RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Alex Reynolds, Catherine Hill &

Laura Guilfoyle

WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF TRADITIONAL VERSUS TACTUAL-KINAESTHETIC INSTRUCTION ON SHORT TERM KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION AND ATTITUDE IN MIDDLE YEARS STUDENTS?

SUB-QUESTION Do students of all learning styles

respond positively to tactual-kinaesthetic instruction?

KEY TERMS Traditional Instruction – techniques

such as ‘chalk and talk’, lectures, assigned readings and teacher-directed.

Tactual-kinaesthetic instruction – teaching methods requiring students to physically move, handle manipulatives, and participate in concrete, real-life experiences.

WHY THIS QUESTION?

Disengagement in the middle years

A lot of instruction in the middle

years is verbal and visual

Enable teachers to reach students

through more varied learning styles

Current focus on using kinaesthetic

teaching for students with ADHD

WHY ACTION RESEARCH? This research project can be

implemented within our own classrooms

The results of this will be used to inform our own teaching

WHAT DOES THE LITERATURE SAY? Farkas (2003). Research with year 7

students taught using a multisensory approach showed an increase in performance and attitude.

Rule, Dockstader & Stewart (2006). US study of 34 students. Implemented tactile and kinaesthetic activities and found they increased target skills.

Peacock (2001). Hong Kong study. Found many students felt a mismatch between teaching and learning styles seriously affected their learning.

LITERATURE CONTINUED

Honigsfeld & Dunn (2009). “The best strategies for engaging tactual and kinaesthetic learners’ minds are to engage their hands and bodies with manipulative instructional resources or to allow them to learn on their feet” (p.221).

Stanford (2003). “New assessments should not focus on whether or not students can acquire knowledge but on whether or not they can acquire the disposition to use skills and strategies appropriately” (p.84).

RESEARCH APPROACH Action research Tactile-kinaesthetic activities will

be implemented in the classroom in around half of all lessons, both to teach new content and reinforce prior knowledge and understanding

How?

DATA COLLECTION/INSTRUMENTS Previous reports/marks/results Time-on-task (every 15 minutes) Teacher log/journal Student work samples Face scales or likert-type scale to assess

attitudes towards subject as a whole and individual lessons

Learning styles assessment Summative assessment of learning such as

oral or dramatic presentation, posters, etc.

DATA ANALYSIS

Quantitative Qualitative

Previous marks vs. Current

Likert scale/face scale

Time-on-task data Descriptive

statistics

Student work samples

Teacher notes/log/journal

Learning style inventory

Inferential statistics

Determine whether we will use tactile-kinaesthetic teaching techniques for all students

Determine frequency of use of tactile-kinaesthetic methods in our teaching

POTENTIAL USE OF THE FINDINGS

REFERENCES Anderson. A, Rumsey. R (2002) Channeling energy using bodily-kinesthetic

intelligence: helping children with ADHD. Physical & Health Education Journal. Gloucester. 68(3)

Bruer, J. T (1991) The Brain and Child Development: Time For Some Critical Thinking. Public Health Reports, 113 (5), 98-387

Farkas. R. D (2003) The Effects of Traditional versus Learning-Styles Instructional Methods in Middle Years. The Journal of Educational Research. 97(1) 42-54.

Honigsfeld, A. & Dunn, R. (2009). Learning-style responsive approaches for teaching typically performing and at-risk adolescents. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 82(5) 220-224.

Lengel, T and Kuczala, M, (2010). The Kinesthetic Classroom: Teaching and Learning Through Movement. RTC & Corwin. USA.

Peacock, M. (2006). Match or mismatch? Learning styles and teaching styles in EFL. International journal of applied linguistics, 11(1) 1-20.

Piries. B (Dec. 1995) Meaning through Motion: Kinesthetic English. The English Journal, Vol. 84, No. 8, pp. 46-51

Rule, A., Dockstader, C. J. & Stewart, R.A. (2006). Hands-on and kinaesthetic activities for teaching phonological awareness. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(3) 195-201.

Stanford, S. (2003). Multiple Intelligence for every classroom. Intervention in school and clinic, 39(2) 80-85.

Touval. A, Westreich. G. (April 2003) Teaching sums of angle measures: A kinesthetic approach. The Mathematics Teacher. 96(4) pg. 230

THANK YOU For further references and information

please see related word document