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Science Achievement of Females at South Middle School

Science Achievement of Females at South Middle School. A Case Study By: Andria Deaguero Teacher Candidate, Secondary Science School of Education and Human Development University of Colorado Denver. Purpose.

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Science Achievement of Females at South Middle School

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  1. Science Achievement of Females at South Middle School A Case Study By: Andria Deaguero Teacher Candidate, Secondary Science School of Education and Human Development University of Colorado Denver

  2. Purpose The purpose of this case study is to examine how to improve the science achievement of females in the 8th grade at South Middle School.

  3. South Middle School Data about school statistics, school performance, and available programs.

  4. South Middle School Located at: 12310 E. Parkview Dr. Aurora, CO 80011 Population • 6th grade: 244 • 7th grade: 213 • 8th grade: 229 • Total: 686 South’s 8th Grade Class http://aurorak12.org/

  5. South Middle School Demographics Native American: 0.9% Asian: 2.2% Black: 21.9%* Hispanic: 65.6% White: 6.6% Native Hawaiian : 0.7% Two + ethnicities: 2.2% Free & Reduced Lunch: 86.2% English Language Learners: 42.7% ** Gifted and Talented: 3.8% Special Education: 17.6% *(includes African American and students from Somalia, Nepal, The Congo, and Ethiopia) **No English Proficiency or Limited English Proficiency Only http://www.schoolview.org/performance.asp

  6. South 2011 CSAP Results *Reported percentages represent students performing at proficient or advanced levels. http://www.schoolview.org/performance.asp

  7. GEAR UP • Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) • A federally funded program to “increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.” • GEAR UP focuses on early intervention to increase college attendance, successes, and raise the expectations of low-income students http://www.coloradogearup.org/public/GUHome.aspx

  8. GEAR UP at South Middle School • Students selected for GEAR UP in 8th grade • GEAR UP staff held assembly about GEAR UP • First 100 students to complete GEAR UP paperwork accepted • GEAR UP activities at South Middle School include: • Correcting myths about college • College research projects and presentations • College campus visits • Out of 100 students in GEAR UP, 45 received an Unsatisfactory grade in science in the second quarter of the 2011-2012 school year

  9. Case Study Students Data about how students were chosen, student performance, teacher observations, and student interviews.

  10. Students Chosen for Case Study • Three 8th grade females at South Middle School that: • Received an Unsatisfactory in science last quarter. • Are involved with GEAR UP. • Students clearly want to succeed academically as evidenced by their GEAR UP participation, yet they are not meeting the standards in science. • Overall, females are not overrepresented in the GEAR UP students with Unsatisfactory’s in science. • However, females are much more vocal about their dislike and difficulty with science.

  11. Students Chosen For Case Study • Student 1 was chosen after a discussion in which she asked, “What was hard for you in school? Because I have a really hard time with science.” She has expressed her excitement about receiving science tutoring on multiple occasions. • Student 2 was chosen because she was observed to be either really engaged and excited in science class, or really angry and disengaged. • Student 3 is one of the “queen bees” of the school. She was chosen to examine if/how her social life interferes with her academic performance.

  12. Student 1 Profile Attributes • Hispanic • English Language Learner • Flagged for truancy • In 9th grade math 2011 CSAP Results • Reading: Partially Proficient (37% growth) • Writing: Partially Proficient (56% growth) • Math: Partially Proficient (65% growth) 2nd Quarter Grades, Work Habit Grades • Advanced Chorus: P, 4 • Honors Math: C, 3 • Literacy: PP, 3 • Science: U3 • Visual Arts: P, 3 3rd Quarter Science Progress • Grade: Partially Proficient • Scored U on 2 assignments, scored PP on 2 assignments • Work Habit Grade: 3 (out of 4)

  13. Student 1 Teacher Survey Results • Student 1 does best in hands-on situations, in group-work settings, and with teacher assistance. • Student 1 tends to be more motivated to participate when she is partnered with a peer whom she likes. • Independent work is challenging for her. • Often misinterprets context clues • Often has a skewed understanding of what the academic task is Example: Student 1 was supposed to create a comic strip that had examples of kinetic and potential energy, but instead created a comic strip about baking cookies (and did not reference energy at all). • Student struggles with reading comprehension and grasping some of the abstract science concepts. Additionally, student 1 struggles to apply her science understandings.

  14. Student 1 Goals

  15. Student 1 Sample Work • Student 1’s responses are usually word-for-word responses from her neighbors, the book, or her teacher Student 1’s work Student 1’s neighbor’s work

  16. Student 2 Profile Attributes • Black • Flagged for truancy • Stated that science is her favorite class • In extra math class and extra literacy class 2011 CSAP Results • Reading: Unsatisfactory (20% growth) • Writing: Partially Proficient (5% growth) • Math: Unsatisfactory (31% growth) 2nd Quarter Grades, Work Habit Grades • Literacy: PP, 3, • Math: P, 3 • Science: U, 1 • Social Studies: PP, 3 • Social Studies/Humanities: P, 3 3rd Quarter Science Progress • Grade: Partially Proficient • Missing 2 assignments, scored PP on 2 assignments • Work Habit Grade: 2 (out of 4) • Missing multiple assignments

  17. Student 2 Teacher Survey Results • Student 2 performs best on assignments that call for individual work that is open-ended and encourages creativity. • Though sometimes she becomes overly involved in a creative assignment and loses sight of the academic task at hand. • Student 2 struggles in group work. She is apt to misinterpret and overreact to the social cues of her peers. Example: One day Student 2 thought that a peer had not given her scissors for an assignment and Student 2 took it personally. She assumed that her peer was racist and thought she should blow up the class because of it. • When Student 2 is having a good day (there have been no incidents at school, in class, or her family life), she can be a focused pupil who is on-task and meeting expectations. • When Student 2 is having a bad day, she will not engage in the academic task at hand and will spend most of her time complaining about whatever is perplexing and frustrating her.

  18. Student 2 Goals

  19. Student 3 Profile Attributes • Black • Lives with her grandmother • Flagged for truancy • In 9th grade math 2011 CSAP Results • Reading: Proficient (60% growth) • Writing: Proficient (96% growth) • Math: Partially Proficient (1% growth) 2nd Quarter Grades, Work Habit Grades • Advanced Chorus: P, 4 • Honors Math: C, 3 • Literacy: P, 2 • Science, U, 2 • Social Studies/Humanities: P, 3 3rdQuarter Science Progress • Grade: Partially Proficient • Missing 2 assignments, scored U on 1 assignment, scored PP on 1 assignment • Work Habit Grade: 2 (out of 4) • Missing multiple assignments

  20. Student 3 Teacher Survey Results • Student 3 works well in group and individual learning environments. She tends to do better when she believes that she is being held accountable at home. • When Student 3 is focused, she easily grasps abstract science concepts and is able to apply them to her new learning. • Student 3 is highly socially motivated. • Struggles to stop paying attention to her friends and to begin to refocus on her academic task. • Struggles with impulse control. • Does take ownership of her own behavior and regards the consequences as not her fault or fair. • Student 3 struggles to remain organized so that she is able to complete and turn in her work on time.

  21. Student 3 Sample Work The following is Student 3’s response to a prompt about proper behavior when signing the October count sheet (assigned after class was writing inappropriate things): “It’s important to be respectful when signing  the sign in sheet, because someone can end up hurt or mad because there was a rude comment or something. Also because some stuff might not be appropriate that people write on the sign in sheet, and because the sheet is going to The Colorado Education Department and they don’t want to see all the crap that we are writing on the sheet.” *Student 3 clearly demonstrates that she knows what is and isn’t appropriate behavior.

  22. Recommendations Ideas for how to improve science performance of 8th grade females at South Middle School

  23. Recommendations for School Recommendation: • Create school-wide accountability system to ensure that students are turning in their work, perhaps in the form of an after-school or lunch mandatory tutoring session. Rationale: • Students missing work is a school-wide problem. Students grades are negatively affected in many classes because they simply do not turn in work.

  24. Recommendations for Science Class Recommendation: • Scaffold multi-day projects so that students are required to turn in rough drafts or project plans in phases in order to continue to work on the project. Rationale: • Science grades are based on end of unit, multi-day assessments. The students are given ample time to complete the work assigned, but assessments are based on final product or work turned in after the project is complete. Scaffolding multi-day projects would serve as a check-in system to ensure that students are on-task and on-track to meet the standards.

  25. Recommendations for Science Class Recommendation: • Regularly expose students to authentic projects and examples of diverse scientists as role models. Rationale: • The all girls science class responds well to authentic projects (most recently an energy conservation project for the school) and examples of women in science (such as the Google science fair results). Incorporating authentic science projects and news stories into the class on a weekly basis would serve as a motivation tool.

  26. Sources for Authentic Projects and Role-Models • Girlstart: http://www.girlstart.org/ “Empowering girls in science, technology, engineering, and math” • Braincake: http://www.braincake.org/ Girls, Math & Science Partnership, a program of Carnegie Science Center • I Was Wondering: http://www.iwaswondering.org/ “A curious look at Women’s Adventures in Science” by The National Academies • Science Club for Girls: http://www.scienceclubforgirls.org/ Specializes in girls-specific programming in underserved areas.

  27. Recommendations for Student 1 Recommendation: • Create a system where Student 1 communicates her understanding of the learning targets and assignments to teacher, perhaps in the form of a daily exit ticket. Rationale: • Student 1 is a responsible girl that wants to improve her grade in science, she simply does not understand what she is supposed to be doing the majority of the time. Teachers could use her responsibility to their advantage and put her in charge of her learning goals in order to improve her performance.

  28. Recommendations for Student 2 Recommendation: • Student 2 might need ‘time out’ pass for when she is having a bad day. With this ‘time out’ pass, student 2 would be able to work on her own regardless of the task at hand. Rationale: • Student 2 enjoys science and usually understands science concepts, but she is prone to get unnecessarily upset with her peers when she is having a bad day and is unable to focus on science. Giving her time to cool down and work on her own could get her re-focused on the learning target of the day.

  29. Recommendations for Student 3 Recommendation: • Student 3 could benefit from an assignment of a positive leadership role in the classroom. Rationale: • Student 3 is completely capable of succeeding in science, but she is letting her social role in the school get in the way of her learning. Assigning her a positive leadership role in the classroom would not take away from her social status or from the learning target of the day.

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