Synopsis
Professor Cindy D’On Jones seeked to find out how different approaches to teaching kindergarten students various writing skills affected how they acquired those skills. Instead of the usual one independent variable experiment, two different teaching styles were compared independently of each other to the controlled, “normal” teaching style. Ultimately, the researchers found that the differing teaching styles did not affect the improvement of students’ scores on the foundational writing skills test, but the controlled writing group did not have a score increase as large as the other two groups in the compositional writing skills test.
Effects of Writing Instruction on Kindergarten Students’ Writing Achievement The purpose of this experimental study was to compare the different styles of teaching kindergarten writing skills. Found in a mid-sized Western city, two schools of the same district enlisted six teachers and 112 students in the study. Researchers hypothesized that the foundation writing skills would be learned at the same pace, …show more content…
As always, there may be some limit to the random assignment: One, two, or a few of the teachers may have been given a style that benefits them. Also, it is hard to control the placement of students who may benefit from one teaching style more than another. A child who may be considered “gifted” (I know it’s hard to distinguish that at this point in life) may flourish in certain environments but not in the one he/she was assigned. Furthermore, a child who needs a little extra support may learn better when the teacher points him/her in one direction or another than when he/she is left to fend for his/herself. Overall though, this experiment may lend a lot of support for the movement away from the conventional teaching style towards one that encourages interaction between a young student and his/her peer, teacher, or
Professor Cindy D’On Jones seeked to find out how different approaches to teaching kindergarten students various writing skills affected how they acquired those skills. Instead of the usual one independent variable experiment, two different teaching styles were compared independently of each other to the controlled, “normal” teaching style. Ultimately, the researchers found that the differing teaching styles did not affect the improvement of students’ scores on the foundational writing skills test, but the controlled writing group did not have a score increase as large as the other two groups in the compositional writing skills test.
Effects of Writing Instruction on Kindergarten Students’ Writing Achievement The purpose of this experimental study was to compare the different styles of teaching kindergarten writing skills. Found in a mid-sized Western city, two schools of the same district enlisted six teachers and 112 students in the study. Researchers hypothesized that the foundation writing skills would be learned at the same pace, …show more content…
As always, there may be some limit to the random assignment: One, two, or a few of the teachers may have been given a style that benefits them. Also, it is hard to control the placement of students who may benefit from one teaching style more than another. A child who may be considered “gifted” (I know it’s hard to distinguish that at this point in life) may flourish in certain environments but not in the one he/she was assigned. Furthermore, a child who needs a little extra support may learn better when the teacher points him/her in one direction or another than when he/she is left to fend for his/herself. Overall though, this experiment may lend a lot of support for the movement away from the conventional teaching style towards one that encourages interaction between a young student and his/her peer, teacher, or