Student Reactions to Engaging Lesson Plans
Student Self-Report Inventories
After gathering student ideas for engaging lessons and activities, I am now at my phase of collecting data for these plans after executing the lessons. For the activities I measured, I provided students with self-report inventories to measure student engagement tailored to each activity.
To recap, my research question states: How can I maximize the civic engagement of my 12th-grade government students upon their graduation in time to vote in the 2020 election? In my last post, I reported that I found that my research correlated with student ideas of group projects, debates, role plays, current events discussions, and political simulations for real-world conflicts. I am finding through my journey thus far that empowering students with a voice regarding their learning is making a monumental difference both for me as a teacher and for their engagement in government class. Student ownership of their learning has led to increased engagement. I continue to encourage student ideas as we continue the data collection phase. Making students feel a part of the process has made them feel more like we, teacher and students, are a team.
Therefore, following are three activities I have done with my students that I measured through self-report inventories.
Group Project: How a Bill Becomes a Law
Students were provided with a variety of choices to demonstrate their understanding of how a bill becomes a law. Students chose their project groups, legislation to follow that had been recently enacted into law, and type of final product. These included creating a game, website, video, and podcast. Students reported that the project was interesting, contributed to their understanding of the legislative process, and that they enjoyed the array of choices provided for the project.
Debate: Class Debate on the Electoral College
After student research, we had a debate on the electoral college, created by student request during our unit on the presidency. Students found the debate engaging and reported that they learned a lot about the electoral college from the activity. They also shared that they would like to conduct another debate on a topic of interest.
Real-World Understandings: Supreme Court Newspaper
Students researched cases regarding the development of the “separate but equal” clause after Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 until Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Students shared that the activity was interesting, that it enhanced their understanding about Supreme Court dealings on issues over time, and also of their knowledge about “separate but equal.”
I am pleased that so far my data is demonstrating increased engagement and interest in these topics. Next, I will report out on two Supreme Court simulations created to both enhance their understanding of the process and of current judicial topics. Continue to join me on my journey on this Medium blog and also on Twitter, hashtags #setlab, #educationscientist, and #changebydesign.
