Summary

 

My Capstone Action Research Project was successful in regards to numbers and statistics. In Cycle 1, my Action Research made use of Edmodo, RSS Feeds, Popplet, and WikiSpaces, and my goal was to increase my students’ non-fiction reading comprehension skills. Overall, 56.6% of the 76 students participating scored a 70% or higher on the pre test. I had a 27.6% increase on the post test, with 84.2% of the 76 students scoring 70% or higher. Although my data focuses solely on using Web 2.0 tools to increase reading comprehension, I believe that other factors, such as motivation and engagement, may also have contributed to the increase in reading comprehension, which is in-line with my literature review. According to Drexler (2010), student motivation increased because students choose their subject. In my AR research, I allowed students to choose their subject for their main project, and all but 2 students turned in a final WikiSpace page.

In Cycle 2, my data once again showed a positive correlation between the use of Web 2.0 tools and increased reading comprehension. Although only 73.68% of the 76 students tested scored a 70% or higher on the pre-test, 96% of them scored a 70% or higher on the post test – a 22.4% increase.  Although this is a smaller increase than the one documented in Cycle 1, the students’ pre-test scores were significantly higher in Cycle 2. I think that game play had a greater impact on students’ engagement, motivation, and ability to comprehend non-ficiton reading than building the Wikipage did in Cycle 1. According to Gee, “video games help us develop resources for future learning and problem solving in the domain to which the game is related,” (2007). I choose Hidden-Object games for my students to play during Cycle 2. Although I cannot find any scientific evidence between hidden-object style games and reading, I did find several websites that made claims like “Hidden Object games help to improve one’s thinking capacity, critical thinking and analysis skills,”(http://www.articlesbase.com/computer-games-articles/online-hidden-objects-games-5974478.html), and “These kinds of games actually improve your attention to detail and perception!” (http://www.playhiddenobjectgames.org/hidden-object-games/398/Hidden-Numbers-Tractor.html). I realize these are not peer reviewed journal articles or scientific papers, but I do believe there is some truth to these claims and that what I experienced in Cycle 2 was partially attributable to the particular efficacy of hidden object games in improving cognitive skills.

This brings me to “Cycle 3.” I plan on incorporating hidden object game play into my curriculum for the 2012-2013 school year. My aim is to continue my research in this area and see where it takes me.