Action Research Project / Student Learning Objectives - Animal Terms and Group Testing

Utilization of Group Testing for Animal Terms on Student Success and Retention of Information

Background:   

Teaching Introduction to Agricultural Science students the 50 different terms we use to describe animals can be a challenge to best help them learn the materials.  Students will see these terms and use them again and again in other agricultural classes so the retention of these terms are even more important.  At Cumberland Valley the Math Department utilizes a method of “group testing.” Group testing puts students into groups of three or four to solve a series of problems as a group.  The success of learning materials in a group for a subject such as math was explored in answering two questions: Does the utilization of group testing improve the scores of students and does the impact of group testing lead to retention of the terms explored. 

Research Question:

1.  Does the utilization of group testing improve the scores of students?
2. Does the impact of group testing lead to retention of the terms explored?

Literature Found: 

Research has found that group testing increases the scores on tests in comparison to taking individual testing but no research was done on the retention of information.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the action research / student learning objectives Students will be able to:

·         Identify animal terms based upon species, gender, and age at a 70 % accuracy.

Procedure: 

Students were taught the terms utilizing the recommended procedure from Curriculum for Agricultural Science Education: Introduction to Agricultural, Food, and Natural Resources Activity 5.4.1 - What Am I? The following day students were given their pre-test to see how well students remembered terms they explored yesterday.  After a series of practice tests during the week to follow students were given their group test.  Group test procedure was the following: Students worked independently to indicate how well they individually knew the materials. After 7 minutes students stared answers they recorded and got into groups of three to work on finishing the questions for another 7 minutes.  In 2 weeks students were given their retention quiz where students tested independently on a total of 40 terms. 

Data Gathered:

 

Conclusions:

Based upon the data given it is seen that a group test does indeed increase the scores of a class as seen from a score in the 60% to a score of 100%.  Utilizing group testing methods is a great way for students to work together on a topic that can prove to be difficult for students to succeed on their own.  Additionally the retention test showed that students scored higher compared to their initial individual test score. 

This indicates that group testing helps them clarify terms they may have wrong.  Looking at the learning objective this method of learning has shown that students have learned the animal terms asked of them.  It is recommended that a similar learning method is done again for the next two years to see how well this method works as well as a possible review test in the beginning of next school year to learn the materials there as well. 

Literature:

Giuliodori, M. J., Lujan, H. L., & DiCarlo, S. E. (January 1, 2009). Student Interaction Characterizes During Collaborative Group Testing. Advances in Physiology Education, 33(1), 24-29.

Pate, M. L., & Miller, G. (November 1, 2011). Effects of Think-Aloud Pair Problem Solving on Secondary-Level Students' Performance in Career and Technical Education Courses. Journal of Agricultural Education, 52(1), 120-131.

Rao, S. P, Collins, H. I., & DiCarlo, S. E. (March 1, 2002). Collaborative Testing Enhances Student Learning. Advances in Physiology Education, 26(1), 37-41.