significant part in their upbringing from birth through age 8. The questions needed to in part cover developmental milestones. Students were to then assess the data from the interview as to parental memory; reasons for that memory; developmental milestones, and the role of gender.

Infant/toddler Observation: the student was to find either an infant or a toddler with which to spend some time interacting with. During the interaction a number of ≥tasks≤ were to be performed that would assess physical, cognitive and social development. Students were to then take the data and answer a number of questions that were to have them incorporate their finding with course material.

Play Observation: the student needed to observe children at play for a minimum of one hour. From the observation the students were to take their information and answer a number of questions incorporating their finding and course material. Students were also to reflect upon what children may learn from play based upon their observation.

Cognitive Observation: the student was to find a preschooler and school age child to interact with. During the interaction the student would perform a number of tasks with both the preschool and school-age child. The student then used the data collected to answer a variety of questions incorporating information from the text to support conclusions.

Gender Roles Observation: the student was to observe a male and female preschooler at play for a minimum of one hour. Then taking the data from the observation the student was to draw a variety of conclusions by answering a number of questions. Again conclusions needed to be supported not only data from the observation but information from the course as well.

Term Paper: the student was to pick a topic of choice and using outside sources write a paper about this topic. As part of the assignment, the student was to also talk about how the topic relates to the class.

In class activities: These were non-graded activities that were completed during class time. These activities were both individual and group and were related to the topic of the day. The activities included case studies, discussion questions and reflective writing.

Included in these were the open ended writing about learning and what the students felt were most helpful in aiding in their learning throughout the semester.

Key Findings:

Research Question: ≥What learning activities do students find as most effective in engaging their interest and increasing their understanding and application of developmental theories and concepts?≤ The following findings are based on my own observations and reflections, as well as student ratings and comments from surveys.

Interaction and communication among students increased. Students seemed more comfortable sharing ideas, not only in small groups but also with the entire class.
While students seemed to appreciate the variety of activities and felt that they were beneficial; power point slides and study guides were seen as most beneficial for learning.
Students were able to put the information from the class into the context of their lives.
Students want a variety of ways to demonstrate their knowledge.

Evidence of Student Learning:

Students felt that a combination of methods helped them to understand the material of the class. This was evidenced not only from the SOTL survey (4.23/5 on SOTL survey) but also from the open-ended questions at midterm and end of the semester. All students surveyed responded with a combination of methods as helpful. This also corresponded with what they had reported at the beginning of the semester as how they learned best.
Students reported on the open ended questions as well as the survey that they thought discussion and in class activities aided their learning. In fact on the mid term, eight of 25 remarked that in class discussions and activities were helpful. Comments included that it allowed them to express an opinion and helped to illustrate points. The third question on the mid term asked students what types of activities they would like to see more of. In this area comments included more class discussion and in class activities. Efforts were taken to include more of both for the rest of the semester. The end of semester survey again showed that students found these helpful. Ratings for class activities were 4.11/5 and discussions were 3.96/5. Comments included that discussions allowed us to ask questions and I was able to work with others and hear what they thought. From my own perceptions class discussions as the semester progressed were more inclusive of the class. More and more students participated often bringing in material from other classes as well as their own lives to support their positions!
Observations and on-line discussions were also seen by the students as beneficial. Observation comments from the midterm response were that they allow ≥you≤ to actually see children and therefore explained the text with examples. On-line discussions were because it allowed for more in-depth knowledge of the subject as well as a way to work with others. At the end of the semester nine of the 26 students commented about the observations as being very helpful in the open question. Comments included that the student was able to see what they learned in its full effect, able to do research on their own, made things we talked about make more sense; were educational and that it helped me to think about the topics. Observations on the survey actually ranked second behind power points as helpful in learning with 4.5 on the 5 point scale. From my perspective quality of answers from the on-line discussions did increase. Answers showed more depth as well as ability to relate in the answer more than just the current material under discussion. Frequently students would bring to the answer material from prior units as well as in some cases their own personal observations. I also found that the pairings from the on-line discussions frequently lead to these students studying together and discussing items in class. Many reported that these pairings were a non-threatening way to make connections in the class.
Midway through the semester the students were asked 3 questions concerning the course and what they found most helpful. Twenty-five of 27 students responded. Question #1 asked what had aided their learning Fifteen of 25 felt what aided their learning were the power points. Frequently comments were made (which also was addressed in question #2 as to why they found this helpful) that they aided in understanding the material as well as studying for the test. Six of 25 students remarked that the study guides were most helpful; again it was a test issue. At the end of the semester the students were again asked to think about the variety of ways material was presented in the class. The first question asked them to rate items as to how effective it was to aiding your understanding of course material. This time they were to rank items using a scale with 1 as lowest and 5 as highest. In addition they were again asked what was most helpful in aiding your learning and why it was helpful. Again power point was ranked very high followed by observations, study guides and class activities (4.6/5) This was not surprising (in fact slightly disappointing) was that students ranked very high power point slides and study materials as helping with learning. This should not be too surprising as there is the issue of grades.