EDFOUND 212 Module 1 Blog Post

Hello Everyone,

Today I have a new post, which concerns the first module of EDFOUND 212, which focuses on research and teaching methods.

I view the relationship between research and teaching in education in a way that research is the process of discovering new and different ways to teach, and teaching is the application of those methods. Information literacy can be used for evaluation by researching different methods of teaching. What it means for my future job as a physical educator is that I may need to research different methods of teaching so I can find the right one that will help my students learn and keep them excited for class.

I will also talk about how to find, share, and apply research with an example. This example takes the form of a teacher’s note, stating that homework will only be work that was not finished in class, that homework has not been shown to improve performance, and that parents should let their kids do any activities that are shown to improve grades. It seems like a good thing, as it has been said that students “did homework to please significant others or to comply with their expectations.” (Xu, 2009), and some people have homework to the point where “learning behavior seemed to be associated with low motivation and low conscientiousness” (Flunger, Trautwien, Nagengaust, Ludtke, Niggli, Schnyder ,2016), and online homework, especially assignments that give multiple tries, since “students do not profit from their previous attempts”(Kortemeyer, 2015). I know from class discussion that sometimes homework is not effective, yet there are classes such as math where you do not get a choice, but there was one study that showed that not all students needed the homework and  she stated, “To be completely honest, the results of the study quite surprised me” (Kimberley, 2013). The way I see it, you have to find the perfect fit for your students. I found a video that agreed with this principle, while researching for this post, I found a new concept, a “flipped classroom” approach, which was instituted by Clintondale High School in Michigan, once considered one of the worst schools in the state.

As you can see from the video, a flipped classroom approach means doing the homework in class and online lessons outside of class time, and student grades improved drastically, with failure rates dropping from 35 percent to 10 percent, and college admission rates rose from 63 percent to 80 percent within two years. One thing that resonated with me was that the principal explained bringing the coaching philosophy into this method, since he is the coach for a traveling baseball team. Whether or not this works with other schools still remains mystery, but as I said earlier, it’s all about finding the perfect fit.

These experiences have taught me that there are many ways to teach your students, and I can apply this knowledge going forward by going out and looking for the perfect curricular model for my students.

Sources Used:

  • [NationSwell]. (2014, Nov 13). When This School Got Rid Of Homework, It Saw A Dramatic Outcome. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EceWjPUgWc8
  • Xu, J. (2009, August 31). Homework Purpose Scale for High School Students: A Validation Study. Retrieved from http://libproxy.uww.edu:4195/doi/abs/10.1177/0013164409344517
  • Flunger, B., Trautwein, U., Nagengast, B., Ludtke, O., Niggli, A., & Schnyder, I. (2016, July 17). A person-centered approach to homework behavior: Students’ characteristics predict their homework learning type. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361476X16300248
  • Kimberley, L. J. (2013, June 04). Homework Usage in Mathematics: a study on the impact of optional homework in the math classroom. Retrieved from https://minds.wisconsin.edu/handle/1793/65806
  • Kortemeyer, G. (2015, June). An empirical study of the effect of granting multiple tries for online homework. Retrieved from http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1119/1.4922256

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