Young Scientist Methodology.
The experiment we have chosen to do is to investigate if a teacher actually affects your grade. We plan to go into three first year science and teach them, either positive, negative and use a class as the control, in which we will teach it in the ‘middle’ – we wont teach it too positively or negatively.
1. The first step involves both of us writing a letter addressed to the three first year science teachers discussing our project and asking them would they be willing to partake in the experiment. We gave them each a copy of the observation sheet, for them to overlook and we asked them if they have any problems with the sheet and do they want us to make any changes. This step also, involves both of us going in to each of the first year science classes and observing the three teachers teaching their class normally. We have observation sheets and on them we have characteristics of positive and negative reinforcement – (see appendix.) We researched in books and on the internet to find the characteristics of positive and negative reinforcement. Every time a teacher shows a characteristic we would thick the boxes. We had a list of positive and negative characteristics, to find out if the teacher was reinforcing their class either positively or negatively. We are observing the three first year science class to find out if they are being positively or negatively reinforced by their normal teacher. The notes that we take on these observations contribute hugely to when we go into the three science classes to teach them ourselves. From these observations we can find out what the students are used to, when it comes to reinforcement. We can find out what reinforcement the students prefer and what reinforcement does the teacher prefer to reinforce her students with. We can also find out what reinforcement affects the students learning ability.
2. The second step involves both of us talking to the three first year science teachers to discuss with them about a topic that they would be happy for us to teach for a forty minute class period. We have to teach a topic that hasn’t been covered by the three teachers yet, because if the topic was covered by the teacher then the topic would’ve been reinforced either positively or negatively, thus ruining our experiment because if we teach the topic that they have been already thought then it will be only revision for them because their teacher already thought it. Also, we have to teach the same topic because some topics are more difficult then others. This step involves us doing out our lesson plan which, in it will contain how we are going to teach the classes positively or negatively and the outcome we hope to have. Also, we would be creating demonstrating posters – to be used in the positive and control classes only, because some students attain more information when they see objects. This step also involves both of us creating a ‘before’ and ‘after’ test. To calculate if positive reinforcement is more affective than negative reinforcement in the classrooms. The ‘before test’ will contain questions on science specifically topics that they have already covered. Also, the ‘before’ test will contain a few questions on what the students preferred learning method – this will enable us to tell what type of learner the student is. The ‘after’ test will contain questions on the topic that we have thought.
3. The third step involves both of us setting up a recording camera in the classrooms that we are going into to teach, to record the class that we have thought. Later from watching the video we can take notes on the way we reinforced the topic, the way the students responded to the different types of reinforcement and their and our reactions. The video will then be used in the RDS to show the judges exactly what we did for our experiment and how we reinforced the classes. This step also involves both of us going into the classes and teaching them either positive, negative and control. We are teaching x class positive, y class negative and z class is being used as the control. We are teaching the classes either positive or negative to find out if positive reinforcement is better than negative. We are teaching the z class using both positive and negative reinforcement, thus the class will be neutral. We need a control class to find out if reinforcement be it positive or negative does it actually affect the students learning ability. This step also involves us giving the students the ‘before’ and ‘after’ tests. From these tests we will be able to calculate if positive reinforcement affects the students’ ability to attain information on the particular topic. After we have taught the classes then we are going to write up what we did during the class and in our own opinion the reactions of the students. We are also taking a few number of students directly after we have taught them to record their reactions to our experiment. The reaction of the students contributes to our different aspects of this experiment.
4. The fourth step involves both of us planning our poster and designing it. We want to make our poster attractive therefore the poster will attract the judge’s attention. But, we also want to put up really good information on our project onto our poster.
