Evaluation of The Renaissance WebQuest
Submitted by: Michael Alfred
Spring 2008
Submitted to: Dr. Jeremy I. Tutty
BoiseStateUniversity
Introduction
The purpose of this evaluation is to consider the effectiveness of a Renaissance WebQuest in a middle school setting with at-risk students.At-Risk students are defined as students who meet one or more of the following criteria:Students that are not able to move on to the next grade or are below grade level; have the potential to drop out of school; failing two or more classes; receivingfree or reduced lunch; and reading below grade level. A WebQuest is a lesson created for students that is entirely web-based. It is an inquiry-oriented lesson where most or all the information is found using the web. The purpose of this WebQuest was to use technology to reach at-risk students.
This WebQuest was designed to meet the needs of at-risk students in the Clarkston,WashingtonSchool District. 41%of the students in this district are considered at-risk. The focus of this project was to use technology to present information to at-risk students in a variety of ways that may hold or captivate their attentionin hopes of increasing assignment completion, attitude toward learning, and meet state mandated objectives. Many of these students are having difficulty functioning in a traditional classroom environment, and the development of alternative environments through the use of technology may serve as a bridge to reach these students.
Program Description
The RenaissanceWebQuest was designed to meet the World History Benchmark 1.2.2 of the Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirement for eighth grade. This benchmark states: “Compare and contrast elements of culture (e.g., society, government, economy, technology, arts, ideas, and beliefs) in Medieval Europe and the Renaissance.”
To complete this task the WebQuest was divided into three assignments. Assignment number one was to visit a website on the Renaissance and answer questions based on this reading. Responses were posted into a forum where students responded to others’ work. This assignment focused on the changes that took place during the Renaissance in society, economy, technology, ideas, and beliefs. The second assignment allowed students to explore in more detail a specific topic or individual that influenced change during the Renaissance. Here they wrote a fictitious news report on a personality or event of the Renaissance and again posted it to a forum for others to read and discuss. Assignment number three looked at the changes that took place in art during the Renaissance and students compared and identified art from both eras, and explained why they were from that era. Students watched two movies depicting Middle Age and Renaissance art. As they watched these videos they considered the characteristics of each time period’s art. Once they viewed these videos, they looked at eight different pieces of art. Then students posted responses to the forum stating which two paintings they felt were from the Middle Ages and two that were from the Renaissance. They were required to list specific characteristics provided for them on the webpage to support their response. All assignments were posted to a forum on the web. Once students posted their work, they were required to constructively respond to two other student’s work using specific facts and details.
Evaluation Method
Students evaluated in this WebQuest were from a rural school district in eastern Washington. This district is comprised of 72% Caucasian, 3% Native American, 8% Pacific Islander, 12% Hispanic, and 6 % African American (SchoolTree.org, 2007). The poverty level of the county in which the school resides is 60% (Asotin County Health District, 2007). In this school district, 41% of the students receive free or reduced lunches. This program focused on at-risk students in three classes for a total of 25 students. These 25 made up 40% of the population of these three classes. Out of this twenty five, 60% or 15 were male and 40% or 10 were female. The teacher conducting this program was a white, middle class male with a four year degree. The evaluation of this program looked at these 25 students’ completion rate, academic achievement, and attitude.
Academic achievement was ascertained through a traditional pre and post test. This test assessed student understanding of the major concepts of the changes that took place during the Renaissance in society, government, economy, technology, arts, ideas, and beliefs. The test consisted of ten short answer and essay questions that looked at each of the seven areas in which the WebQuest was focused. An average percentage for all students was calculated for both pre and post test for comparison. Students were given 30 minutes for each test.
Completion rate of the WebQuest was measured by the completion rate for each of the three assignments that made up the WebQuest. This rate was then compared to to the completion rate of three assignments from a previous mini lesson on the Silk Road. The Silk Road lesson was completely traditional in nature. Consisting of reading and answering questions from the book, creating a map that showed the route and stopping points along the Silk Road, and finally a small writing assignment in which the students pretended to be a trader on the Silk Road, who wrote a diary entry discussing what and where they traded their goods. Each of these mini lessons consisted of three assignments. Completion was based on whether the student simply completed the assignments. The percentage was calculated by dividing the total number of assignments turned in by the number of students for both units. Students were given seven class periods of 50 minutes to complete all three assignments in each mini lesson.
Student attitude was evaluated from a survey that each student was given at the end of the Renaissance lesson. The survey consisted of eight multiple choice questions, one yes or no question, and four opinion questions that considered their attitude toward each assignment and the use of a WebQuest format. Their scores wereassessed by their responses on each of the multiple choice questions based on their selection of whether they:Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree. The yes or no question was simply based on their response of “yes” or “no” to the proposed question. The opinion question was scored on overall positive or negative feedback to the specific question. Students were given one 50 minute period to complete this survey.
Results
Academic Achievement
The average student score on the pre test was a 0%. This was expected since this was new material. The average student scores on the post test were 21%.
Assignment Completion
Overall completions of assignments forthe Silk Road Mini Lesson were 24% of the assignments given to the students. Assignment completion for the Renaissance WebQuest was 52% of all assignments given to the students.
AttitudeSurvey Results
Out of the 25 students who took the survey, 61% responded that they would like to do another assignment of this nature. In the students opinion section of the survey 62% of the students responded favorably to the WebQuest and stated that they prefer it over traditional classroom activities.
Discussion
The purpose of this evaluation was to consider the affect of integrating technology into the classroom for at-risk students. Specifically, does this medium enhance student achievement, participation, and attitude? The results, while not profound, do show that there is some significant improvement in these areas with at-risk students.
When we look at student achievement there is a 21% increase in student knowledge. This would not be considered a success in the academic world, since the average is still below a passing rate of 60%. Due to these results, restructuring of the lessons may be in order to assist these students in achieving higher scores on the post tests. Reassessment of the focus of the pre and post tests to ensure that they correspond with lessons may also be appropriate.
In this evaluation student participation was measured by assignment completion with comparison to a previous mini lesson on the Silk Road. This showed significant improvement among at-risk students with a 28% increase in student completion of assignments. What was not measured and deserves further research was the amount of collaboration among students in the forums. Students were only required to respond to two other students in the class. Many students responded as many as five to ten times to other students. Only one post in the entire mini unit was not content specific. This level of participation is dramatic for this group of at-risk students. Another factor that was not considered was the novelty of the technology used. Would this participation level drop as more activities incorporated this type of technology? Based on the results from this project, this type of integration of technology does seem to show some promising results.
The last area that was addressed in this evaluation was attitude. Attitude was evaluated through an anonymous survey of at-risk students. The results were quite surprising.This group of at-risk students normally have a fairly negative outlook on all aspects of education, but in this survey 61% responded that they would like to do another assignment of this nature. Students also responded that they preferred WebQuest over traditional classroom activities.Again, the novelty factor was not addressed in this evaluation. What was of note in this survey was the amount of positive feedback about this type of class work and interaction with students. The survey also provided some insight that even this population of students likes to be challenged. In the survey 70% stated that assignment number one was the hardest assignment, but 53% said it was also the most interesting. This demonstrated that even though they thought that this particular assignment was difficult, it peaked their curiosity and gained their interest.
Overall the integration of technology into this lesson seems to warrant further research and consideration. While it did not seem to be overly effective in academic achievement, it did show promise in student attitude and participation. These two aspects in education can become powerful tools in student success, if employed in the correct manner. This unit needs some revision in the assessments and lessons to allow for better academic achievement. With these adjustments, increasedpositive attitude and participation, this unit could be a bridge to reach these at-risk students.
Project Costs
Personnel:
Evaluation method development: Mike Alfred
Gathering data, writing survey 3 days @ $250 per day Total $750
Compiling Results: Mike Alfred
Analyzing and interpreting data 2 days @ $250 per day Total $500
TOTAL PERSONNEL$ 1,250
Supplies and Other Materials:
Telephone Charges$ 50
Photocopying and Printing$ 100
Data Storage$ 100
TOTAL SUPPLIES$ 250
TOTAL BUDGET$ 1,500
References
Asotin County Health District. (n.d.). 2007Asotin County Health District
Health Disparities Report. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from
SchoolTree.org. (n.d.). 2007 LincolnMiddle School. Retrieved May 8, 2008, from
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