Running Head: FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

Final Project Reflection

Mandi Urgo
University of Saint Mary

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

Problem
As a new teacher, Sara is having difficulty engaging students in the subject area of
science. My goal was to first observe her current teaching style and then identify areas of
strengths and weaknesses. This will assist in the development of the implementation of activities
and strategies that will engage her students in the subject area of science.
Goals
Students will be actively engaged in the subject area of science through problem-based
learning.
SMART Goal #1: Student engagement will increase by 80%, after the implementation
of problem-based learning in the subject area of science, during the coaching cycle. Student
engagement will be enhanced, monitored, and observed through the use of Table 3.6: Strategies
for Elements 24-32 (Marzano 2013). Sara will identify students who show signs of low attention
and engagement. She will use questioning to reengage disengaged or unfocused students.
SMART Goal #2: Problem-based learning will increase the engagement, which will lead
to increased comprehension of taught content in the subject area of science with 80% mastery on
an individual measure used to evaluate student created products or processes. Sara will ask
students to identify their expected goal or outcome of the project, identify obstacles or
constraints the achieving their goal, find solutions, and predict the effectiveness of different
solutions for the problem-solving task. She will then ask students to reflect on the process they
used for their problem-solving task.
Supporting Research

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The research study, by Riasat Ali, Aqila Akhter, Saqib Shahzad, Najma Sultana, and
Muhammad Ramzan (2011), will give Sara a further understanding of potential outcomes of my
plan. According to John Larmer (2014), Editor in Chief at the Buck Institute for Education, PBL
typically follow prescribed steps: 1.) Presentation of an "ill-structured" (open-ended, "messy")
problem, 2.) Problem definition or formulation (the problem statement), 3.) Generation of a
"knowledge inventory" (a list of "what we know about the problem" and "what we need to
know"), 4.) Generation of possible solutions, Formulation of learning issues for self-directed and
coached learning, and 5.)Sharing of findings and solutions. These resources will help guide the
planning and implementation of PBL.
Strategic Activities
While learning about habitats, students are given a problem that they have to solve that
specifically identifies with habitats. Problem: A video game company needs help with a design
of an animal for their new video game. The animal has to be able to survive in the desert. It
doesnt have to be a real animal. Students will draft the design and use specific materials, such
as clay, felt, tape, toothpicks, paper, paint, and index cards to create their design.
Indicators of Progress
Each student will be given a pre-test that measures their knowledge of the content, as
well as their interest in the content area. After implementation of the lesson, students will be
given the same pre-test, which will now serve as the post-test. Throughout the lesson, Sara will
implement the specific strategies outlined in the SMART goals that we developed. Our expected
results are that through the use of problem-based learning, students will demonstrate active

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

engagement in the subject area of science. The engagement will allow students to want to dig
deeper into the content.
Solution/Intervention
According to Marzano (2013), there are three strategies that Sara could apply when
identifying students are not engaged. Sara could scan the room and take notes of students
behaviors during instruction. She could also monitor levels of attention by graphing with the
students their levels of attention throughout the day. Another strategy involves measuring
engagement by using pictures, stories, or videos to describe concepts.
I believe these strategies will assist with identification of engagement. On the other hand,
I believe that full engagement will be reached through problem-based learning lessons.
In my opinion, students are not engaged in the subject area of science because they
require more active and complex lessons that accommodate their learning needs.
Through the application of Marzanos (2013) strategies, Sara will be able to effectively
identify students who are not engaged, as well as their displayed behaviors during those times.
Through the implementation of problem-based learning in the subject area of science, lack of
engagement will dramatically decrease in Saras classroom.
Reflection
I believe that after the implementation of problem-based learning, Sara will identify the
effects and benefits of this type of instruction. She will see that students will want to dig deeper
in the content and be actively engaged.

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

If I demonstrate an example of a problem-based learning lesson, Sara will have a better

understanding of the strategies outlined in the specific SMART goals that we developed and
expected outcomes.
If Sara is unable to effectively implement the strategies described in the SMART goals, I
could discuss with her about revising the SMART goals, strategies for meeting the desired
outcomes of our goals, or demonstrate examples of the specific strategies in her classroom
during science instruction.
If I monitor her lessons and gradually release my coaching observations, Sara will begin
to take ownership of her teaching and develop her own problem-based learning lessons.
If I coach the coachee to develop effective systems for assessment, Sara will identify the
benefits of problem-based learning through increased comprehension of the content by her
students.
Before meeting with Sara, I asked her to take some time to reflect on her instruction and
complete the Teachers Self-Audit Ratings on the Personal Profile (Marzano 2013). Our first
meeting began with the review of her self-assessment. After reviewing the self-assessment, we
identified the area of student engagement as the area that needed the most focus at this time.
This area demonstrated the most areas consisting of not using to developing. I then asked Sara
which subject area she would like to begin implementation during our coaching cycle. She chose
the subject area of science. I agreed that science would be the most beneficial subject area to
begin with because it is an area that involves more hands on activities, which should promote
student engagement.

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

Next, we discussed the lesson that she would first like me to observe. The students had
difficulty engaging in learning about habitats. Immediately, I thought of a lesson that I had used,
concerning the current epidemic of bees. This lesson allows students to research and observe,
through video, the habitat of honey bees. I feel that this lesson would be beneficial to her
students because it involves a current situation in the United States that affects all of us and it is a
problem-based learning lesson, which has been found to increase student engagement and
comprehension. In this lesson, students first research the honey bee epidemic and learn about
their habitat. Next, students are asked to create a machine that will help with pollination if the
honey bees were to ever completely disappear. Students first develop a draft that includes labels
of their required materials. Next, students construct a small model of their creation with
materials, such as clay, pipe cleaner, paper, crayons, markers, or any other materials that are
available or required for the model.
Then, we discussed how we are going to assess the engagement of the students. I
suggested a pre-test to give the students prior to beginning the lesson. I explained to her how the
pre-test can include questions about the content, concerning habitats, and also include questions
about the students current feelings towards learning about habitats. I also suggested that the pretest also serves as the post-test after the lesson. This would give us true results, concerning
student engagement and comprehension.
Last, we discussed SMART goals. The SMART goals that we developed together
include:
SMART Goal #1: Student engagement will increase by 80%, after the implementation
of problem-based learning in the subject area of science, during the coaching cycle. Student

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

engagement will be enhanced, monitored, and observed through the use of Table 3.6: Strategies
for Elements 24-32 (Marzano 2013).
SMART Goal #2: Problem-based learning will increase the engagement, which will lead
to increased comprehension of taught content in the subject area of science with 80% mastery on
an individual measure used to evaluate student created products or processes (project, report,
research, portfolio, demonstration, other).
I felt that we had a great first meeting. Sara and I agreed on the subject area that I would
begin to observe her. She seemed very open to the lesson that I suggested and felt that it would
greatly promote student engagement in her classroom.

FINAL PROJECT REFLECTION

References
Larmer, John (2014). Project-based learning vs. problem-based learning vs. x-bl,
www.edutopia.org/blog/pbl-vs-pbl-vs-xbl-john-larmer
Marzano, R. J., Simms, J. A., Roy, T., Heflebower, T., & Warrick, P. B. (2013). Coaching
classroom instruction. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research.
Riasat Ali, Aqila Akhter, Saqib Shahzad, Najma Sultana, and Muhammad Ramzan (2011). The
Impact of Motivation on Students Academic Achievement in Mathematics in Problem
Based Learning Environment, 3(1), 306-309