Action Research Summary - Copernicus Project - University of ...

Compiled and Written by Jocelyn Edey and Steve Gómez
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comprehension and performance and would help determine this teacher’s focus on
updating her own technology skills.
A quantitative pre/post test design was used to collect data. Surveys were administered
to students before intervention and shortly after. Results were not conclusive and did
not indicate a relationship between technology implementation and student
performance. Teacher researcher attributes the results to poor evaluation tool and
flawed research design.
IV. Research Question: Will the use of technology improve supplemental assignment
completion rates and sight word reading skills in kindergarten students?
Summary of Results and Implications: The purpose of this study was to determine if
adding technology support (Biffy 50 Toons DVD) for the students’ “Cookie Crunchers”
assignment would improve 32 Kindergarten students’ ability to instantly recognize sight
words for continued reading success.
A pre/post test quantitative research design was used to collect the data. Teacher
researcher acknowledges lack of control for external variables, such as student English
proficiency. Nevertheless, this study demonstrated positive results after implementing a
technology-based intervention on teaching the students sight words. In comparing the
pre-test and post-test results, there was a sharp rise in student achievement after the
implementation of technology. Teacher researcher found that using the Biffy 50 Toons
DVD, students became actively engaged in learning sight words without help from their
parents. Teacher concludes that the use of technology improved supplemental
assignment completion rates in Kindergarten students in this classroom.
V. Research Question: Do my first graders test scores, thereby their achievement,
increase in science with the use of technology?
Summary of Results and Implications: Teacher researcher divided students into two
separate groups to conduct this research. One group was designated the ‘control’ group
the other received an intervention consisting of increased use of technology
(PowerPoint). Data was collected from 19 students in a first grade classroom.
Teacher researcher found significant differences in the performance of both sets of
students. On average, students in this study scored 10% higher in the treatment group
versus control group leading researcher to conclude that indeed technology had an
effect on the students’ performance. Even when the data were broken up by gender, the
researcher found the 10% increase to remain true even by gender (both girls and boys
in the intervention group scored better than their counterparts in the control group).
The Copernicus Project is 100% funded by the
United States Department of Education Office of Post-Secondary Education
Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants Program
Awarded to the
University of California, Riverside
Graduate School of Education