Problem Statement Revision

The information we found while conducting our literature review prompted us to revisit and revise our problem statement, in order to incorporate the ideas and themes present in the existing literature. 

Problem Statement:
We want our students to have the ability to be optimally focused on learning tasks, and to consistently demonstrate on task behavior, in order to maximize the benefit of instructional time and increase student learning and success.

A frequent problem that teachers encounter is having a few students who regularly lose focus and engage in off task behavior. If we do not work to find a way to help these students stay focused, they will not get the full benefit of instruction and won’t achieve the level of learning and success they are capable of reaching.  Not only will this result in students not adequately learning expected content standards, it will have the more devastating effect of not providing them with the base knowledge and skills they need to succeed in future learning.

We will investigate this problem in an action research project that incorporates short physical “brain breaks” into classroom lessons.  Existing research has demonstrated that physical activity is correlated with improved cognitive functions, including increases in focus and attention.  Incorporating active elements  into classroom routines provides students with needed physical activity to prime their brains for optimal concentration and mental performance.  The current literature tested the results of classroom physical activity sessions that lasted anywhere from five to twenty minutes.  Because of the of the growing pressure on teachers and administrators to maximize time spent on academic instruction, we will examine whether similar positive effects on behavior and attention can be achieved from physical breaks lasting five minutes or less.

Themes in Our Literature Review

While conducting our literature review, our team has noticed some themes in the research:

• Teachers are looking to brain breaks as a way to increase focus and reduce distraction in the classroom.
• There are a variety of types of brain breaks available to use, including yoga, deep breathing exercises, and even movement breaks that have an educational component. 
  
• Several studies have found that brain breaks do increase focus, and reduce off-task and oppositional behaviors.

A question that has arisen out of this research is...

• What happens within the brain during brain breaks that make it beneficial to students including improved behavior and academic choices?

We are refining our problem statement based on the data that we are encountering. Stay tuned!

Reviewing the Literature

This week our team has been reviewing literature applicable to our topic.  

I personally had a lot of trouble finding articles specifically related to "brain breaks."  When I decided to narrow my focus to Yoga specifically, my search was much more successful.  While reading through a few articles, I noticed a couple references to a pilot program in Milwaukee, WI using yoga in an elementary school.  In trying to find out more about the program, I found the website of Growing Minds, the organization that ran the pilot program.  I have had some contact with the Founder and President, who has introduced me to the idea of "mindfulness."  

"Mindfulness means to pay attention to the present moment, with intention, in a non-judgmental way.  It is a practice of awareness and observation." - Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer of Mindfulness in the US and the teacher who brought Mindfulness into the field of medicine and health

Thirty years of empirical research shows that a regular mindfulness practice increases attention, executive functioning (processing information and learning), emotional regulation, stress reduction, empathy, and a variety of other positive effects. 
- http://mindsincorporated.org/mindfulness/

I have already ordered a couple of books on this topic and look forward to learning more about mindfulness, so that I may consider using this when teaching brain breaks to my classroom.  I'll be practicing on my own children as well. 

Writing Our Problem Statement

This week our team discussed the problem statement on which we would like to base our projects. We have decided to study the effects of "brain breaks" on students' ability to stay focused.

Problem Statement:

We want our students to have the ability to be optimally focused on learning tasks, and to consistently demonstrate on task behavior, in order to maximize the benefit of instructional time and increase student learning and success.

Currently, there are a significant number of students in specific classes who frequently lose focus and engage in off task behavior. If we do not solve this problem, these students will not get the full benefit of instruction and won’t achieve the level of learning and success they are capable of. Not only will this result in them not adequately learning the current material, it will have the more devastating effect of not providing them with the base knowledge they need in order to succeed in future learning.

We will tackle this problem by incorporating short physical “brain breaks” into our lessons, providing the students with needed physical activity in order to prime their brains for optimal concentration and mental performance.

Questions:

1.       Will short physical brain breaks during a lesson decrease the occurrence of off task behavior with target students during the class period immediately following the brain break?

2.      Will routinely incorporating physical brain breaks into lessons, and thus providing students with the knowledge that such breaks are coming in each class period, decrease the occurrence of off task behavior with target students overall?

The Big Picture-Action Research and an Overview of Research in Education

Research falls into two broad categories, basic research and applied research.  A major difference between basic and applied research has to do with the fact that applied research is used to answer a specific question that has direct applications to the real world, while basic research tends not to be applicable to the real world in a direct way, rather it is driven purely by curiosity and a desire to expand our knowledge and enhance our understanding.  The main difference between the two types of research is what they will be used for. Will the research be used to help us understand a real world problem and solve it, or will the research further our general information?

Action research is one form of applied research.  Action research is used to address a specific problem using the scientific principles of research, however it utilizes less rigorous methodologies than other forms of applied research.  Action research is done by people, such as educational leaders, while they are carrying out their professional actions from day to day.  There are 3 forms of action research in education:  Individual, collaborative, and schoolwide.  Individual action research is when an individual conducts a research project focusing on a specific class or activity.  Collaborative action research involves a team of individuals and may focus on one classroom or many classrooms.  Schoolwide action research involves the entire community of the school.  The most common use of action research is evaluation research.  Evaluation research is the gathering of data in order to make an informed decision and is used to assess the quality of a particular practice or program in a class or school.

Action research can take either a quantitative or qualitative approach.  Quantitative research relies on numerical data while qualitative research utilizes detailed descriptions of the phenomena observed.  Examples of qualitative methods include ethnography, case study, and historical inquiry.  Quantitative methods include descriptive research, including survey and observational research, correlational research, and group comparison, which encompasses experimental, quasi-experimental, and ex post facto methods.

Learning Lightbulbs has Launched

Learning Lightbulbs’ first week was a busy one!   First, we came together as a team and narrowed our team focus and description.  We have created our team in order to collaborate on designing an action research project to systematically evaluate and analyze our teaching practices as elementary school teachers in order to improve teaching and learning in our schools and increase student performance.

Our team will work collaboratively to design our action research project.  While we may work independently on various small portions of the project, frequent communication will occur during all stages of the project's development.  Team members will meet in person on designated evenings, and will communicate via Smart PD team messages, phone, email, and our team blog between meetings to ensure constant collaboration.

This week our main activities centered on familiarizing ourselves with action research, exploring what it is and how it fits into the greater research picture, and how it can be utilized in educational settings in order to best improve teaching and learning.  Individually each team member read about action research in education, both in our textbook and using online resources, and completed learning activities in order to process and synthesize our new knowledge.  We then used Smart PD team messages to share our thoughts and build upon one another’s ideas, in order to allow all team members to achieve a comprehensive understanding of action research and provide a strong starting point for our work in the weeks to come.