RUNNING HEAD: ENGAGEMENT

Engagement Dianne J.E. Kraus Wilkes University

ENGAGEMENT Abstract
The thirty students in the mini-study were a diverse group of Advanced Biology students from Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, Illinois. The students were shown a video about a

fourteen year old girl who died two weeks ago after consuming two monster energy drinks. Caffeine drinks are being consumed by all teenagers at a dangerous level and the students were able to test their own response to caffeinated sodas after developing their own hypothesis and experimental design. The students were given a choice to test heart rate, blood pressure or electrocardiogram. The target learning goal for this lesson was that students will develop and test a hypothesis designed for

a student interest topic.

ENGAGEMENT Engagement In this mini-study of engagement the teacher presented the students with a current

news video about a fourteen year old girl who drank two monster energy drinks and died. The purpose of this video was to connect to the students lives on an issue that would interest them and incorporate application of knowledge so that the students could master the following learning goal: Students will be able to make a hypothesis about a student interest topic to design and conduct an experiment to test their hypothesis. (Appendix 1). During the lesson, the teacher stopped the video at critical points so that the students could discuss the data and to relate the information to their own lives. The teacher established the need for the students to generate and test their hypothesis based on the effect of caffeine on the variable of the students choice. The students were organized into groups of four to five students to help them generate and test their hypothesis. Students were able to describe the importance of the content and expressed their interest in learning more about their own responses to caffeine consumption using their choice of variables of heart rate, blood pressure and electrocardiogram. The teacher was aware of student interests and made connections between these interests and the class content of conducting an experiment to test a studentgenerated hypothesis. During this experimental investigation the teacher was able to engage the students in the content, and the students were able to explain their hypothesis, and explain whether their hypothesis was confirmed or disconfirmed. The teacher used a formal peer reviewed lab report (Appendix 2) as an assessment of the students performance and was able to determine the proficiency level of the learning goal based on student artifacts.

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The teacher conducted the same lesson in three classes, and found that the students in the videotape were unwilling to discuss their true consumption of caffeine on-camera due to possible disciplinary action from their parents. Off camera the teacher heard stories of emergency room visits to the hospital after consuming monster drinks, high blood pressure problems, dizziness and other related medical issues. Some of the students had experienced affects of caffeine but did not connect the symptoms to the drinks until they were actually conducting their experiments. All of the students wanted to participate as the test subjects and this resulted in an overwhelming amount of data. Students were eager to make their graphs and to analyze their data. The students discovered that students who did not drink caffeine were more sensitive to the tests. They also found that some students had a hypersensitivity to the drug. All participants expressed interest and were very excited. The use of student interest to engage the students in learning of instructional procedures and concepts pulls the students into their learning so that they are excited to learn more. The students do not consider the work as boring or as learning but more of fun and interest. The learning is a bi-product of what they want to do rather than forcing them to complete work that is something they must learn to get a grade and pass a class. Most students find experimentation difficult to complete because they must utilize knowledge and analyze data to make connections. They also complain when representing the data in a graph. By incorporating student interest the students were motivated to learn and think deeply about the content because the data was collected based on their own blood pressure, EKG and heart rates. They were eager to compare their numbers to the data of the girl that died. The data

ENGAGEMENT

was personal and meaningful because they analyzed their own health risks when they engage in behaviors that are not regulated. Some of the students took the lab one step further and turned it into a service learning project, and they were designing a project to increase community awareness by writing letters to our government representatives in order to protect the health of teenagers in Illinois. The teacher was very impressed by the students desire to get involved. As a result the students needed to prepare very official lab reports of their results (Appendix 3), that would support their claims and the best ones were sent with their letters to our local officials. The students were also planning to write articles in the school newspaper to alert their peers to the dangers of drinking stimulants in energy drinks and they want to explore and compare the affects of athletes versus non-athletes which would qualify as an Honors Project. If they follow through with this project the students will qualify for Honors credit in Biology. This lesson was innovating in its presentation and outcomes. The teacher plans to support the student interest towards continuing this project as the students were engaging in relevant real world science. One challenge with this implementation is the amount of time involved, however, the students were willing to work outside of class time to complete this task. The saying less is more applies to this situation, because the learning goals need to be less in order for students to learn more and more deeply about the content. As a result of connecting to student interests, engagement increased and the students wanted to get involved in a multi-disciplinary project of their own design.

ENGAGEMENT References Marzano, R.J. (2007). The art and science of teaching. Alexandria, VA:ASCD Marzano, R.J. (2009). Designing & teaching learning goals & objectives. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory Marzano, R.J. & Pickering D.J. (2011). The highly engaged classroom. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory

ENGAGEMENT APPENDIX 1 Experimental Design Scale 4.0 Students will be able to make a hypothesis about a student interest topic to design and conduct an experiment to test their hypothesis. No major errors or omissions regarding the score 4.0 content In addition to score 3.0 performance, partial success at score 4.0 content Students will be able to identify errors in scientific design and give peer feedback for revision.

3.5 3.0

2.5 2.0

No major errors or omissions regarding the score 3.0 content No major errors or omissions regarding score 2.0 content, and partial success at score 3.0 content Students will be able to describe the key parts of a controlled scientific experiment. No major errors or omissions regarding the score 2.0 content Partial success at score 2.0 content, but major errors or omissions regarding score 3.0 content With help, partial success at score 2.0 content and score 3.0 content With help, partial success at score 2.0 content but not at score 3.0 content Even with help, no success

1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0

ENGAGEMENT APPENDIX 2

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ENGAGEMENT APPENDIX 3

10

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11