Digital Connections                Moore Home        Learn More        Standards        Inspiration        About the Author

---

Can Digital Tools be Used to Successfully Bridge the Gap?

In my search for the right digital tool, it was important for me to find something that met my needs and the needs of my students. What I found was that my students needed the engagement that comes from a game along with the element of competition that stems from challenging each other. In the 21st century however; teachers have a number of tools to choose from.

The Process

In order to determine the most effective way to create an equitable mathematics classroom using digital tools, I first needed to find out what types of tools would give the user the intrinsic motivation to succeed. I did this over the course of two inquiry cycles. 

In the first; I conducted a quasi-experimental study using a control group and treatment group with a pretest/posttest. A pretest of the content was administered before the treatment. For the treatment I focused on CCSS Math Standard 6.NS.3 which reads; to fluently add, subtract, multiply and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation. For both classes, I began with direct instruction of the subject. Once the lesson was taught, only the test group of students were provided with Khan Academy to support their learning the content. The control group received the lesson in the traditional manner (no technology). After the lesson, both groups took the same content test  as a posttest to determine the effects of the digital support. The treatment also provided their evaluations of their digital learning through a questionnaire.

Results

The results of the first inquiry showed NO SIGNIFICANT GROWTH DIfFERENCE between the test and the control group for this experiment. 

Tools Used

Assigned math practice and videos to teach and assess specific grade levels and standards 

---

Assigned math games to target specific grade level standards.

LESSONS

HOW-TOs

REFERENCES

ASSESSMENT

Addressing the Standards

Focus on the Standards was of the utmost importance to me. I also wanted to be sure that I was assessing my students only one the given standard. As a district, we have adopted the Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt curriculum "Go Math." This curriculum is very rigorous and does an excellent job at spiraling the standards though out the year; however, as part of my research I needed to look at one standard at a time which prompted me to create my own pre and post test.

For my first inquiry, I used the following Common Core State Standard for 6th Grade math:
6.NS.3 - Fluently add, subtract, multiply and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation. The pre and post test for this inquiry can be found by clicking here.

With an understanding that math; especially at the secondary level is more subjective than meets the eye, I also wanted to track student growth towards the standard by looking at more than just the right vs. wrong answer. I believe that many students may have a conceptual understanding of the content but still make a small error because of gaps in their foundation. 

To accommodate for this, I also created a rubric based on a 1-4 scale towards their comprehension of the standard. To use this rubric, I graded each question using this same scale. To read this rubric, you can break each section down like this:

• 4 - Exceeds the standard 
• 3 - Meets the standard
• 2 - Standard nearly met
• 1 - Standard not met
• ​0 - No progress toward standard

Where to Look

• Sample Lessons
• 21st Century Skills
• 4 C's
• Hyperdocs
• Standards

• Screencasts for set up

Links:

• Websites
• Articles
• Books
• Blogs

• Pre & Post Test
• Rubric
• Data 
• Results of Study