ABSTRACT

1. How long have you sat watching your students or your children stare at their homework with blank expressions before both you and they have had enough? This action research was conducted to see how the use of Know What Solve Learn charts affect students with accuracy and fluency on math homework. The results from my action research indicated that students benefit from some form of structure to help them organize their thoughts and recognize math as a process of reading and completing multiple steps. ABSTRACT The Academy of Mount Saint Goal: raise over-all Math Regents scores by 20%. Math Lab is an after school program from 3pm to 4pm . Students are still struggling with their homework and leaving answers incomplete. students who do their math homework do better overall in Math Class. (Booth 2010) Students lack the ability to make sense of a problem and are underdeveloped in their problem solving skills. (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). The present study will seek to confirm if the use of KWSL charts will help eliminate the issue of incompletion of math homework. graphic organizers help students identify what they are looking for and proceed in organizing the steps needed to solve any given math problem (Zollman 2009). research question then became: Can using a universal graphic organizer, such a Know What Learn charts, help students develop their problem solving skills so that they can complete their math homework on their own with precision. BACKGROUND Participants For ten days I worked with female students in 9th grade, who were enrolled in an Algebra I class and attended Math Lab Materials and Procedure KWSL Charts The quantitative data I collected consisted of completion of homework (not complete, somewhat complete and complete) and test grades. The qualitative data I collected was based on students’ responses while completing their homework and interviews where I asked how helpful they thought either Math Lab or the KWL charts were. METHODS/DATA COLLECTION RESULTS RESULTS Limitations limited time/practice using KWSL charts Resources Available Less than 2% of the students are attending Math Lab Homework as Assessment DISCUSSION/RECOMENDATIONS Having teachers on board by requiring students to fill out KWSL charts themselves and then having their KWSL charts collected by the teacher. If students actually wrote in the KWSL charts themselves they might have not made minor errors in their homework. A study where one class is required to use KWSL charts that are graded and another class who was given a different graphic organizer that was also graded would indicate clearer results as to how effective KWSL charts really are. Two other requirements if this study were to be recreated are more time and more students. Including both boys and girls in the study REFERENCES Booth, G. (2010, August). The Effects of Homework Assessment on Student Motivation and Achievement. Retrieved from http://www.cwu.edu/~lundin/Courses/Math 526/Example MAT Projects/Example Project (Booth).pdf Deck, A. (2012). The Effects Of K-W-L On ELL Middle School Students’ Listening Comprehension Of Science Content. Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1342463038&disposition=inline Hayes, K. (2012, April 10). Using Tutoring To Increase Student Achievement On End Of Course Assessments. Retrieved from http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/researchpapers/2012/Hayes,%20Kathryene.pdf Higher Education Services Corporation. (2012). Regent Requirements. Retrieved from http://www.hesc.ny.gov/prepare-for-college/your-high-school-path-to-college/regents-requirements.html National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Washington, DC: Authors. Swartzlander, D. (2007, July). Effects Of Self-Assessment On Math Homework. Retrieved from http://scimath.unl.edu/MIM/files/research/SwartzlanderD.pdf Zollman, A. (2009, November). The Use of Graphic Organizers to Improve Student and Teachers Problem-Solving Skills and Abilities. Retrieved from http://directorymathsed.net/download/Zollman.pdf Education 403 Reading in Content Area Secondary Education Madison Cona Utilizing KWSL Charts To Help Students Complete Their Math Homework OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE