6. Our Research “ An interactive lecture, together with small peer group problem-solving activities during the lecture would help to build up students’ own self-confidence, and would stimulate interaction between learners, and with lecturers that led to shared process of knowledge-building” (Masikunis, Panayiotidis, & Burke, 2009). “… no individual responses are shown. Each student is able to determine if his/her response is correct. If the answer is correct, this reinforces the learning. If the answer is incorrect, the student can ask for clarification or figure why the response was incorrect” (Conoley, Moore, Croom, & Flowers, 2006).
7. Our Research “ To be effective, however, feedback must be timely and connected to the content being learned in class – two criteria that student response systems meet” (Ferriter, 2009). “ The treatment group (handheld electronic responders) had a mean achievement score on the test of 89.98 on a 100-point scale. The comparison group (traditional verbal feedback) had a mean score of 84.41 on a 100-point maximum test” (Conoley, Moore, Croom, & Flowers, 2006).
8. Our Research “ To have such meaningful data so quickly may help instructors to readily identify weaker students early in the semester so that interventions can be made in a timely fashion” (Lucas, 2009).
Carver Center is the only countywide magnet high school in Baltimore County. Learners represent all socio-economic, ethnic, and academic backgrounds. The application process evaluates learners only on their talent and propensity for talent. To engage learners in the wide range of arts and reinforce that each art does not exist in isolation, teachers support the variety of talents by providing experiential and practical learning practices that build the young artist to “look outside the box”. Collaborative projects to support classroom instruction are encouraged as it nourishes the wide range of talents and interests of the student population.
Carver Center’s mission is to provide an interrelated arts, technology, and academic program for all learners. We believe that learning is the priority of the school, that respect for others and for each others’ work is paramount. We believe in a safe, respectful, and physically comfortable environment that promotes questioning, analysis, and problem solving. This learning is enhanced by integrated programs and cross-disciplinary experiences. We believe in the students’ innate talent; that they possess multiple intelligences and that they can reach levels of intellectual and aesthetic excellence. We believe that challenging expectations increase individual learner performance and that lifelong learning is essential for success in a diverse and changing society and that our program extends beyond the classroom.
Our achievement gap in all academic areas has been most visible among our African American males compared to the rest of the school. While 96.9% of females passed the Math & English HSAs, 89.6% of males passed; and, 84% of African-American males passed the Math & English HSAs versus 97% African-American females.
We are focusing our plan on increasing the achievement of this subgroup in Algebra/Data Analysis by integrating a hand held student response system into our 3 Algebra 1 classes. We believe the immediate feedback from the SRS and the metacognition that will result from classroom discussion will improve assessment scores. We believe that feedback is an integral part of achievement. The most effective feedback should be immediate and constructive. The SRS will provide learners and teachers with that feedback to make lessons more engaging and meaningful.
