Do Interactive Whiteboards Improve the Motivation and

Attitudes of Reluctant Readers?

An action research project by Katy Fitzgerald

2008

Abstract

The aim of this action research project was to investigate whether guided reading sessions could be enhanced through the use of an interactive whiteboard. Students were initially surveyed on their enjoyment of reading and their perception of their reading ability after a term of standard guided reading sessions (using paper copies of the text for the day), and again at the end of term three after a term of guided reading sessions using the text scanned onto the interactive whiteboard instead. Overall, through teacher observation of guided reading sessions and analysis of the students’ surveys, the research suggests that interactive whiteboards do work towards improving the motivation of students and their perceptions of their reading abilities. This is also supported by current research into the use of interactive whiteboards in classrooms, discussed in the literature review below.

Introduction

On returning to my position as a year seven teacher after nine months’ maternity leave, I was amazed at the major technological changes in the school in the short time I had been away. Slipping back into the ‘same old’ classroom routine was no longer an option! The main technological change that I noticed in my classroom was the introduction of an interactive whiteboard. The need to discover how to use it effectively (rather than as a glorified projector screen) and the school-wide focus on effective group guided reading sessions led me to develop my action research idea: can interactive whiteboards improve the motivation and achievement of readers who are struggling?

The reluctant readers I have observed in my six years of teaching have often been unmotivated and reluctant to participate, so I decided to see if the use of the interactive whiteboard during guided reading sessions could improve the motivation and participation of the students in my lowest reading group. This reading group was based around students who achieved a result of stanine four or less in the STAR reading test completed at school in February.

Normally this group would work through a guided reading lesson with me using a paper copy of a written text. Their lesson would appear to be no different than that of a group achieving higher than them in reading, except the text and instruction would obviously be at an appropriate level for them. My action research involved having the guided reading text scanned onto the interactive whiteboard and read from there. I highlighted difficult words and teaching points within the text that I was going to discuss. I also used the ‘reveal tool’ so that the students were only focusing on certain parts of the text at a time, rather than being swamped with the whole page.

Literature Review

Glover & Wood (2001) describe interactive whiteboards as improving the motivation and involvement of children, as well as improving their behaviour during learning sessions. This is said to be due to the fact that they allow more student interaction which, in turn, increases students’ self esteem when they are able to add their own contributions to what is on the board ( www.becta.org.uk/research). This research also states that interactive whiteboards cater more effectively for a range of learning needs and styles, allowing students to process more difficult material than in more traditional teaching styles.

In terms of reading sessions specifically, research supporting the use of interactive whiteboards suggests that they significantly improve the effectiveness of teacher modelling and guiding during lessons. Guided reading lessons are improved via the text and graphic organisers being able to be projected to the whole group and analysed together (Tom Snyder Productions, 2006).

Cogill (2002) cautiously suggests that interactive whiteboards won’t always change teaching a lot, but will provide more “flexibility”, as long as teachers are prepared to accept and learn to use the technology. This flexibility, I believe, goes for students as well as teachers in terms of teaching styles and learning styles. This research does not provide a case for or against the use of interactive whiteboards in particular, rather it discusses the different uses of interactive whiteboards in a range of primary school classrooms.

Passey et al (2003) reviewed the use of ICT in primary and secondary school classrooms, in terms of how it affected the motivation and achievement of pupils. It was found through talking to both teachers and pupils that the use of ICT, particularly interactive whiteboards, had a positive effect on pupils’ engagement, research skills, writing and editing, and presentation of their work. More specifically, students were able to hear and see material better and move things around, which resulted in more successful learning.

Overall, the research reviewed above concludes that both students and teachers appear to have received interactive whiteboards positively, and there is evidence to suggest that student motivation could be positively influenced by the use of interactive whiteboards. Obviously this will only work when teachers are prepared to accept and use the whiteboards to the best of their ability and extend themselves where necessary to incorporate them effectively into their classroom teaching. The acceptance of whiteboards by the students would obviously be a key also.

Research Methods

My research project began with a survey of the students in my lowest reading group; students who achieved stanine four or less in the STAR reading assessment completed in class at the beginning of the year (appendix 1). The group consisted of one girl (Student A) and four boys (Students B, C, D and E). The school also uses an AsTTle reading assessment, but problems logging into the website meant that I was unable to use this data. All of the children who identified as stanine 4 or below in the STAR test also identified as 2P in the AsTTle test though, suggesting they had trouble locating information in a text.

These students were given a survey to complete asking them about their attitude towards reading, how good they thought they were at reading, and how useful they found group reading sessions (appendix 2). This survey was completed at the start of term 2, and followed up with ‘standard’ guided reading sessions for the remainder of the term using a paper copy of the reading text.

In term 3, I introduced the reading group to guided reading sessions using the interactive whiteboard. This was achieved by scanning the group’s reading texts so they could be read on the interactive whiteboard, and highlighting key words and phrases to initiate discussions (appendix 3). After the first session, I realised that I needed to give the students a hard copy of the text as well, as some of the students struggled to read the text clearly on the whiteboard.

All guided reading sessions with this particular group were planned and completed in this way for the duration of term 3. I then gave the students the same survey from the start of term 2 to complete again to see if their attitude, enjoyment and/or perception of their achievement had changed.

Research Findings

Students’ Initial Survey:All of the students rated themselves ‘very high’ for how good they were at reading (question 1) but the questions that followed, which were more specific, provided a range of responses from the students.

Finding info Enjoyment Helpfulness Overall enjoymentStudent A Very low Very low Halfway Halfway

Student B Very high Halfway Very high Very high

Student C Halfway Very high Very high Very high

Student D Low High Low High

Student E Halfway Very high Very high High

When it came to analysing the surveys, I realised that questions 3 and 5 were basically asking the same thing, although some students put different responses for each of the two questions which was interesting. As you can see in the table, a range of responses were given for most questions, although overall enjoyment was rated halfway – very high

Modified reading session 1:Here I introduced the use of the interactive whiteboard. All children in the group were enthusiastic at the prospect of using the interactive whiteboard, especially as they knew they were the only group in the class to do so for guided reading. Highlighting key parts of the text was useful for the children to know where to focus and also to remind me of intended discussion points if they didn’t come up naturally during the lesson. The ‘reveal tool’ also helped focus the students on the text I wanted them to read.

Unfortunately, although I scanned at the highest resolution I could find on the photocopier, this particular text used a range of font sizes and some were too small to be read on the whiteboard easily. Luckily I had some paper copies of the text for the children to use when this was the case. One other noteworthy point would be that the session tended to dominate the whole classroom through the use of the interactive whiteboard, although this isn’t necessarily a problem. Some children working on individual tasks at their desks instinctively put their hands up to answer the questions I posed to the reading group! Otherwise, there were no obvious negatives in this session.

Further reading sessions:The resolution did not seem to be as a much of a problem in subsequent sessions, and the motivation of the students remained high. The children still needed access to paper copies of the text for when they were back at their desks answering comprehension questions.

Students’ Concluding Survey:This survey was conducted at the end of term three. It was the same survey as completed in term two, and the same students were surveyed. I told the students to think about the guided reading sessions we had done in term three using the interactive whiteboard when they were completing their surveys. Student C was absent for the week this data was analysed in.

Participant Finding info Enjoyment Helpfulness Overall enjoyment

Student A Very low Halfway Very low High Halfway High Halfway Halfway

Student B Very high Halfway Halfway High Very high Very high Very high Halfway

Student C Halfway Very high Very high Very high

Student D Low Halfway High Halfway Low Halfway High High

Student E Halfway Halfway Very high Halfway Very high High High Halfway

Term 2 Term 3 Term 2 Term 3 Term 2 Term 3 Term 2 Term 3

Discussion

Comparing the surveys was an interesting task, as some questions showed obvious trends and some did not. In general, responses were more positive in the second survey, although this was not always the case.

In terms of finding information, all students except one agreed that this skill improved or remained the same after the interactive whiteboard sessions. The helpfulness of sessions consistently improved for all students which is a real positive as they could obviously see the benefits of their guided reading sessions. A major focus of this research was on enjoyment of guided reading sessions, and the survey results show that although all students rated this at halfway or more, some students’ perceptions of enjoyment decreased between terms two and three. However, my teacher observation during guided reading sessions helps me to confidently claim that the students appeared a lot more motivated during sessions involving the interactive whiteboard. Again, overall enjoyment ranked from halfway to high in the surveys.

The survey results need to be considered in conjunction with observations during guided reading lessons. As with all classroom based research, it needs to be remembered that the results from one day or even one term may only be a snapshot and will not necessarily be the same the next time. Next time it might be useful for the second survey to direct the students more, with questions that ask them to compare themselves after using the whiteboard to when they used paper copies of the text. Also, the survey was not completed during or after a guided reading session, which may have also influenced responses.

Conclusion

I believe from completing this action research project that the interactive whiteboard is a useful tool to be integrated into guided reading sessions, for motivation and enjoyment of students, as well as making teaching points easier to put across. This is also backed up by the research of others discussed in my literature review, and in continuing the incorporation of information technology in classrooms. I would wholeheartedly recommend the use of an interactive whiteboard for guided reading lessons, and intend to continue to develop my use of the interactive whiteboard as well as introducing it to the other reading groups in my class.

References

Cogill, Julie (2002) How is the Interactive Whiteboard Being Used in the Primary School and How Does This Affect Teachers and Teaching

Tom Snyder Productions (2006) Harness the Power of Projectors and Interactive Whiteboards

Passey, Don; Rogers, Colin; Machell, Joan; McHugh, Gilly; Allaway, Dave (2003) The Motivational Effect of ICT on Pupils. Emerging Findings. Lancaster University

www.becta.org.uk/research

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Iain Bonney for his suggestions and guidance with my initial ideas and how to go about investigating them.

Thanks to Simon Clarke for providing me with so many relevant readings to help my start off my literature review.

Appendices

Appendix 1. STAR reading test from the start of the year

Appendix 2. Student survey – before and after

Reading – what do you think?

Name: ____________________ Date: ______________________

1. How good do you think you are at reading?

______________________________________________________________

2. How good do you think you are at finding the information the teacher asks you for in the text?

______________________________________________________________

3. How much do you enjoy group reading sessions?

______________________________________________________________

4. How useful are group reading sessions for helping you with reading?

______________________________________________________________

5. I enjoy group reading sessions …

______________________________________________________________

Appendix 3. Examples of interactive whiteboard pages from guided reading sessions