penny robotham 26 th june 2009 action research palava

Penny Robotham 26 th June 2009

Action Research

Palava

http://palava.wikispaces.com/





Some of our interests

• Effective use of exercise books

• Revision strategies and intervention

• Modelling

• Cognitive dissonance


Science revision - what is it in practice?


Overview

• I wanted to know how pupils were preparing for exams

• and what I could do to facilitate their revision

• and improve their exam performance.


Starting point….

• It was obvious on ‘book return day’ that the majority of pupils had not appeared to have ever referred to their textbooks

• It appeared that pupils favoured ‘revision guides’ and did not refer back to their class notes.


Was this the case?

• In light of the changes to the GCSE specifications – should we buy text books that would be ‘unused’?

• Or should we invest in revision guides only?

Cost GCSE textbook £3000

Cost revision guide and workbook £500

Saving £2500

Cost AS and A2 textbook £3500

Cost revision guide and workbook £400

Total Saving £5600


So how do you revise?

• Asked – KS4 pupils

• Year 11 pupils who had just prepared for Mock Examinations (2008 cohort)

• Year 10 pupils who had just sat module examination. (2008 cohort)

• Follow up data – now they have sat GCSEs


The findings…


Year 10 Revision Strategies

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

use exercisebook

revisionguide

intranet pastpapers

A4 reviewsheets

revisionw heel

mindmaps w orkbook bitesize otherrevisioncards

Revisionsession


Year 10 Males

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

use exercisebook

revisionguide

intranet pastpapers

A4 reviewsheets

revisionw heel


Revisionsession


Year 10 Female

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

use exercisebook

revisionguide

intranet pastpapers

A4 reviewsheets

revisionw heel


Revisionsession


Surprises?

• Significant majority of pupils worked through their ‘workbook’ independently

• More using exercise books than previously thought

How did my practice change?


What do you use most?

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

use exercisebook

revision guide intranet pastpapers

A4 reviewsheets

revision w heel mindmaps w orkbook bitesize other


So what have we done?

• Developed a range of tasks to help pupils when using their revision guides

• E.g. Choose a diagram from any page of your revision guide and then describe it in words


Increasing the A-A* pass rate through active learning

How have I changed my practice?


Pupils Wanted More

• Games

• Instant feedback

• More mocks


Traffic light books

Making more effective use of revision guides

Learning Talks

Intranet

Active revision

Some of the revision

strategies


Follow up questionnaires

Year 11 (2009)


Any changes?How do you revision (2009 Cohort)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Exercise Book Revision Guide Past Papers Making ownnotes

Teacher providedsummary notes

Mindmaps Workbook Bitesize

Boys

Girls

When in Year 10


Any changes?What do you use most? (2009 cohort)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Exercise Book Revision Guide Past Papers Making own notes Teacher providedsummary notes

Mindmaps Workbook Bitesize

Boys

Girls

Year 10


Where next

• Develop own use mind maps (Petty)

• Questionnaires Year 12 (Original 2007 cohort)


Does it matter if we don’t have textbooks?

A*-C A-A*

2004 96% 66%

2008 100% 90%

Biology Chemistry Physics

2004 26 29 14

2009 44 53 23

Post – 16 Option Uptake

% pupils choosing subjects

Any Questions?


More info?

http://sciencevideobank.wikispaces.com//


Email: [email protected]

http://sciencevideobank.wikispaces.com/

http://sciencevideobank.wikispaces.com/




penny robotham 26 th june 2009 action research palava

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