Student engagement is key to the process of learning. When students are engaged, they are invested and interested in the topic, which sparks their curiosity, fires up their brain cells, and promotes neuroplasticity. Keeping students engaged and motivated when learning mathematics is essential to the “acquisition of knowledge and strategies and for continued participation in the subject” (Ingram, 2011).
As an educator, making sure my students are engaged in the class is critical for me. During my years as a math teacher, I have experienced that most of the time, efficient use of technology in the classroom can motivate students and help increase their motivation. Over the past few years, I have been in a continuous search for effective strategies, activities, and teaching practices that can increase student engagement and motivation, promote individualized learning, and the efficient use of technology in the classroom.
My topic of interest for this curriculum research project is student engagement during math class and how technology and individualized learning can increase motivation while decreasing math anxiety. When I first started to think about this topic, I was curious to learn more about what keeps my students in the classroom from focusing on math lessons or when working on in-class activities. My interest in studying student engagement grew even more after moving to Washington State and becoming a substitute teacher at a small, private school.
For confidentiality reasons, I will be referring to the school as HF School.
HF School is an elementary and middle school enrolling students from preschool to eighth grade. It serves families coming from the city of Olympia and Thurston County, as well as outlying communities.
As of January 2020, HF School had a total of 90 students enrolled, even though the selection process to get admitted into the school is very lenient. Based on the number of students enrolled, one can note student enrollment at HF School is very low, and from what I have experienced, the school struggles to find new students every year. The school director and staff try hard not to lose any of the students they currently have and go above and beyond to make sure the families are satisfied. In addition to a small number of students, diversity among students and faculty is also very low. As illustrated on the demographic charts, students, teachers, and school staff are predominantly White (Figures 1 and 2) .
Because HF School is a private school, it is not part of a public school district in the area. However, for this study, I am considering the school district for the area where HF School is located. The district demographics show more diversity among the student community, where 1 % are American Indian, 6.7% are Asian, 4.8% are Black, 20.1% are Hispanic, 2.3% are Native Hawaiian, 15.1% are a combination of two or more races, and 50% are White (see Figure 3).
Though the class sizes at HF School are usually very small (between 7 or 15 students max), the order in the class can quickly get out of hand, and, at times, it has been challenging for me to manage the classroom. Whenever I am teaching, I notice some students sit near me, attentive, engaged. Simultaneously, other students are always talking, distracting others, and enumerating every excuse to avoid getting their work done.
Last semester, I conducted a qualitative interview and a participant observation to keep track of how often. While watching the video from the participant observation I conducted last semester, I realized that even when the majority of students are paying attention and focused on the lesson, one talkative student can make a big difference in the learning experience of the other students. As an example, I can mention what happened during the first five minutes of the fifty- five-minute video. In my observation notes, I wrote:
“The majority of students are paying attention and taking notes, but Ai is very talkative and distracting another student, Ga. Ga asks him to stop and tells him he wants to take notes. Other students get involved in trying to defend Ga, and they ask Ai to stop. Ai refuses to listen and keeps bothering Ga. All students start yelling, and I quickly lose control. I try to redirect and get their attention to the board, but I do not get a fast response from students. They eventually calm down. However, Ai starts screaming again and says Ja has purple toes because it is snowing outside, and her shoes have holes. Ja looks very embarrassed and cold. I ask Ja if there is anything I can do to help her. Then, I very firmly tell Ai to stop and remind him to please be kind to his classmates. Ai finally stops."
Based on this observation, the main themes that emerge are: Classroom management, diverse engagement strategies, and learning differences. These emerging themes are now part of the data I will collect in the future, once I got back to the classroom and continue this action research. In order to guarantee triangulation of the data, I will rely on collecting a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, such as student assessments, test scores, observations, analysis of observations, and anonymous surveys, among others (more information on the data to be collected can be found below, in the action plan and data section of this paper).
I have unsuccessfully tried a few things to motivate them but have not yet found strategies I can implement continuously and efficiently to improve student engagement. Also, since we are currently relying on technology for distance-learning due to Covid-19 and the country’s current state, I want to design a curriculum that is remote-learning friendly, and that facilitates teaching the lessons from the algebra one course virtually.
The purpose of my study is to be able to implement teaching techniques to effectively engage students, to motivate, and to see the class more relatable and exciting. I also saw this study as an opportunity for me to promote individualized learning, efficient use of technology in the classroom, and improve my instruction and methodology.
The following project contains a unit plan and a total of eleven lesson plans, as well as assessments and chapter tests. The lesson plans include modifications for struggling students, overachieving students, and for teachers doing remote instruction.
How will the use of multiple, interactive teaching methods impact students’ motivation and engagement when learning math?
• How can the use of technology and different teaching methods positively impact distance learning, student motivation, and homework completion?
• How will the use of individualized learning strategies in the classroom impact students’ motivation and reduce math anxiety?