Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles

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Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles Digital Collections @ Dordt Master of Education Program Theses 4-2017 Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles Julie Pickard Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/med_theses Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Pickard, Julie, "Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles" (2017). Master of Education Program Theses. 115. https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/med_theses/115 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Collections @ Dordt. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Education Program Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Collections @ Dordt. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles Abstract This action research study investigated the impact of visual formative assessments on the achievement levels of students with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. The study was conducted in four classes of freshmen at Southwest Christian High School in Chaska, MN, with a total of eighty-four participants. Two pairs were created for the study with control and treatment groups in each pair. Students were classified according to learning style, and a unit pre-test was administered to identify growth. Treatment groups were instructed using daily visual formative assessments for the duration of the unit. Students were assessed again at the end of the instructional unit to obtain data for comparisons and analysis. The results of this study indicated a meaningfully positive impact on the achievement levels of kinesthetic learners through the use of visual formative assessments. Document Type Thesis Degree Name Master of Education (MEd) Department Graduate Education First Advisor Steve Holtrop Keywords Master of Education, thesis, learning styles, academic achievement, high school students, Christian education, educational evaluation, visual learning Subject Categories Curriculum and Instruction | Education Comments Action Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education This thesis is available at Digital Collections @ Dordt: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/med_theses/115 Formative Assessment and Learning Styles Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles by Julie Pickard B.A. University of Northwestern St. Paul, 2004 Action Research Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education Department of Education Dordt College Sioux Center, Iowa April 2017 Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles ii Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles By Julie Pickard Approved: ___________________________ Faculty Advisor ___________________________ Date Approved: ___________________________ Director of Graduate Education ___________________________ Date Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles iii Table of Contents Title page ......................................................................................................................................... i Approval ......................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii Lists of Tables ................................................................................................................................ iv List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................v Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Review of Literature ........................................................................................................................4 Methods..........................................................................................................................................15 Results ............................................................................................................................................20 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................30 References ......................................................................................................................................34 Appendices Appendix A: Learning Style Questionnaire .......................................................................37 Appendix B: Student Learning Profile Record ..................................................................38 Appendix C: Visual Formative Assessment: Flash Card Template...................................39 Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles iv List of Tables Table Page 1. Overall Pair Data................................................................................................................20 2. Subset-Visual Learners ......................................................................................................22 3. Subset-Auditory Learners ..................................................................................................23 4. Subset-Kinesthetic Learners ..............................................................................................24 5. Subset-Multiple Learning Style Learners ..........................................................................25 6. Treatment Groups Growth Comparison.............................................................................26 7. Bottom 50% of Student Growth from among treatment groups ........................................27 8. Top 50% of Student Growth from among treatment groups .............................................28 9. Kinesthetic Treatment groups by gender ...........................................................................29 Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles v List of Figures Figure Page 1. Overall Pair Data................................................................................................................21 2. Subset-Visual Learners ......................................................................................................22 3. Subset-Auditory Learners ..................................................................................................23 4. Subset-Kinesthetic Learners ..............................................................................................24 5. Subset-Multiple Learning Style Learners ..........................................................................26 6. Treatment Groups Growth Comparison.............................................................................27 7. Bottom 50% of Student Growth from among treatment groups ........................................28 8. Top 50% of Student Growth from among treatment groups .............................................29 9. Kinesthetic Treatment groups by gender ...........................................................................30 Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles vi Abstract This action research study investigated the impact of visual formative assessments on the achievement levels of students with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. The study was conducted in four classes of freshmen at Southwest Christian High School in Chaska, MN, with a total of eighty-four participants. Two pairs were created for the study with control and treatment groups in each pair. Students were classified according to learning style, and a unit pre-test was administered to identify growth. Treatment groups were instructed using daily visual formative assessments for the duration of the unit. Students were assessed again at the end of the instructional unit to obtain data for comparisons and analysis. The results of this study indicated a meaningfully positive impact on the achievement levels of kinesthetic learners through the use of visual formative assessments. Keywords: Learning Styles Visual Formative Assessment and Learning Styles 1 “Turn to the person next to you and discuss your thoughts.” “Demonstrate your understanding of this material visually through a graphic organizer.” “In your small group create a hand motion to help you remember each of these terms.” In recent decades education has fundamentally shifted to a student-centered approach with great emphasis on understanding the student by means of learning style and preferences (Boston, 2002; Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork, 2008). Countless inventories and categorizing tools have been created, implemented, and analyzed (Tomlinson & Demirsky, 2000). As such, the need to evaluate students’ learning styles and develop instructional methods to match such preferences has gained considerable momentum in the field of education (Rogowsky, 2015). Teachers at every grade level are integrating strategies like those given above in order to meet students in their desired learning style to maximize learning outcomes. Similarly, and in the same time frame, a growing interest in the use of formative assessment to enhance student performance has developed (Black & Wiliam, 1998). Stiggins defines formative assessment
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