8100 Blog Post #3 - Galvan Ch. 3 & 4 Activities

Activities from Chapters 3 & 4

Chapter 3

1. Become familiar with the databases in your field
   1. Ebsco, Proquest, ERIC, etc
2. Search a simple phrase that describes your areas of interest. How many citations for the literature did the search produce?
   1. Student engagement - 10,586 in Ebsco
3. Retrieve two or three records from your search and locate the lists of descriptors.

Improving Student Engagement with Technology Tools.
Student engagement; Internet in education; Student participation

You Can Lead Students to Water, but You Can't Make Them Think: An Assessment of Student Engagement and Learning through Student-Centered Teaching.Student-centered learning; Student engagement; Learning; Team learning approach in education; Flipped classrooms; Teaching methods; Criminology students

Compare the list and note the areas of commonality as well as differences.

1. Write down the exact wording of three descriptors that relate to your intended topic. Choose descriptors that reflect your personal interest in the topic.

Student participation, Student-centered learning, student motivation

1. Compared to the simple phrase you used when you started, do you think these descriptors are more specific or more general? Why

In think two of them is about the same, student participation and student motivation. I think student-centered learning is more specific.
Now use the descriptors you just located to modify the search.

1. First modify the search to select more records

Student engagement OR student centered learning=14,197

1. Then modify the search to select fewer records

Student engagement AND student centered learning=187
Student engagement AND student participation AND student motivation = 87

1. 1. If you used the connector AND, did it result in more or fewer sources? Why do you think this happened? AND limits the search because it requires both descriptors to be met
   2. If you used the connector OR, did it result in more or fewer sources? Why do you think this happened? OR widens the search because it can find both or each individually.
2. If necessary, narrow the search further until you have between 50 - 150 sources, and print out the search results.
   1. Carefully scan the printed list to identify several possible subcategories.

Possible subcategories
Student engagement
Student participation
Student motivation
Students’ attitudes
At-Risk students
Student-centered learning

1. Compare the new categories to your original topic.

I had not thought of student centered learning until it was a descriptor for some of my original searches. The other categories to me are just synonyms to the overall subject.

1. Redefine your topic more narrowly, and identify the articles that pertain to your new topic. Prepare a list of the references for these articles.

Axelson, R. D., & Flick, A. (2011). Defining student engagement. Change, 43(1), pp. 38-43. doi:10.1080/00091383.2011.533096

Bradford, J.,Mowder, D., and Bohte, J. (2016). You can lead students to water but you can’t make them think: An assessment of student engagement and learning through student-centered teaching. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 16(4) pp. 33-43. doi:10.14434/josotl.v16i4.20106.

Dykstra Steinbrenner, J. R., and Watson, L. R. (2015). Student engagement in the classroom: The impact of classroom, teacher and student factors. Journal for Autism Development Disorders. 45 pp 2392-2410. Doi: 10.1007/s10803-015-2406-9

Greenwood, C. R., Horton, B. T., Utley, C. A. (2002). Academic engagement: Current perspectives on research and practice. School Psychology Review. 31(3) pp. 328-349.

Nicholson, L. J. and Putwain, D. W. (2015). Facilitating re-engagement in learning: A disengaged student perspective. Psychology of Education Review 39(2) pp. 37-41.

O’Connor, K. J. (2013). Class participation: Promoting in-class student engagement. Education 133(3) pp. 340-344.

Reeve, J. (2013). How students create motivationally supportive learning environments for themselves: the concept of agentic engagement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 105, pp. 579–595.

Reyes, M. R., Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., White, M., & Salovey, P. (2012). Classroom emotional climate, student engagement, and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, pp. 700–712.

Sinatra, G. M., Heddy, B. C., & Lombardi, D. (2015). The challenges of defining and measuring student engagement in science. Educational Psychology, 50, pp. 1–13.

Wolf, S. J., & Fraser, B. J. (2008). Learning environment, attitudes and achievement among middle-school science students using inquiry-based laboratory activities.

Chapter 4

Refer to the printed list of sources you developed in Activity 5 at the end of Chapter 3.

1. Obtain copies of two articles from this list, and look over each of the articles.
   
   1. Did the authors include a summary of the contents of the literature review at or near the beginning? If so, highlight or mark this summary for future reference.
      

Yes, in both articles the literature was just after the introduction to the article.

1. Did the authors use subheadings?
   

Yes, one used the actual subheading of Literature Review and then the topics within the review, the other used the topics within the review.

1. Scan the paragraph(s) immediately preceding the heading “Method.” Did the authors describe their hypotheses, research questions, or research purposes?
   

Yes, their hypotheses were stated in both articles.

1. Without rereading any of the text of the article, write a brief statement describing what each article is about.
   

The article entitled “I’m not learning” was about low achieving high school students and how the authors showed if the students felt the material was relevant to their lives, they were intrinsically motivated to be engaged in their learning.
In the second article “You can lead students to water but you can’t make them think” is about college level students that were in a criminal justice class. The researcher reviewed different pedagogical methods to see which lead the the best student engagement.

1. Based on your overview of all the articles on your list, make predictions of some of the likely categories and subcategories for your review. Reread the printed list of sources and try to group them by these categories and subcategories. Then, using these categories and subcategories, create an outline for describing your topic.
   

Categories: student motivation; student engagement; relevancy, intrinsic motivation, pedagogical techniques, academic achievement, student centered learning.

• Student Engagement
• Student Motivation
• Intrinsic motivation
• Student Centered learning
• Pedagogical techniques
• Academic Achievement
• Relevancy

1. Carefully review your outline and select the articles you will read first. Within each category, start with the most recent studies. You now have your initial reading list.