Factors Affecting Student Participation

1
Classroom Participation

• Factors Affecting Student Participation
• in Discussion and Why it Matters

Cheryl L. Gaines Eighth Grade Allen Jay Middle
School
2
Background

• I chose this the topic because I am concerned
  with the trend I have noticed in my classroom.
• Why is it that some students always participate
  in classroom discussions and other refuse to join
  in?

3
Background

• A thoughtful classroom discussion helps
  students develop critical thinking. Talking in a
  group helps them learn to organize their thoughts
  and present them coherently. They also learn to
  be active listeners, holding other peoples ideas
  up to critical analysis. Through this they
  realize there are alternative ways of looking at
  a difficult problem.
• David Elkin Freddy Sweet
• Schools in the Middle, 1998

4
Research Questions

• Does the format of discussion groups (whole class
  vs. small) affect the frequency of student
  participation? ...or engage different students in
  discussion?
• Does the level of participation really determine
  the level of understanding students gain from
  class discussions?
• And do factors such as gender, race, academic
  ability, and personality affect which students
  participate in classroom discussions?

5
Participants

• 75 Eighth Grade Language Arts students
• 43 African American, 41 Caucasian, 12 Asian,
  and 4 Hispanic.
• Three academic groups advanced (19 students),
  middle level (45), and (EC) inclusion (11
  students are learning disabled or other handicap
  impaired.)
• 60 of the students are males and 40 females.

6
Instructional Procedures

• My study was conducted over a period of five
  weeks.
• Class literary discussions were held for 15 to 20
  minutes.
• I took on the role of facilitator. I supplied
  students with a topic and a goal, but stayed out
  of discussion as much as possible.

7
Data Collection

• I recorded 10 sessions of classroom discussions
  (5 small group 5 whole class).
• I used seating charts to record the frequency of
  participation in small and whole groups. I only
  counted relevant answers.
• I kept notes about observed behavior.
• I asked other subject area teachers to indicate
  student participation Frequently (F),
  Occasionally (O), or Rarely/Never (N) in their
  classes to compare interest levels.
• I gave students a survey on classroom
  participation to find out student perceptions and
  feelings about class participation.

8
Data Analysis

• I transferred all information collected during
  class discussions to a database along with other
  relevant student information such as academic
  level, grades, gender, and race.
• I tallied information from student surveys and
  teacher charts which I compared with the
  classroom data to draw a variety of conclusions.
• I use the database to graph the information to
  understand it better.
• Much of my results reflect all 75 students.
  However, some results were calculated using only
  select groups.

9
Results
Whole Group vs. Small Group Participation
Small groups resulted in greater frequency of
participation among students who never
participated in whole group and little or no
decline among those who participated regularly in
whole group.
10
Small Group vs. Whole Class
What about AIG and EC students? Both groups
participated more in small groups.
11
Participation and Grades
The more frequently a student participated, the
higher their average.
12
Participation by Race

• Each groups average grade was related to their
  participation level with the exception of Asian
  students.

13
Participation by Gender
In general, the boys participated more in class
discussion than the girls.
Neither group correctly perceived their
participation rates.
14
Interest vs. Personality
  L.A. Math Sci/SS
Ronnie Frequent Frequent Frequent
AshleyB Frequent Occasional Never
JoshM Frequent Occasional Frequent
JosephP Frequent Frequent Occasional
Cody Frequent Frequent Occasional
Sterling Occasional Frequent Frequent
Warren Occasional Occasional Frequent
Rose Frequent Frequent Occasional
Daniel G Occasional Frequent Occasional
Kris Occasional Frequent Frequent
       
David Occasional Never Never
Marquisia Never Occasional Occasional
Robin Never Never Never
Josh Mi Never Never Never
Katarina Never Never Never
AshleyM Never Never Never
Andy Never Occasional Never
Elijah Never Occasional Never
JoshF Never Never Never
Katie Never Never Never
Personality
Outgoing
Talkative/Outgoing
Talkative
Talkative/Outgoing
Talkative
Quiet/Reserved
Outgoing
Talkative
Talkative
Talkative
 
Quiet/Reserved
Talkative
Quiet/Reserved
Talkative/Outgoing
Quiet/Reserved
Quiet/Reserved
Talkative
Quiet/Reserved
Quiet/Reserved
Quiet/Reserved
Personality rather than interest in a subject
area played a bigger role in whether students
participated in class.
15
Discussion

• There are many factors which influence student
  participation in class.
• According to student surveys, 96 of my students
  think participation is important, but only 83
  claim to participate.
• Both whole group and small group discussions are
  valuable, but small group seems to be a more
  comfortable setting for most students.

16
Discussion

• Reasons listed by students include
• Afraid of messing up being wrong
• People might pick on me
• Other may not agree

• Grades seem to play a large role in whether
  students choose to participate in class.
• Whole class is as valued as small group but more
  uncomfortable, so

17
Discussion

• Teachers must find ways to make students more
  comfortable with whole group
• Participation grades
• Affect on grades
• Class can create participation rules
• Keep a journal or scoring chart
• Innovative whole class strategies

18
Future Direction

• I would like to look at how different whole and
  small groups strategies work with in my classes
  and see which engage the most students and
  produce the best results.
• Another topic What can we do to help middle
  school students who are non-readers or barely
  literate.

19

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20

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