Data Analysis
I collected data on my students in four different ways: 1) a pre- and post-test on number sense concepts; 2) an attitude survey about different math activities; 3) individual goal-setting; and 4) anecdotal notes. All four data collection methods are outlined and detailed on the Action Plan page. The pre- and post-test allowed me to collect data directly related to students' achievement in math, specifically related to number sense. The attitude survey collected data on students' feelings about different areas of math both at the beginning and at the end of the study. The individual goal-setting gave students the opportunity to come up with their own thoughts and ideas about how they wanted to get better in math. Anecdotal notes allowed me to record information about specific students while they played math games with their peers.
Pre- and Post-Tests
Students took a pre-test before the six-week action research period began, and took a post-test at the end of the six weeks. The pre-test and post-test were exactly the same. There was a total of 30 points. (View the test and point breakdown on the Action Plan page.)
A paired-samples t-test was conducted to determine the effect of the consistent implementation of math games on students’ number sense abilities. There was not a significant difference in the scores prior to implementation
implementing math games (M=20.38, SD=6.07) and after implementing (M=21.75, SD=5.83) the math games; t(16)=1.234, p=0.1180. The observed standardized effect size is medium (0.31). That indicates that the magnitude of the difference between the average and μ0 is medium. These results suggest that the consistent implementation of math games had little to no effect on students’ number sense abilities. Specifically, the results suggest that the use of consistent math games did not significantly affect students’ number sense abilities.
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The test was also broken up into two parts; the first part (Part 1) contained questions relating to content we had already covered up to the time of the pre-test. Part 2 contained questions on content we had not yet covered, but would cover before taking the post-test. Each part contained 15 points. (View the tests and point breakdowns on the Action Plan page.)
The graphs below show the differences in the class average of points scored on Part 1 and Part 2 of the test.
As shown above, students' average achievement on the content in Part 1 slightly decreased by 0.2 points, or 1.3%.
As shown above, students' average achievement on the content in Part 2 increased by 1.5 points, or 10%.
Attitude Surveys
Students were given an attitude assessment covering various aspects of math. (View attitude survey on the Action Plan page.) Students filled out this attitude assessment twice: first at the beginning of the action research study, and again at the end of the six-week period.
Pre-survey
Post-survey
Overall, students had generally better feelings about math overall after the six-week action research period, as shown in the pie charts above.
Pre-survey
Post-survey
The pie charts above show that students felt generally the same about playing math games at the beginning of the study and at the end. The majority (75%) of students felt strongly that they enjoyed playing math games across the six-week period.
Key
= 2 points
= 1 point
= 0 points
To calculate the effect of the study on students' feelings about how they are performing on number sense concepts, I assigned points to the faces on the remaining survey questions (counting, tally marks, number grid, adding, and subtracting; I did not include shapes in this calculation since shapes are not related to number sense). A smile was worth 2 points, a medium face was worth 1 point, and a frown was worth 0 points, for a total of 10 possible points among the five number sense concepts on the attitude survey.
The bar graph on the left shows that students' attitudes about the five number sense topics on the attitude survey increased slightly across the six-week period by 0.5 points, or 5%.
Goal--Setting
At the beginning of the study, I met individually with each student to ask them what their goals were in math, and specifically what they wanted to work to get better at. If a student suggested something that was not math-related, I honored their comment and told them that it was a good goal; then I redirected them to think about math. (View the goal-setting worksheets on the Action Plan page.)
My plan had been to meet with students again after the six-week study to review their goals and ask students which goals they thought they had met. However, due to the COVID-19 school closings, I was not able to make that happen. Because these goals were self-created by students, I did not want to decide myself if I thought the goals were met.
The pie chart at left shows the specific goals that students set for themselves. Each of my 16 students set three goals, so there was a total of 48 math goals set. Adding was the most popular goal, followed by subtracting, using the number grid, and using and identifying shapes.
The pie chart at right shows students' 48 total math goals categorized by skill type. The majority (65%) of students' goals were related to number sense skills.
Anecdotal Notes
Triangulation of Data
Student Impact
While students were playing math games each day, I walked around the classroom and observed their gameplay while listening to their conversations. While listening to some conversations, I took anecdotal notes on a record sheet (view note-taking sheet on the Action Plan page). These anecdotal notes allowed me to see which games were the most engaging for students and determine which students might need more support with the math concepts. Taking these anecdotal notes also gave students an opportunity to talk about the math they were engaging in. I asked students what they were doing, what they would do next, and if there was a different way to solve the problem. The conversations allowed students to deepen their thinking and understanding of the math within the game. Taking notes also gave me a place to check back to see students' abilities to play certain games and see if certain partners needed to be split up to be more successful with other peers.
The data from the four collection sources all enrich and enhance my understanding of this study's impact on my students. The pre- and post-test achievement data and my anecdotal notes seem to complement and coincide with one another, especially when I looked at individual students' scores and notes. Most of the students who scored lower on the pre-test also scored lower on the post-test, and the students who struggled on both tests were also the students most likely to struggle while playing the math games. The data from the attitude surveys and students' goal-setting also complemented each other. The majority (65%) of students' goals set at the beginning of the study were related to number sense topics; by the end of the study, students' feelings about number sense topics on the post-attitude survey had risen slightly, by about 5%.
There were several students who showed me they were struggling with the math concepts within the games they played. These students who were struggling with the games were often also the students who showed less achievement on the pre- and post-tests. I kept track of these students and what they were struggling with specifically, and I targeted those areas when I met with them during small math groups once a week.
The data from the pre- and post-tests suggests that the consistent implementation of math games had little to no effect on students' achievement in number sense. On average students only made 5% growth over the six weeks of the study, which was not significant according to the t-test. While this result was a bit discouraging to me personally, other data points collected tell a slightly different story. According to the pre- and post-attitude surveys, the same majority (75%) of students who loved to play math games at the beginning also loved math games at the end of the study. Based on my own observations in the classroom, this was true during the duration of the study; most students consistently exhibited excitement and engagement each day when it was time for math games. Only one student said that they hated math games both at the beginning and end of the study. The attitude survey also showed a significant difference
in how students felt about math overall from the beginning to the end of the study. On the pre-attitude survey, 56% of students said they either hated or sometimes disliked math; on the post-attitude survey, that percentage dropped to 38%. So, while students' achievement in number sense topics did not show a significant amount of growth, their personal attitudes about math did increase significantly. My anecdotal note-taking also allowed me to directly impact specific students based on my observations of them, because I was able to directly target their unique learning struggles during small math groups each Thursday.