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Topic:

Autonomous Exploration And Teacher-led Instruction In Preschool Settings

Essay Instructions:

1. Introduction (2 pages)

- Purpose of the study

- The sample - who did the authors study?

- How did the authors collect data?

- (i) materials used (ii) procedure

2. Findings (3 pages)

- what were the results of the study say?

(i) what did they find?

3. Discussion (1 page0

- what did the authors conclude about their study?

- what were the reasons given?

Essay Sample Content Preview:

Article Review
Student’s Name
Institution
Article Review
Introduction
The authors sought to find out the use of science area and material by children during their free time. The author also sought to investigate whether a small change in the classroom group activities would lead to an increased attention to the science area. With a specific tool (the balance scale), the authors “marketed” the science area and wanted to find out whether knowledge of the tool would be increased.
Six urban preschool classrooms located in central New Jersey were investigated by the authors. While three of the classes were control, the other three were experimental. These are schools that have been contracted by the state for the provision of free early childhood education. The students that were investigated in the study were aged between 3 and 5 years and came from minority and low-income families. It is also significant to point out that about 90% of the students spoke Spanish and were in the process of learning English. 20 male and 22 female students were in the experimental classrooms while the control classroom was comprised of 10 male and 24 female students. There were individual interview portions done by the researchers and only children aged 4 years and above were allowed to do this. Since students who were absent in one or more intervention lessons were not post-tested, the authors ended up with a set of data from 15 students from the experimental group and 19 from the control group. There were more girls than boys in both groups.
Collection of data is an important part of the research study. The study was carried in three phases. During Phase I, the presence of the children in the science area during their free time was observed and recorded. Individual interviews were also carried done to determine their knowledge of balance scale prior to the intervention. In the second phase, two large group lessons about the tool were conducted in the experimental classrooms while in a different science topic discussion was conducted in the control group. In the third phase, the postintervention observations of the students in the science area, as well as interviews, were carried out.
According to the article, the materials that were used are bucket balance scale, countable items such as rocks, shells, and acorns, standard weights, and small countable items such as crayons and blocks. The authors also point out that they used color photographs of persimmon, marmoset, robot dog and statute.
The procedure for the first phase occurred over a number of days totaling 120 minutes for each classroom. The authors recorded the presence of teachers and the students in the science area during the first phase. After every 60 seconds, the number of adults and children present and their activity in the area were recorded. This was done to determine the amount of play that occurred in the science area and the interaction with materials particularly the balance scale. Individual interviews followed where the researchers gathered the knowledge of the students about the balance scale. In the second phase, random assignment of the classroom as either experimental or comparison was done. Two discussions regarding the balance scale were done in the experimental group. While teachers were present, they were not informed of the intervention. On day one of the balance scale intervention, the students were introduced to the tool and its functions. The children learned and practiced using the balance scale after which it was returned to the science area and observed during the student’s free choice time. The same process was repeated on day two of intervention. As for the comparison class, they engaged in science activities that do not “market” the science area. In the third phase, observations were conducted on the science section and interviews for children present in more than one of the lessons were done after 20-25 days. This was done to find out whether the intervention led to an increase and durability of balance scale knowledge.
Findings
Observations in the Science Area
The results of the study revealed that the science area was observed to be empty for 77.6% of the total sampled time in all the six classrooms during the pre-intervention period. The control classroom caused inflation in the figure given because the teacher assigned to the control classroom engaged the children in activities that were not science related and the children ended up spending only 4 minutes in the science area in the absence of their teacher.
In addition, the results of the study indicated that there was an increase in the number of minutes spent by one or more kids in the science area from 47 to 333 minutes in the experimental classrooms. However, the results showed a decrease in the number of minutes spent by one or more kids in the science area in the control classrooms from 114 to 38 minutes. The number of children spending time in the science area was low before the intervention across the six classrooms. However, there was a drastic increase in the nu...
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