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What are the contexts and any known history of the problem?

What has prior scholarly research indicated about this problem?

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The purpose of this study is to identify how elementary level, particularly in grades 3-5, develop perseverance through rigorous tasks (using Webb's Depth of Knowledge to classify), to strengthen critical and creative thinking skills so they are ready for college and career as identified through the 21st Century Skills for Success.

Finding actionable solutions will benefit elementary instruction beyond foundational skill sets to higher levels of thinking and perseverance. The research will identify strategies through identifying and analyzing teacher perception and then visiting classrooms where teachers work to build perseverance through critical and creative thinking. The outcome of education is to be able to constantly better oneself. In today’s society, advancement is happening rapidly. Our students need to be able to keep up and jump into the "coastal waterway" of their vocational area when they reach adulthood. It is the job of a school system to provide students access to the skills they need to succeed.

An over-dependence on high-stakes testing can cloud the goals for many teachers and schools with a governance that places value on schools and teachers based on student test scores. This perceived value can create a gap in teaching to a test. Teaching students to think critically so they think outside of the box producing many possible solutions to a problem. For this reason, there will be a component of how administrators perceive these skills, support teachers in teaching these skills, opportunities available for professional development and curriculum infusion.

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1. Observations - 1st in Sept/Oct, 2nd in Nov/Dec, and 3 in Jan/Feb

Sociogram - tally how many times students are asked to produce Webb's DOK levels 3 & 4 (e.g. activities, questions, tasks).

Note how much time students take to give up when doing activities at Webb's DOK levels 3 & 4.

2. Teacher Interview (before observation)

1. Where do you get ideas from to incorporate levels 3 & 4 activities?

2. What is your method of delivery?

Do you scaffold instruction for students?  How?

3. How have you built up student perseverance?

4. How do you assess student skill sets in the area of critical thinking? creative thinking? perseverance?

5. How do you work with weaning students off of teacher dependency to interdependency among students?

3. Student Survey after lesson (Quantitative - anonymous - paper)

1. How comfortable were you with ____ activity?

2. What strategies do you use when you find a task difficult?

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Quantitative - Administration & Curriculum Leadership Survey

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Quantitative - Administration & Curriculum Leadership Survey

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*Provide definitions for (1) critical thinking, (2) creative thinking, and (3) perseverance.

1. Rate how much you value critical thinking as a focus for instructional and learning practices in grades 3-5 classrooms.

2. Rate how much you value creative thinking as a focus for instructional and learning practices in grades 3-5 classrooms.

3. Rate how much you value perseverance as a focus for instructional and learning practices in grades 3-5 classrooms.

4. How much professional development has been provided to teachers on critical thinking strategies in the classroom over the past 1-3 years?

5. How much professional development has been provided to teachers on creative thinking strategies in the classroom over the past 1-3 years?

6. How much professional development has been provided to teachers on perseverance strategies in the classroom over the past 1-3 years?

7. Are teachers rated based on the use of critical thinking strategies during instruction and learning in the classroom?

8. Are teachers rated based on the use of creative thinking strategies during instruction and learning in the classroom?

9. Are teachers rated based on the use of perseverance strategies during instruction and learning in the classroom?

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Elementary Teachers

1.      To what extent are students able to think critically and creatively as defined by The 21 Century Skills for Success?

2.      What do growth and fixed mindsets (perseverance) mean to teachers?

Building Level Administration and Curriculum Leaders in Central Office

1.      How do administrators value critical and creative thinking in the curriculum?

2.      How do administrators value growth mindsets (perseverance) in the classroom?

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Approach - Information taken from Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation (cannot add italic in title) by Bloomberg & Volpe pp.39-40

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Approach - Information taken from Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation (cannot add italic in title) by Bloomberg & Volpe pp.39-40

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Mixed methodology - triangulates methods and purposeful sample selection

Quantitative:

Research Purpose: Relationship between perceived knowledge and importance to observation and student products.

Researcher Role: Unbiased, objective, and impartial - Gaining perception and how teachers have incorporated these topics

Research Design: Study is conducted under controlled conditions. - Survey (Likert scale or yes/no) & observations are in 2 classrooms that have incorporated these topics.

Instrument provides attitude data

Issues of Trustworthiness: Research sample to the larger population. - 2 classrooms are chosen for observation with surveys given to full faculty, principals, assistant principals, and curriculum leaders

Presentations and Findings: Charts, graphs to display results. - data from surveys

Qualitative:

Strategy: Case study - using two classrooms (each in a different district to show how this can look different approaches and methods in terms of teaching style. pp. 46-47

"Affords significant interaction with research participants...participant observations...aligned with their particular ontological and epistemological beliefs" (p. 46).

Hope to use a 3rd grade classroom (Nicole Miletto) at Hallowell Elementary in Hatboro-Horsham School District and a 5th grade classroom (Kenneth Erhman) at Seylar Elementary in Pennridge School District.

I chose these two specific reasons:

1. HH - I am know how Nicole teaches through my time with her as an instructional coach during my tenure in the district and am aware of the schoolwide focus of the whole child taking ownership of their learning using Covey's 7 Habits of Happy Kids. I am unsure if the staff or Nicole have had professional development on critical & creative thinking and perseverance are terms used or focused upon.

2. Pennridge - Through colleagues, I was introduce to Mile Roe, the principal. Miles has tried to incorporate 21st Century Skills into the elementary level. He has tried to do this organically by focusing on those who have shown interest and lead them. I am unsure how much the full faculty knows about this or has had experience incorporating this into instruction and learning.

"Data collection  including document review, observation, interviews, surveys, and critical incidents...triangulation is critical...multiple and different sources and methods...including peer review or peer debriefing (which provides an external  check of the research process) and member checks (where participants' views are solicited regarding the credibility of findings, analyses, and interpretations)" (p. 46).

Data collection - (1) PD agendas and handouts, (2) teacher lesson plans, rubrics, checklists, and (3) students work.

Triangulation - member checks - case study teachers review my findings after I annotate and write them up for feedback.

Researcher Role: "Is reflective about own voice and perspective."

Research Design: "Small samples are selected purposefully...research takes place within natural contexts...Real-world situations are studied as they naturally unfold." (p. 39) - see 1 and 2 above

Methods of Data Collection: observation, surveys, interviews, documents, and multiple methods are combined to achieve triangulation (p. 40).

Methods of Data Analysis: "Identifying themes and patterns...phenomena are understood as holistic and complex systems and are viewed within particular contexts...research tries to authentically depect the voices of participants while remaining reflexive and politically aware...analysis is iterative, cyclical, and ongoing" (p. 40)

3 rounds of observations: (1) Sept/Oct, (2) late Nov/early Dec, and (3) mid to late Jan

Issues of Trustworthiness: "Seeks to explain transferability of findings to other similar contexts" (p. 40)

I want to use the information gathered in 2 contexts to construct a guide for building critical and creative thinking with perseverance with elementary age students in grades 3-5.

Presentations of Findings: "Thick, rich description is the primary mod of data presentation" (p. 40)

I plan to weave the quantitative finding from my surveys with the observations if possible.

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*Provide definitions for (1) critical thinking, (2) creative thinking, and (3) perseverance.

1. Rate your knowledge of critical thinking strategies with students at the elementary level.

2. Rate your knowledge of creative thinking strategies with students at the elementary level.

3.  Rate your knowledge of strategies to use to keep students engaged after failing with a task (persevering).

4.  Rate the importance level you give to teaching elementary students critical thinking strategies.

5. Rate the importance level you give to teaching elementary students creative thinking strategies.

6. Rate the importance level you give to teaching elementary students to persevere after failed attempts with a task.

7. Rate your comfort level to successfully plan a lesson that includes critical and creative thinking.

8. Rate your comfort level to successfully plan a lesson where students will need to work through (persevere) failed attempts through a task.

9. Rate your comfort level with executing a lesson that includes critical and creative thinking.

10. Rate your comfort level with executing a lesson that includes students failing a task purposely before possible completion with a task.

11. Should students be assessed on their ability to think creatively? If yes, how? (rubric, checklist, anecdotally)

12. Should students be assessed on their ability to think critically?  If yes, how? (rubric, checklist, anecdotally)

13. Should students be assessed on their ability to continue to work after multiple failed attempts (perseverance)?  If yes, how? (rubric, checklist, anecdotally)

14. Do you feel you could use professional development concerning creative thinking with students in the classroom?

15. Do you feel you could use professional development concerning critical thinking with students in the classroom?

16. Do you feel you could use professional development concerning perseverance techniques thinking with students in the classroom?