Rationale
2018-2019
2018-2019
2018-2019
My capstone project focused on learning strategies that could be taught and implemented to the general student population, specifically to students in primary grades (Kindergarten-Third grade). In the 2018-19 school year, there were 389 students enrolled in my building: 55% of these students identified ethnicity other than Caucasian, 18% of students were in the English Language instruction program, and 61% of students received free or reduced lunch. The school’s mobility rate in 2017-18 was 9%. During my action research I taught in a general education first grade classroom in an urban elementary school.
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Of the 16 students in my first grade class, three students received special education services for academics, six students received English Language instruction, and twelve students received reading interventions each day from certified teachers.
Background
Data
The data I collected before implementation showed a great need in the area of math, specifically in number sense, for a majority of my students. On the Fall 2019 Math Measures of Academic Progress assessment, 10 of my 16 students scored in the 40th percentile or below (low average); of these ten, six students tested below the 21st percentile (low). In the goal area of Number Sense on the same Measures of Academic Progress assessment, ten students scored in the 40th percentile or below (low average), showing a great need in this area.
On our first district common assessment (state standard MA 1.1.1.a), where students were asked to count by ones to 120, five students were unable to complete this task successfully. On the second district common assessment (state standard MA 1.1.1.b), where students had to write numbers from 50-90, four students were unable to complete this task successfully. During both whole group and small group math instruction, I observed several students who consistently struggled with counting accurately, and therefore also struggled to add and subtract. These students often felt frustrated and sometimes gave up trying because they felt they were unable to do it. This showed me that these students would greatly benefit from additional instruction and practice in the area of number sense to help them build both their abilities and confidence.
Instructional Needs
The information I wanted to gain from this study was important to me because I hoped it would allow me to give my students the number sense foundation they would need in order to understand all future mathematical concepts. Number sense is the foundation for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and everything else that comes after. If students do not have strong number sense understanding, they will not have the skills necessary to successfully complete more complex math problems.
The math curriculum implemented in my school - “Everyday Mathematics 4” - was highly focused on the use of math games to teach and reinforce number sense concepts. Students loved to play most of the games we learned, so the use of games was motivating for the majority of students. My school was also highly focused on math this school year, and our school improvement plan detailed that our whole school would focus on improving all students' abilities in the area of math.
Prior to this study, I was not confident in my ability to use the curriculum's math games to their full potential, and I was not sure how to use math talk during the games to get students thinking and talking about what they were doing. I wanted students to talk about math in ways that would enhance both their own understanding of the math concepts as well as benefit the learning of their peers. I anticipated that, through my action research, a great amount of learning and growth would occur in the area of math number sense for both my students and myself.
Literature Review
Because my first graders showed that they needed more instruction and practice with number sense concepts, and because math games were already integrated throughout our math curriculum, I chose to review literature that focused on the connections between number sense and math games. My students had previously shown interest and engagement when playing math games in the classroom, so I wanted to gain insight on how I could best use these games to benefit my students' learning and conceptual understanding of numbers. The literature reviewed for this study explores the definition of number sense, justification for the use of manipulatives and games in primary grades, how verbal communication and discussion affects student understanding of math topics, and examples of both physical and digital math games that can be used in homes and in primary classrooms.