Third Time's a Charm

Like the cliché says, this is my third (and hopefully) final attempt at carrying out my research project. I'm really hoping this is the one that leads to the charm also known as my diploma. It hasn't been for a lack of trying... there has just been a COVID-19 pandemic standing in my way. As light as my commentary may sound, the situation itself has been taken seriously and not been handled lightly.

As most schools were, my district was also physically closed for the majority of the spring 2020 semester with teaching and learning continuing completely online throughout the remainder of the school year. Then a week before the 2020 - 2021 school year was to began, my district decided a 100% virtual opening to the school year was best suited for our students and community. Now, as we have just started the third marking period/second semester, my district is reopening the doors in a hybrid setting where students will attend on a A day/B day rotation in February with hopes of having five days a week in-person teaching and learning for the 4th marking period. With this new hybrid schedule, I am now able to have students in my classroom on a consistent basis to carry out the research portion of my internship.

For the past roughly three years, I have been pursuing a Master of Education degree with a specialization in Instructional Technology from York College of Pennsylvania. For my final project/internship, I have decided to take on studying the impact of augmented reality (AR) on academic vocabulary acquisition and retention. It is an even more fitting topic now that a lot of traditional classroom instruction has shifted to a digital approach, whether that be through not being able to share materials, quarantine needs, or families who have chosen to remain at home this school year. Through this research, I will study the differences between traditional paper and pencil teaching methods compared to using virtual reality (VR) headsets to teach academic vocabulary through taking students on virtual field trips.

Research will be collected through 4 vocabulary units (2 traditional and 2 AR) in an alternating pattern beginning with the traditional method. The traditional units will be taught as vocabulary words given as word, part of speech, definition, and example(s) on paper. Think of this as what many students of the past (me included) were accustomed to in the classroom when we were still in a K-12 setting. The AR method will be conducted by teaching vocabulary words through the use of Nearpod’s virtual field trips coupled with the VR headsets. This will incorporate words, definitions, parts of speech, visuals, and a written script used as the example(s) for students. All units consist of 10 academic vocabulary words that are appropriate for my students' grade level. All assessments are structured the same: 5 words for matching, 5 words to be used in a sentence. Students will not know ahead of time which words are matching and which are to be used in context. Assessment will take place 1 week from the day of their instruction for each respective unit. Data from the assessments as well as a student questionnaire will be analyzed at the end of the researching process to determine the impact on student learning.

One of the driving forces behind this idea was knowing that everyone learns in various ways, specifically turning toward the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). CTML clearly states “People learn more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone” (Mayer, 2014). Through this, I was curious whether or not the acquisition and retention of a vocabulary unit taught though the combination of visuals and words through a virtual field trip would outperform a traditional paper and pencil approach. Adding visuals to teaching is nothing new to educators and is typically deemed as a best practice, but this project is to see how much of an impact multimedia learning really has on students when new information is presented.

Figure 1: Virtual Reality Glasses

The key tool I needed to make this research study a reality is the addition of virtual reality glasses or headsets. Thankfully, I was able to get 36 headsets donated through some very kind people utilizing my first DonorsChoose project. I was lucky enough to find 12 pack boxes of this headset (pictured left) for $34.99/12 pack on Amazon. I haven't started the research portion of my project yet, but my students already know about these headsets and they're very excited to use them. Since I only have 36 headsets, over 100 students returning to my classroom next month in some capacity, and teaching during a pandemic, participants in this study will be determined based on the order in which their permission slips come back. That will only happen if more than 36 permission slips come back before the researching process begins. This will be to keep students safe from potentially and accidentally spreading COIVD germs to each other.

In my next post, quarantining headsets and keeping students safe will be the topic of discussion as this is something I am going to need to be very cognizant of for students. In general, most items are not allowed to be shared between students, and this project is no exception. Students and the classroom will be following all guidelines in terms of safety, especially since these headsets will have to directly touch students' faces for them to work as designed. I am excited to see students (back in my classroom!) work with the VR headsets, their outcomes, and just in general how they like learning through something they've only really associated with video games. I look forward to sharing my research through this internship journey. Feel free to contact me through the comments, this site, or email me at mtyson2@ycp.edu.

References

Mayer, R. (2014). Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 43-71). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO97811 39547369.005