Excitement then Peace

Discuss some problems within your individual team members’ work settings that could be addressed in a research project. Analyze various methods of data collection that might be appropriate. Discuss issues related to validity and reliability. Write a 300 to 400 word summary paper stating the problem and explaining your data collection plan.

The problem is the children in my kindergarten class don’t settle down quickly enough after music is playing during station rotations. The music is played to refresh their concentration between stations but the cost in increased difficulty in settling in is daunting. I want to try various methods or transitioning out of music or into stations to reduce the lost settling in time. Here are some things I want to try:

  1. Discuss the problem with the students and ask them to settle in faster or risk losing the music between stations.
  2. Deep breathing at the end of the music, then move to stations.
  3. Move to stations after music, then do deep breathing to begin the station.

There is no simple way in a unified class to create different test groups and/or a control group. So my only choice is to run the experiments sequentially, using both the summative assessment for the previous experiment and the pre-test to track success. In terms of tracking success, I see no easy way to quantify the results under real classroom pressures. My solution is for all the adults in the class to journal the experiment and do a qualitative assessment at the end. This wouldn’t be publishable in a Journal but, with any luck, it will give me the information to decided on a solution to my problem.

Other notes: I would run the experiments in the numerical order because my hypothesis is that that is the order of effectiveness, which would make the differences easier to track. Also, a fourth experiment would be cutting music out completely. I am disinclined to do that because I believe that is a positive contribution to the children. However, should I wish to test that hypothesis, I would need a whole different Action Research study, comparing learning w/ and w/o music during rotations.

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