Kristin's+Research

Student Need: (In what areas do you see a gap in student achievement or behaviors? What is the present reality in your classroom? Describe your students- academics, demographics, behaviors)
 * Relevance, responsibility, learning about careers (standard)**

Research Question: (What question would you like to answer? e.g. How will the use of Socratic Seminar in an 8th grade language arts classroom increase student achievement in reading comprehension?)
 * Will finding an authentic audience in my Medical Science classroom make the curriculum more relevant to the students and get them to take greater responsibility for their own learning?**

Literature Review: (What literature/articles/books have you looked at to support your question and to help guide you in your intervention?) November 2008 | Volume **66** | Number **3** The Power of Audience Steven Levy When student work culminates in a genuine product for an authentic audience, it makes a world of difference.
 * I love ERIC**
 * Giving Students Ownership of Learning** Pages 75-79

Intervention Plan: (What do you plan to do in the classroom?)
 * This long-term project was assigned on February 2nd, 2009. Medical Science students must research a career in which they are interested. They must then find someone who holds that career. The next part of the project is to interview that person. The research and interview must be typed up as a two-page paper. The final part of the project is that the students must bring their person in to speak with their Medical Science class; they do have to introduce the person and the career. Other students must ask at least two questions to a different speaker than the one they bring after the speaker's presentation.** **This project in its entirety is due by May 15th, although only one speaker per day is allowed and three days notice is required, so speakers will be brought in throughout the semester.**


 * Make the point putting together a Medical/Healthcare Career book for the Guidance Office/Career Center?*

Evaluation Measurements: (How will you measure success? Quantitatively (with data) and qualitatively (by asking students) and by observation?)
 * Research/Interview Paper**
 * Interview Questions**
 * Actually bringing in the speaker**
 * Asking other speakers questions**
 * Survey asking students about relevance of the project once its been completed.**

Evaluate relevance and responsibility

Results:


 * Year Two: 2009-2010**


 * Student Need:**


 * Research Question:**

__**Literature Review**__: (What literature/articles/books have you looked at to support your question and to help guide you in your intervention?)


 * __Intervention Plan__**:


 * __Evaluation Measurements__**:


 * __Results__**:


 * Year Three: 2010-2011**

I still don't know what I want to do for my research... I'm adding curriculum to my class this year, so I don't know if I want to do the project-based learning, although I do still like the idea. Another thing I'm thinking about researching is cooperative learning because I do a lot of group work, but I don't know what new information I could bring.

To be competitive in an increasingly global society in a left-brain orientated world Will teaching our students in a right-brained manner in a left-brained subject allow them to gain skills that will be necessary for them to be competitive in a global society? __**Literature Review**__: (What literature/articles/books have you looked at to support your question and to help guide you in your intervention?) Daniel Pink "A Whole New Mind" Robert Sternberg's Rainbow Project Thomas Friedmad "The World Is Flat" Incorporate Pink's "Six Senses" (design, story, symphony, empathy, play, meaning) into one unit in Medical Science Rainbow Project Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy Empathy Quotient Emotional Intelligence Quotient Thorson's Humor Scale Student Interviews Student project/assessment scores Something with 2012 district data...
 * Student Need:**
 * Research Question:**
 * __Intervention Plan__**:
 * __Evaluation Measurements__**:
 * __Results__**:

UPDATE 11/19/2010 Research Question: Do students exhibit signs of deliberate development of the right side of their brain by participating in activities surrounding empathy, story, and design? Literature Review: "A Whole New Mind" by Pink. Pink disscusses several right-brained skills that he believes will be necessary in order to be successful and globally competitive in the future. The ones I have chosen to focus on are: 1. Design: creating something beautiful and emotionally engaging 2. Story: persuation, communication, self-understanding 3. Empathy: understanding peers, forging relationships, caring Intervention Plan: My plan is to incoporate empathy, story, and design into my curriculum in order to deliberately develop the right side of my students' brains. During my teaching of the Integumentary System, I focused on empathy and story. I did this by reading a book about a child subjected to prejudice and ridicule after contracting the AIDS virus through a blood treatment, my discussing the story of a Phoenix police officer who overcame fourth degree burns and continues to live an inspiring life, by playing a Low Risk - High Risk question game, and by having students discuss topics like their deepest fears. My data collection methods for Story and Empathy are observations, interviews, and an empathy survey that also asks questions about knowing themselves. Currently, I am teaching the skeletal system and focusing on Design. My students had to design a 3D skeleton and the only guidelines I gave them were that it had to be 3D, had to be at least 3 feet in length, and the bones had to be labeled. My students also created a travel brochure depicting bone structure. In the next two weeks, they will design an articulation and a muscle body poster. My data collection methods for Design are to give my students a very specific rubric that encourages them to create something that is beautiful and emotionally engaging.

Results After incorporating the above right brain strategies into my lessons, doing student observations and interviews, giving an empathy and self-awareness survey, and grading the projects, I found several interesting results. First of all, my students are empathetic and self-aware, however their scores on the survey were not quite as high as I had hoped they would be. The observations and interviews showed much more empathy and self-awareness than the survey reported. The Design aspect of my research was successful. My students seem to really appreciate the idea of their projects needing to be beautiful and not just status-quo. They attempt to beat both themselves and each other with each project and at this point, I receive mostly high quality work. Conclusion I believe based on the interviews and observations of my students that they are more self-aware and much more empathetic than they were at the beginning of the school year. Most importantly, implementing these right brain ideas into my class has created an amazing classroom culture in which all the students seem to respect each other and are able to work well together. It is my hope that they carry this into their lives outside my classroom. Design will continue to be a huge part of my class, as my class is significantly project-based and my students now demand high expectations of themselves. Incorporating right-brained development is vital for teachers to do in whatever subject they teach because it is skills such as communication, self-awareness, relationship development, and going beyond the status-quo that will allow our students to stand out from others in this increasingly global economy.

PS Paula rocks :)