Wicked Problem Project

Part A: Description of Need or Opportunity 

I teach Math to middle and high school students in a low-income school district. I have seen over the years that simple math facts such as multiplication and division are severely lacking among the students. Although most all students have the availability of calculators in today’s school setting, I still find it important that students try to master these skills to some level. I do not believe that much class time needs to be dedicated to teaching or reinforcing this skill, but rather a small portion either daily or every other day would suffice.

In today’s world of technology there are many ways in which this problem can be addressed. I have gone done the road of giving hand written timed tests, and although they seem to make some means of progress there are many more fun and interesting ways to incorporate this skill to our students through the use of technology. With the use of technology it makes it much more easier to track and record student progress. It can manually show you in what areas a particular student lacks and thus help reinforce that area automatically. I initially wanted to implement a math program, FASTT Math. This program helps the students develop a better “fluency” rate with simple math facts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I intend to focus solely on multiplication facts for the basis of this research project. The reason I wanted to implement this math program was because it evaluates each student and determines a baseline of where to start dependant upon his or her knowledge. Once this baseline is established the program then creates individualized programs for each student. Due to lack of funding and time constraints I had to go with a free website based program, BigIQKids. This program is not nearly as advanced as FASTT Math, but it does offer some individualization and student feedback that is often lacking in today’s classroom.

In an ideal setting every classroom would be equipped with laptops for every student. In today’s struggling economy that is not the case. In my school district in particular it is a rarity for myself to have a laptop, let alone all the students. Ideally I would like to implement this program daily with all the students taking part in the math program during their exploratory math time. This is a time in which we are able to focus solely on basic math facts and skill building. Each student would dedicate the necessary 10 minutes each day practicing his or her multiplication facts. Since we do not live in an “ideal” world I intend to only use a select few students to practice using this free website based program with. I will provide these students with the use of my laptop during the course of this trial period. The students I select are students who I feel need extra work on their multiplication facts.

Throughout my research of the FASTT Math program I found two websites that dealt directly with this math program. One was the Christopher Farms Elementary School in the Virginia Beach City public school district and the other was the Gemm Learning center, an online educational tutoring center. Although I was unable to initially find any hard-pressed facts regarding the success of the FASTT program, I was able to see that both these programs main focus in teaching and reinforcing math skills is through the use of this program. In addition to these two sites I found multiple sites that supported any use of technology in the math classroom. The articles gave evidence of why it is important to incorporate technology in the classroom and effective ways to do so.

As I stated previously, due to time constraints and availability of equipment I intend to focus only on a few select students. I contacted the FASTT Math program customer service and requested some further information regarding the program for future purposes. I requested that I be allowed a free 30-day trial due to the high set up cost but was only able to receive a free interactive CD-Rom that shows how the program works. The costs for this program are listed below.
Unlimited School Plan-$9,000
Classroom Addition (60 licenses)-$3,000
Individual License-$300
 

Since I was unable to attain a free trial period I went with BigIQKids, which was a free math program online in order to test as an underlying basis for my research.

With the use of these programs it is much easier to track success rates. With FASTT Math, the program automatically does that for you. Since BigIQKids does not offer that advanced capability I will have to administer a pre and posttest to monitor any gains my students have. I will also be able to see potential progress through daily observation of the students math work. With daily monitoring I will be able to observe how easily the students are able to move through problems based on the facts they are learning.

WEBSITES
FASTT Math- http://www.tomsnyder.com/fasttmath/index.html
Christopher Farms Elementary School- http://www.christopherfarmses.vbschools.com/Plan for Continuous Improvement_2010-2011.pdf
Gemm Learning- http://www.gemmlearning.com/FASTT_Math_Program.php
Technology in the Classroom- http://www.cut-the-knot.org/Mset99/inClassroom.shtml
Promoting Appropriate Uses of Technology in Mathematics Teacher Preparation- http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss1/currentissues/mathematics/article1.htm
Why should a teacher use technology in his or her mathematics classroom?- http://ti-researchlibrary.com/Lists/TI Education Technology Research Library/Attachments/50/Research_Note_8 - Handhelds.pdf

Part B: Application of TPACK

TP Knowledge

The technological pedagogy is supported by the fact that this is a math program that teaches and reinforces the use of basic math skills, such as multiplication, in a more relaxed, fun, and game-based setting. With the use of a math program the students can be more actively engaged as to what learning is taking place. The program also allows for a more “accurate” application, because it can automatically determine the student’s current understanding and offer more repetition in whatever areas the student may be lacking.

TC Knowledge

The technological content is also supported through the use of this program by the repetition it applies. Through the use of repetition the students are given multiple problems in a more random output. The random nature of the problems make it that much harder for the students to guess what is coming and also would be hard as a teacher to duplicate in the classroom for numerous students who require different problem applications.

PC Knowledge

The pedagogical content is supported through the use of this program because the students are able to receive immediate feedback as to how they are performing. If they get a problem wrong they know instantly and on some occasions have to repeat the correct answer numerous times to reinforce the math fact. The program also allows students to not feel threatened by their level of understanding in front of their peers. If they are not performing well, their peers are not able to see this. The only competition they are in is with themselves.

Part C: Implementation

Throughout the implementation of this Wicked Project, I encountered many wonderful and surprising things about my students, their needs and this program. A particular surprise I encountered was how receptive my students were at being introduced to something new. The few who I selected to try to the program seemed to enjoy it to some degree. There wasn’t much complaining and arguing, rather mindful consideration for the task at hand. I think most of them realized how great a need this truly is for them.

As far as unexpected bumps, I would say the biggest bump I encountered was my lack of ability to obtain the trial for the actual program I wanted to originally use. As with most things it would have been great to be able to use my first and best choice with the students. I think if I had more time, I would try to seek more financial help from my district. But because this class is on a short, condensed schedule, it wouldn’t suit me to have tried at that time.

I was very delighted as I stated before at how receptive and cooperative the students were throughout this process. I think that to have a program such as FASTT Math to use with the students daily would be wonderful and beyond beneficial.

Part D: Findings and Implications 


Although I was not able to fully implement my initial plan, I was still able to implement some findings on the use of a math skills website, using the free site, BigIQKids. This site does not offer nearly as much feedback to the teacher or the individualized lessons that FASTT Math does, but it does offer great feedback to the student. For example, when the student was practicing their multiplication facts, if they got one wrong the teacher could set how many times they wanted the student to repeat the error in effort to reinforce the mistake. I liked this option because it instantly showed the students what they got wrong and offered the reinforcement that is often needed.

Another setback I faced was the lack of available computers for my students. Since I only have one computer, my laptop, I was only able to try my findings on a few select students. Ideally, it would work best for all the students to participate in this skills practice together, everyday at the same time. Since I wasn’t able to do that, it took more class time than it otherwise should. Overall though I was able to see that through the use of even a basic skills program there is tremendous student growth.

In order to track my student success I chose to offer a pre and post written timed test. Since the free site didn’t offer the student tracking that FASTT Math did, I figured this to be a good alternative route. The students I selected to participate were given a pretest before any practice on the site was done. I recorded their scores and then had them participate on the skills site for 3 days. At the end of their 3 days, I administered a posttest. What I found was growth from each student. Students who participated raised their average to an 89% or greater. I had one student start out with a 63% average and after only a few practice trials, end with an 89%. I was very happy to see that through practice they could in fact succeed.

If I were given this project in the future I would most definitely try to plan ahead in a more timely fashion. Although I did my research and placed my calls early on I would follow up more thoroughly in the future. Since this is a very short time frame to conduct such a plan it would be great to know what was in store for me ahead of time. If I had, had more time to plan I would definitely have sought out the help of my district to see what they could do in efforts of purchasing such a program for my classroom. Another thing I may do differently is offering each student a different math skills site to see how or if one is more effective or beneficial than the other. At this point in my project I only chose one program in order to gain the most accurate level of growth from my students.

Throughout this project I have learned that resilience is a necessity. In order to be successful you have to allow yourself the room for error and setbacks. Although I was not able to follow through with my initial plan, I had the resilience and flexibility to try an alternative plan that could effectively provide me with some of the same feedback as my initial plan. In order to be successful it takes the willingness to seek advice and ask for suggestions. There were many times that I was stuck and couldn’t think of a positive way to continue on. But with the added help of my teachers and peers I was able to look at things differently and get the feedback I needed to move forward. In the end, all the information I gained was very beneficial in my efforts to potentially purchase this program in the future. I was able to gather data that I can later provide to my district to prove what and why such a program would benefit our students.

It is my hope to continue on with the implementation of this project in my classroom. I will continue to gather the necessary data to eventually and hopefully present it to my district in efforts of obtaining the FASTT Math program. Even without the FASTT Math program I have seen evidence of how a simple skills site can reinforce and build upon the students current skills. When it comes to things I will or will not do again, as I previously stated I would most definitely make it a point to be more directly on task to make sure that things are running in a timely and effective manner. Overall I would say that I have done a great job thus far and will continue on the path of resilience and willingness to keep trying.