Thinking Skills Action Research.doc

Thinking Skills Action ResearchThinking Skills Action Research.“An Investigation into the Impact of Thinking Skills on Self-Esteem and Attitude To Learning of A Targeted Group of Year Three Children.”By Maureen Blakey and Anne Jacklin,Mowbray First School, Northumberland. Aims of the Project.Our aim is to develop children, who experience difficulties with learning, into more independent learners with skills to cope when they find lessons difficult.1. By giving them the chance to achieve in an enjoyable, secure environment, thereby raising self-esteem.2. Building on increased confidence to alter attitudes to their own learning.Research Focus.The Research Project involved 10 children in Year 3 who were chosen because of their inability to make adequate progress or engage in class lessons at the expected national level. Other factors taken into account were lack of self-esteem, behaviour and attitude to their own learning. The group includes some children who are currently on the schools special needs register.Summary of Findings.o The Children found all the activities very enjoyable and were excited about the regular Thinking Skills sessions.o The Children were motivated and spoke confidently about their experiences and favourite activities.o The majority of the Children displayed greater self-confidence and showed the capability to become independent lifelong learners.o There was a positive effect on their attitude to learning.Description of the School“Mowbray First school is a slightly larger than average first school. Economically and socially the area suffers from slight disadvantage and childrens attainment on entry is below average. There are very few minority ethnic pupils and about average numbers with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. One hundred and thirteen children are in the Foundation Stage, most of them are taught in the attached unit. The population of the area is growing and numbers on roll are rising. This has resulted in a small group of Reception aged children being taught in a mixed age class with Year 1 pupils.”OFSTED report March 2006.School EthosComments from Ofsted say Mowbray is a good school giving good value for money and it has improved significantly in recent years with a good capacity to keep improving. Parents feel their children are enjoying school and are making good progress. Pupils know they attend a good school and they are happy and well cared for. Personal development of pupils is good and they are outstandingly well prepared for their future wellbeing. Pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are well supported. Standards in school are above average and rising. This has been brought about through good leadership, management and governance.Personnel involved in the project.The lead teacher involved in the project is Maureen Blakey, a teacher for over 25 years. She is a Year 3 teacher involved in the project for the one-year duration. She is the SENCo, Healthy Schools Co-ordinator and Outdoor Environment Co-ordinator. The other member of staff involved is Anne Jacklin, the Inclusion Mentor. Thinking skills activities will also take place as part of good practice in the rest of the school.After a period of flux within the school, including staff changes and Ofsted inspection results, the whole school staff undertook Level 1 Teaching Thinking Skills training. The school was then offered the chance to pursue a bursary in order to carry out research into the impact of thinking skills on the learning process of children at Mowbray First School. As Inclusion Mentor, Mrs Jacklin was interested in the promotion of self-esteem achieved through the thinking skill process and Mrs Blakey had a vested interest because of a large cohort of SEN children within her Year 3 class. Also Mrs Blakey, as SENCo, wanted to explore the opportunities of enrichment and increased independent learning for this particular group of low achieving children.Details of school/cohort.In Year 3 there are a total of 45 children of which we chose 10, therefore 22.2%. 50% of those 10 are on the Special Needs register.The selected group of children:Each child has been given a number to maintain confidentiality.Child 1:Is over eager and constantly seeks adult attention. She finds it difficult to listen carefully and remain on task. She tries too hard to please. She is capable of achieving more if she took her time and concentrated less on the affairs of others.Child 2:He is happy to produce only the bare minimum of work and would achieve more if he had a better attitude. When he helps others in the group with spellings he is right a lot of the time, but this does not always transfer to the page. In Numeracy he often has the right answer but can be distracted and join in with the disruptive behaviour of other children in the group. He is recognised as being gifted and talented in sport.Child 3:She finds most subjects difficult. Retaining information is a problem and she needs to be prompted frequently during tasks. If she finds a task hard she either resorts to silly behaviour or says she is tired/ill. However, she likes to please and when given praise will try really hard to succeed in the ensuing tasks. Her attitude to work is not constant. She receives very little/no help from home.Child 4:He has his own agenda with poor behaviour patterns, shouting out and generally being disruptive. Although he is intelligent he has no understanding of sanctions, he knows he is in trouble but is not bothered about the consequences of his actions. He demonstrates vindictive behaviour towards his peers. He enjoys Numeracy but written work is poor especially when he misbehaves in lessons.Child 5:Is diagnosed with ADHD and medicated with Ritalin. He displays obsessive behaviours which affect his ability to concentrate. His reading, writing and comprehension are well below average and he finds most lessons difficult without support. Occasionally he has really good bursts of work, but unfortunately they are short-lived. There is little positive encouragement from home and liaison is mainly school directed. He can appear to be very polite and well mannered or the exact opposite.Child 6:Is a quiet girl who tries hard but needs encouragement to increase her self-esteem. She does not like too much attention, and prefers to blend into the background. However, when she talks she has quite a good understanding of the subject. She works steadily most of the time but can be easily distracted and underachieves. Her disruptive home life has a huge impact on her school life.Child 7:Has a cavalier attitude to learning. He lounges on the carpet rather than sitting, talks to others around him and fails to listen with the result of not knowing what his task is. He will not take responsibility for his actions and denies fault even when he is seen to be the culprit. He is intelligent but will not use his brain to good effect.Child 8:He tries desperately to complete his work but finds it difficult. He wants to succeed and gets full marks for trying. He requires help and encouragement to have a go and improve his self-belief. His reading ability has improved with encouragement from staff and regular practice at home.Child 9:He is very immature and easily led. He could achieve more if he concentrated and listened carefully. He spends a lot of effort telling tales, talking to avoid work and going to the toilet when work becomes challenging.Child 10:He concentrates well most of the time and enjoys achieving. He does not take his time with spellings but composes good, complex sentences. He easily becomes petulant over small issues then refuses to do his work. With persuasion he recovers and continues with his work. He has recently had major upheavals in his home life. Chart to indicate Childrens achievements before the project.ChildSENKS1 ReadingKS1 MathsKS1 Writing1LA2c2b2c2SA1b1a1b3SA1c1c1a4SA+B1b1a2c5SA+1c1c1c6LA1a1a2c7LA2c2c2c8SA1c1a1c9LA2c2b2c10E2c2a2cSA+ - School Action Plus on SEN registerB Behaviour problemsSA - School Action on SEN register E- Emotional problemsLA - Low AchieverChildSalford Reading test (X)Nov 2006Salford Reading test (Y)Mar 2007ImprovementIn reading ageSalford Reading test (X)Jun 2007Further ImprovementIn reading ageOverall Improvement15y 7m6y 5m+10m6y 11m+6m+1y 4m25y 2m7y 2m+2y7y 4m+2m+2y 2m34y 5m4y 9m+4m5y+3m+7m45y 6m7y 7m+2y1m8y 5m+10m2y 11m54y 4m4y 3m-1m4y 4m+1m 065y 2m4y 9m-5m5y 7m+10m+5m77y7y 3m+3m8y 7m1y 4m+1y 7m85y 2m6y 8m+1y6m6y 11m+3m+1y 9m95y 2m6y 8m+1y6m6y 11m+3m+1y 9m106y 11m7y+1m7y 6m+6m+7mReading progress during the research project Interventions in place:ChildSpringboardDirect PhonicsThinking Skills12PPP2P3P4PP5PP6PP7PP8PP9PPP10PPThe above data shows other interventions, as well as the thinking skills project, which the children are involved in. Springboard is a level 3 Numeracy intervention.Thinking Skills strategies used in the project were:Odd One OutWe tried odd one out with cards showing different modes of transport, which fitted in with our class topic. We used three cards at a time of which I changed one at regular intervals. They were told that there were no wrong answers, but that their answer had to be supported with a good reason. Sometimes I asked for them to give me similarities of two cards rather than one that was odd. Child 5 found the game difficult and became silly even though I supported his progress along the right lines. Despite this he enjoyed the activity.Child 3 enjoyed the game but found the reasoning hard to match to the answer, but took an active part.Child 8 enjoyed the game and gave good reasons to begin with, but as the ideas developed he struggled to move it on.Child 6 sat quietly and waited her turn but always gave an answer with a well thought out reason. She was quietly confident.Child 10 and Child 4 were both good at answers and very good at reasoning. Child 10 could always take it one step further, and Child 4 benefited on the back of this as it prompted his thinking.Child 7 and Child 2 were better at the start when fewer ideas had been explored, but were keen to participate and try to think of new answers.Child 1 wanted to speak over everyone else and had to be reminded constantly that we were taking turns. Her reasons were quite good at first but lacked thought after a while.Child 9 found the whole concept hard and was confused as to “throwing one out”. His reasoning was immature and he copied from others but in a confused way.Although this activity was repeated several times, sometimes using numbers (this was usually more successful), Odd One Out was the least successful activity used in the project. We put this down to the fact that few of the children could draw on past experiences, and some of the lower achievers struggled to recall previous learning.Diamond RankingIn one particular session they were given nine cards with pictures of items to take on holiday and were asked to talk together in twos or threes and decide the order of importance of the items to take. They all took part in lively discussions and when brought together they gave good reasons for their choices. As a group they discussed the final order.Child 5 was absent.Child 8, Child 6 and Child 3 were quieter in this activity but gave good reasons to support their choices.Child 4, Child 10 and Child 7 were very good at reasoning, especially when they did not agree with the choices of others.Child 1 was not as good with reasoning but made good choices. Child 9 was immature in his choices and reasons. Child 2 was not particularly interested but gave reasons when pressed.The group found this a much easier activity than odd one out and enjoyed it much more. They worked well together and when the Mrs. Blakey came out to discuss the activity they remembered their reasons and discussed choices with her, and made an alteration to the order.In further diamond ranking activities the response was good but the subject matter seemed to be a very important factor.This is the final diamond-ranking chart showing choices the children made.Concentration is required!Happy with a job well doneMind MapsIn a series of sessions the children worked on Mind Maps. The first session involved the children drawing themselves in the centre and adding facts about themselves. This was very successful and the children enjoyed it immensely.The second session involved drawing themselves in the centre and mapping their feelings and the causes of those feelings. Some children found this a little harder, but all of them made a good job of their mind map. A subsequent session involved them drawing a person in the centre who was very important in their life and mapping out why that person was so important. This caused great consternation as to whom they would put in the centre, but once decided it developed into the most successful session we had. The amount of work produced and the concentration involved was impressive.Child 4s feelings mappingChild 10 chose Grandparents as the subject of his “important people to me” mappingChild 6 chose friends as being “important people to me”Child 9 chose Mam and DadQuestionnaireWe decided to do a short one to one questionnaire with the ten children using the following questions:1. Do you enjoy Thinking Skills?2. What do you like about Thinking Skills?3. Why do you like the activities?4. How do Thinking Skills make you feel?Question 1 had a very positive result:ChildYesNo12345678910Child 10 qualified his answer - although he had answered no, he actually loved the Thinking skills activities but was unsure of being removed too much from the class to take part in the different interventions!Question 2 produced the following results, as the children interpreted it as a particular element of the activities, but some did give reasons.ChildOdd One OutDiamond RankingMind Maps12345678910Questions 3 and 4 produced lots of comments from the children and we decided to group the comments into categories to help to show the elements of Thinking Skills that were successful from the childrens point of view. These are shown in the next chart and we found this a very valuable piece of evidence to support the use of thinking skills with a definite impact on self-esteem.The Children enjoyed the questionnaire and thought they were very important when told they were helping ourselves with some research. All the questionnaires were completed by Anne to ensure consistency and comments by the children were written down on the sheet. Prompts were only given if the child did not understand the question and they were all allowed to interpret the questions as they understood it.Comment analysis from questions 3 and 4Affective:1) “Makes me smile”2) “Makes me happy and makes me feel good”3) “Makes me happy because its fun”4) “It makes me excited”Relationships/Family:1) “I like writing about my family”2) “I love Mam and Dad helping me with Mind Maps because its interesting”3) “I can write about my parents and what they like”Metacognition:1) “I like making decisions”2) “Its about things I know about”3) “You learn to answer questions and learn about different things”Creative:1) “I like colouring in”2) “I like writing, its fun”3) “Its good and you draw pictures”4) “I get to write in felt tips”5) “I cut out”Special:1) ”Ive learnt things that other people havent”2) “I feel good and happy cos its easier work than in the classroom”Mastery:1) “Very glad of myself for doing good work”2) “Its about me and I know the answers”3) “I like it when I finish what I have to do”Pupil Number Y3 Optional ReadingY3 Optional WritingY3 Optional MathsSelf Esteem12B2B2BImproved2Below L2Below L2Below 2BImproved3Below L2Below L2Below 2BImproved42BBelow L22BImproved5Below L2Below L22BLow62C2C2BImproved73C2B2AVaries82CBelow L22BImproved92B2B2BInflated102B2B2ALowThis table shows the results of the Year 3 Optional tests taken in May 2007.The self-esteem indicator is based on teacher observations in recent weeks. This self- esteem can vary from day to day and many factors have influenced the results including home, social and psychological reasons.The children showing low self-esteem both have particular reasons (linked with their backgrounds) for this. These may be personal/medical reasons.Findings.For most of the Children in the project we did meet our aims, but with some we are faced with unpredictable family life or medical reasons that influence any work done with the Children.We can, however, say that all Children in the