Education Investigation

What: Survey results from Parents. Their response to our class blogging.

Why: I wanted to gather data to see the Parents perceptions of the class blog and how often they use it. I also wanted to perform a stage 2 survey to see if Parents have moved to purchasing broadband since the last survey in June 2007.

How: The survey was stuck into each student’s diary in November 2007 for their Parents. Parents had one week to complete the short survey.

Results:

18 of the 23 Parents completed the survey (78% participation).

1/ Q: “Do you have a working computer at home?”

A: 95% = Yes (95% said “yes” in June)

2/ Q: “Do you have broadband? (Fast Internet connection)”

A: 83% = Yes (55% said “yes” in June)

3/ Q: “On average how often do you as a Parent and your child interact with the class blog?”

A:

4/ Q: “Do you believe that the class blog benefits your child’s education?”

A: 14/18 Parents (78%) = Yes (4 Parents (22%) failed to complete this question.)

Summary:

1. Most Parents (95%) had a working computer at home.
2. Children and Parents were far less likely to use the class blog if they didn’t have broadband.
3. There has been a definite shift (55% - 83%) to purchasing broadband since June this year.
4. 53% of students use the class blog at home on average more than twice a week.
5. 78% of Parents interact with the class blog on average less than twice a week.
6. ALL Parents who correctly completed the survey believe the class blog benefits their child’s education. One reason why four Parents may not have filled this part of the survey in could be because the question was hard to read and may have been missed accidentally.

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What: Survey results from my class of 6-7 year olds. Their response to using our class blog.

Why: I wanted to gather data to see what percentage of the class actively interacted with the class blog and how often. I also wanted to see what I could do better as an educator through the blog.

How: Students were given the survey in class. I read out the questions and helped them through it so they understood.

Results:

Feeling Statements 1-3:

Question 4:

• “Circle the 2 things that you like the most about the class blog.”

Question 5:

• “If you could choose, what would you like more of on the blog?”

The students said: *Our Art *More games *More jokes *More Maths games

Question 6:

• “I also liked….”

Question 7:

• “I didn’t like……”

The students said:

Question 8:

• “Circle the number that shows how you feel about the class blog.” (1=bad, 2=ok, 3=good, 4=great, 5=awesome)

5% rated it as a 4. 95% rated it as a 5.

Summary:

1. I am convinced the majority of students enjoyed the blog and used it often.
2. Many enjoyed the Maths games/links more than the Reading games/links.
3. Mathletics was the favourite activity connected to the blog.
4. In the future I will publish more of the students art on the blog and include links to other class blog sites.

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With only 8 days left of school before Christmas it is getting harder to muster energy or time to do things…..even blog posts! (I must be tired) Anyway this is one that I promised I would do.

Mathletics is a online maths site that my students have LOVED! Arriving into the class before school and running quickly to do the jobs expected of them so that they can then hop on to Mathletics before the bell rings, is a common activity I have observed lately.

I first came across Mathletics after hearing about it from Marnie Thomas a teacher in Auckland, New Zealand. She has been using it since the beginning of 2007. I signed my class up to the free 2 week trial (we actually got 3 weeks) and WHAM the kids were off!

I won’t give you the details on this product as you can read about it on their website but I will give you my positives and negatives: (Please understand this is my view and it is limited to my experience after 3 weeks of trialling it.)

Positives:

+ All my students loved it (boys and girls).
+ Gives opportunities for 24 hr learning through the online website.
+ Provides a huge motivation to learn basic facts (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) through the “Live Mathletics” challenge. This live maths game allowed students to play against others from around the World and so it excited and inspired my students to play it again….and again….and again!
+ Mathletics provides immediate access to support for any of the activities if a student doesn’t know what to do.
+ Enhances students focus through auditory and visual stimuli.
+ Students gain credits for completing math activities. They use these to buy “bling” for their Mathletics avatar.
+ Online certificates (bronze, silver and gold) are given to students who pass a certain level of credits.
+ Students progress at their own rate and can move onto a higher level if they wish.
+ Parents receive weekly email reports of their child’s progress.
+ Full curriculum coverage from Years 1 to 13 (5 to 17 year olds).
+ As a teacher I could completely control what level and mathematic activity each child was assigned. This enabled me to provide extra support for my class programme.
+ As a teacher I was given full reports on individual student’s progress eg: percentages, time spent, credits gained, certificates achieved and results for each activity.

Negatives:

- If you don’t have a computer with an internet connection you can’t access it.
- Mathletics is excellent for teaching mathematical knowledge but I saw little evidence for the teaching of the many mathematical strategies in Number.
- Students loved the Live Mathletics challenge so much they were distracted away from the other activities (unless I had assigned their tasks. This blocked students from doing any other activity until the assigned task was completed.)
- Students could choose the Live Mathletics competition level. Most of mine therefore stayed on level 1 so it was easy and they gained points quicker.
- It could be said to be expensive. Individual parents pay $99 NZ to use it for a year OR schools pay $30 NZ a year ($20 if they sign up for 3 years.)
- Students missed it when the trial expired.

So you ask “Are you going to use it in the future and sign up?” Well………I am currently in negotiations with my school management. The biggest issue for us is funding it. I would love to sign up.

Does anyone else use Mathletics? What have you found? Do you agree with me?

Note: Mathletics also has a brother called Spellodrome. I trialled this also. If you are keen to hear about it leave a comment or look at the screenshots I took of it here.

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