How to Authentically Engage Alternative Education Students in the Study of High School History

1. How to Authentically Engage Alternative Education Students in the Study of High School History By Todd Shultz

2. Activity • Find a partner. • Read the instructions. • Begin the activity when indicated by the instructor. • You have one minute to complete and turn in the activity to the instructor.

3. The Problem • As students increase in grade, their level of engagement in academic work declines (Marks, 1995).

4. The Problem • Students rate history as the least engaging of all the subjects (Sherer, 2002; Marks, 1995). • Lack of engagement in high school has been found to be a significant predictor of lack of pursuit of or success in higher education (Shernoff & Hoogstra, 2001).

5. Highlights of the Review of the Literature

6. Detractors to Student Engagement • Marks (1995) argues that the inability of U.S. public education to genuinely engage students might be a result of a lack of focus on the central purpose of schools, instruction.

7. Differences in Student Engagement Within Classrooms • Marks (1995, p. 10) cites the significance of four facets of student experience: “orientation toward school; authentic academic work; structures of social support for learning; and personal background.”

8. Differences in Student Engagement Among Classrooms • Why do some classrooms consistently solicit a higher level of student engagement than others?

9. General characteristics of engaging instruction. • Rigor • High expectations • Genuine sense of care and concern for students • Teacher expertise in content area • Student perception of the relevancy of the curriculum

10. Traditional methods of instruction. • Traditional methods of instruction in this context are considered to be those which employ teacher-directed lecture and the textbook as the primary means of instruction.

11. Progressive methods of instruction. “The newer concept of learning holds that a human being develops through doing those things which have meaning to him; that the doing involves the whole person in all aspects of his being; and that growth takes place as each experience leads to greater understanding and more intelligent reaction to new situations” (Aikin, 1942, p. 17).

12. Progressive methods of instruction. • Fouts (2000) found that in teaching alternative high school students, progressive methods of instruction are the most appropriate and effective. • apt to learn most and best from experience; • dislike long explanations; • present best with real-items than can be worked, handled, taken apart, or put back together; • want an explanation of expectations before doing them; and . . . tend to relate to the environment in a hands-on and practical manner” (Fouts, p. 105).

13. Progressive methods of instruction. • “Flow Theory” (Shernoff, Csikszentmihalyi, Schneider, and Shernoff, 2003) “Flow” occurs when individuals are intensely involved in an activity that they enjoy, e.g. athletes. • Its’ application to the classroom dictates that concentration, interest and enjoyment must occur simultaneously in order for students to experience flow.

14. The Effects of Multiple Learning Styles on Student Engagement • “Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Ira Gershwin, and Thomas Edison were all failures in the traditional school setting!” (Fouts, 2000, p. 1).

15. Research Question #1 • Is there a difference between the level of engagement experienced by the researcher’s world history students and the level of engagement those same students experienced in their previous history classes?

16. Research Question #1 • 41 of the researcher’s world history students were surveyed in May of the 2003-2004 school year. • In each of the eleven categories of comparison, a statistically significant difference was found between participants’ experiences in their previous history class and that of the researcher’s.

17. Research Question #1 • How often did/do you pay attention?

18. Research Question #1

19. Research Question #1 “Last class was boring and all we did was class work. In this class we have interaction with each other and the teacher. We do group work and act out different periods of time.” Quote from Student

20. Research Question #1 • To what degree did/do you feel that the teacher helped you when you didn’t understand something?

21. Research Question #1

22. Research Question #1 “Mr. Shultz is much better about ensuring that important concepts are grasped, maybe because what we do spend time covering is absolutely essential to our education.” Quote from Student

23. Research Question #1 • To what degree did/do you feel that the students in the class worked well together?

24. Research Question #1

25. Research Question #1 “At my old school if you were different then no one would really want to work with you. Here everyone gets along with everyone.” Quote from Student

26. Research Question #1

27. Research Question #2 • Does the climate and school culture of the nontraditional high school elicit a greater level of engagement in academic work from its students than did the high schools its students attended before transferring?

28. Research Question #2 • 397 students from the nontraditional high school were surveyed in May of the 2003-2004 school year. • A statistically significant difference was found in every category except for one.

29. Research Question #2 • How often did/do you “get into trouble” for whatever reason (“kicked” out of class, sent to administrators, given Saturday school, etc.)?

30. Research Question #2

31. Research Question #2 • How often did/do you feel that you and your friends are treated fairly?

32. Research Question #2

33. Research Question #2 • How often did/do you feel your teachers really listened to what you had to say?

34. Research Question #2

35. Research Question #2

36. Research Question #4 • Is there a correlation between students’ specific intelligences and their engagement level in history activities that incorporate those intelligences?

37. Research Question #4

38. Research Question #4

39. Research Question #4 • The results do not show a correlation between students’ intelligences and activities that primarily incorporated those intelligences. • Only one of the projected correlations (“Historical Songs and Speeches” and “Musical-Rhythmic”) was statistically significant, but with a Pearson correlation of only .34.

40. Research Question #5 • Is there a difference between the types of intelligences of successful high school students in nontraditional and traditional education programs?

41. Research Question #5

42. Research Question #5 • The t-Test comparison of the traditional and non-traditional high schools revealed only two categories in which a statistical significance was found at the .05 level. • In the categories of visual-spatial and intrapersonal, the non-traditional students scored higher in a manner that was statistically significant.

43. Research Question #5

44. Research Question #3 • What types of activities in the study of history are most engaging for nontraditional students?

45. Research Question #3 • The researcher surveyed his world history students regarding their reactions to ten different types of learning activities throughout the fourth mini-semester (March – May) of the 2003-2004 school year. • Participants were questioned in the categories of their perceived levels of (1) engagement, (2) challenge, (3) interest, and (4) enjoyment of the activities.

46. Research Question #3 • The surveys were administered immediately after each activity had been completed.

47. 5 - Saw the relevance 4 – For the grade 3 – Minimal Effort 2 – Bored 1 - Got in trouble Research Question #3

48. 5 – Extremely 4 – Fairly 3 - Somewhat 2 – Very little 1 - Not at all Research Question #3

49. 5 – Extremely 4 – Fairly 3 - Somewhat 2 - Very little 1 - Not at all Research Question #3

50. 5 – Extremely 4 – Fairly 3 - Somewhat 2 - Very little 1 - Not at all Research Question #3