East Fairmont High School

1. Analyze test data at your PDS site.What percent of students are achieving Mastery or above in any content area?
Science -- Above Mastery 19.50% Mastery 14.50 Distinguished 7.50

2. Provide a brief explanation of the learning need.
The proficient percentage of the comprehension of science content is 41.50, which is below half. So, the need for students to read science and understand the content is what needs to improve.

3. Find an Instructional Intervention that you might use to address the learning need.
Read in Groups -- a strategy called, Jigsaw. In this reading strategy, students are assigned to a group, sometimes called the home, base, or beginning group. Each member is assigned a chunk of the reading material. Stduents will write information in a graphic organizer. Then students meet in expert groups with other students who were assigned the same chunk. The experts decide what is most important in that segment and then return to their home groups to share the information. Finally, they present the material to the class. This activity engages the students in summarizing, and the graphic organizers they produce can serve as notes on the topic. This strategy is a good way to cover a long reading assignment.

4. Write down three pieces of evidence that the strategy works.
•Organizing students in heterogeneous cooperative learning groups at least once a week has a significant effect on learning (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).

•Advance organizers, including graphic ones, help students learn new concepts and vocabulary (Stone, 1983). Presenting information graphically as well as symbolically in an advance organizer reinforces vocabulary learning and supports reading skills. (Brookbank Grover, Kullberg, & Strawser, 1999; Moore & Readence 1984).

•Students have to analyze information at a deep level in order to decide what information to delete, what to substitute, and what to keep when they are asked to give a summary (Anderson, V., & Hidi, 1988/1989; Hidi & Anderson, 1987).

•When students review and revise their own notes, the notes become more meaningful and useful (Anderson & Armbruster, 1986; Denner, 1986; Einstein, Morris, & Smith, 1985).

5. What is your Question?
Does an instructional intervention that draws on multiple learning styles improve students comprehension of science content.

6. What kind of assessment you will use to help you collect data.
An ongoing assessment such as concept mapping to evaluate whether the students are retaining and understanding the content.