What makes a lesson enjoyable to a Year 8?
A report by
Elizabeth (Age 13)
Year 8
6/30/2009
This report shows what Year 8 students enjoy in lessons and how they would like their lessons to be. The feelings of a wide range of Year 8’s are shown in this report with a large sum of 81 Year 8’s answering the questionnaire. I wanted to speak to and find out students views without it having the opinion of the student next to them or the teacher. From my research I found out lots of students opinions did not back each other up. I found this research project an interesting subject to look at as it varied from what I thought. I set out to find out ‘What made a lesson enjoyable to a Year 8?’ I have now finished and found out three main points.
Contents
Page
Number
Title Page
1
Contents
2
Abstract
1
Introduction
3
Method
3
Findings
4
Discussion
12
Conclusion
12
Bibliography
12
Appendices
13
Introduction
What do you think makes a lesson fun? - Do you think this is different to what a Year 8 thinks? Everyone must enjoy some lessons but what are these and what do they include? I have based my research on Yr 8’s and what they think of different activities and subjects. I used a questionnaires and interviews hoping that the findings from these would then be backed up in the observations. I wanted to find out whether it would be possible to have students in a lesson both smiling and learning. This could be in any subject completing any activity.
I looked for present research done but what I found was for all of KS3 and in History lessons. The report stated that:‘Pupils particularly enjoyed ‘interactive’ activities, such as role play, drama, making presentations, discussion, debate and making things. The most popular interactive activities were role play, discussion and debate, and group work.’(Harris, and Haydn, 2006)
Methodology
I wanted to speak and find out students views without it having the opinion of the student next to them or the teacher. So I decided to plan a questionnaire. They would only have to take part if the wanted to and there name must not be anywhere on the sheet. These questions were some of those asked to students:
- What makes a lesson enjoyable?
- Why does this make a lesson enjoyable?
- If the lesson is enjoyable for you do you…(Please circle)
A.Learn more than in an not enjoyable lesson
B.Learn the same as a lesson that is not enjoyable
C.Learn less than if the lesson is not enjoyable
I gave 81 Year 8’s the chance to complete the questionnaire as I did not want them to complete it if they did not want to. I handed the questionnaire to all 81 Year 8 students as they all wanted to complete it. For ethical reasons they were told not to write there name on and the sheets would be destroyed when I have finished the project. They completed it in class in silence. I collected the completed questionnaire of them as soon as they were finished. I then took them home and looked at them.
From these I made a structured interview containing 17 questions. These questions were what I wanted to find out from reading the questionnaires. Vicky and I interviewed 14 random Year 8 students. (To do this I walked along the maths corridor and asked for two Year 8’s from every tutor group.) Each interview lasted no longer than 5 minutes and was in tutor time. Then I decided I needed to back this up with what really happens in a lesson.
So I planned to do an observation of two Year 8 classes. These were Geography and History. I asked them to plan there lesson so the first half had an activity students said they like from the questionnaire and for the second half something students said they didn’t like. This meant that I could see if what they said was true.
Observation 1:
I went to observe a Year 8 Geography lesson. Instructions were given at the start of the lesson and sheets were given out. They were told to record information on the sheet from the video they were about to watch for the first half hour. Then they would work in groups to answer in the quickest time and with the most detail. 5 minutes before the end I set up five cups at the front of the classroom with opinions. They put a token in the cup that best summed up the lesson for them. The cups were: very enjoyable, enjoyable, ok, unenjoyable, very unenjoyable. (Red token for video and purple token for group work.) There were a total of 28 students present.
Observation 2:
I went to observe a Year 8 history lesson. Instructions were given at the start of the lesson for the first five minutes. They were then to get on with their group work. 10 minutes later they were asked to swap leaders so they could help other groups. Then 5 minutes later they were moved backed and told to continue with there group work. At the end of the lesson I asked them to put a red token in the cup which best summed up their thoughts on group work and a purple one for group work. The cups were: very enjoyable, enjoyable, ok, unenjoyable, very unenjoyable. There were a total of 23 students present.
Findings:
From my research I found out lots of opinions of students not all of these backed each other up.
Questionnaire findings part 1
One of the questions in the questionnaire was what makes a lesson enjoyable to you? (A Year 8)
I found that drama and listening to music were the most enjoyable.
Observation cups:
When I observed the Geography class that were watching a video I did not think they would enjoy this very much because not many people said the liked this in the questionnaire but when they put the tokens in a cup 39% said that the video was very enjoyable and 43% said it was enjoyable.
Questionnaire findings part 2
In the questionnaires I also asked
If the lesson is enjoyable for you do you… (Please circle)
- Learn More than in an not enjoyable lesson
- Learn the same as a lesson that is not enjoyable
- Learn less than if the lesson is not enjoyable
62% of Year 8 students said that if the lesson is enjoyable they learn more.
17% of Year 8 students said they learnt the same amount.
21% of students said they learn less in an enjoyable lesson.
Questionnaire findings part 3
In the questionnaires I also asked
What subject do you find the most enjoyable & why?
Subject:
Reason for choice:
There was a general opinion that Drama and P.E. were the favourite subjects. As Drama had 28% of the vote and P.E had 31% of the vote.
Questionnaire findings part 4
The last question in the questionnaires I chose to analyse was...
On a scale of 1-10(1= not at all & 10 = very) do you think sitting with your friends makes a lesson enjoyable to a Year 8?
From this I could tell that 50% thought a lesson was very enjoyable if they sat with their friends.
1% thought that sitting with their friends made a lesson not enjoyable.
Observation cups
From observation two,a History lesson, I found out that group work was enjoyed but when they had to swap leader to help other groups this was not enjoyed.
Observation set students
In both observations I then focused on four students in more detail with their permission. Every five minutes I looked at what they were doing at the time and recorded this in a table.
Class One- Geography
Watching Video
Person / 5mins / 10mins / 15mins / 20mins / 25mins / 30mins1 / Engaged / Engaged / Engaged and taking notes / Engaged and taking notes / Engaged / Engaged
2 / Talking / Engaged / Engaged / Day dreaming / Engaged and taking notes / Talking off task
3 / Fiddling / Engaged / Engaged / Engaged / Engaged and taking notes / Looking behind
4 / Engaged / Engaged / Engaged / Engaged and taking notes / Engaged / Engaged and taking notes
Group work task
Person / 5mins / 10mins / 15mins / 20mins / 25mins / 30mins
1 / Engaged / Talking on task / Working out of seat / On task / Engaged / Engaged
2 / Talking on task / Collecting work / Working out of seat / Off task- out of seat / Silent / Day dreaming
3 / Talking off task / Talking off task and across room / Looking behind and silent / Chewing pen / Distracting others and attention seeking / Distracting others and attentions seeking
4 / Talking on task / Working / Working / Out of seat on task / Engaged / On task
Observation 2
Minutes into task/ into lesson / Person 1 / Person 2 / Person 3 / Person 4First part of group work and instructions
5mins/ 5mins / Silent / Giggling / Leant back silent / Out of seat10mins/ 10mins / Silent / Silent / Out of seat off task / Daydreaming
15mins/15mins / Silent / Silent / Examining card / Out of seat
Leader swapped to help other groups
5mins/ 20mins / Discussing / Talking off task / Moaning at other students / Talking off task across roomLeader back & carrying on with group work
5mins/25mins / Music Lesson / Chewing gum & talking across class / Working / Talking of task5mins/30mins / Music Lesson / Working / Working / Working
5mins/35mins / Music Lesson / Working / Doodling / Working
5mins/40mins / Music Lesson / Working whilst trying to ignore others / Cutting paper on task / Off task talking
5mins/45mins / Music Lesson / Talking on task / Working / Off task out of seat
5mins/50mins / Return without distracting / Talking over teacher / Working whilst teacher talking / Day dreaming
Observation whole class comments
Whilst in the observations I recorded notes and then put these into subheadings to analyse. By grouping the data like this you can easily see what happened in the lesson and whether this is positive or negative.
Observation 1
Part 1 Video
Talking before start
‘Uhh’ when students told to watch a video
Talking as soon as video started
Talking over instructions
Pen clicking
Fiddling
Whole class engaged
Giggling at video 5 minutes in
Silence 10mins in
A bit of whispering
Note taking
Looking at others work
Getting the attention of others
Part 2 Group work
Many students out of seats (For task)
Talking on task
Unsettled
Shouting
Loud talking across tables
Pen chucked
Rocking on chairs
Distracted by me
On task talking
Off task talking
Student told off and answered back
Most students look happy
Smiling
Encouragement from peers
Drawing on others Geography books
Chasing
Some not following rules (Stated at start)
More than one person out of seat per table when were not allowed
Pushing
Shoving
Tapping
Shouting
Laughing
All on task
Code Name / Example quotationSpeaking on task / ‘Encouragement from peers’
Making noise off task / ‘Loud talking across tables’
Off task movement / ‘Pushing’
Completing task / ‘Whole class engaged’
Happy / ‘Laughing’
Actions that are not following the rules / ‘Drawing on others Geography books’
Category name / Codes / Example Quotation
Negative / --- / ‘Drawing on others Geography books’
Positive / --- / ‘Encouragement from peers’
Observation 2
First part of group work and instructions…
Count down ignored
Talking over teacher
Distracting others by being out of seat
Nearly all students silent whilst instructions
Discussing
Talking over teacher
All students listening
Talking over each other on task
Leaders trying to get their group focussed
Leader swapped to help other groups…
Students don’t look bothered of the change
Arguing
Discussion
Talking off task
Encouragement
Sharing ideas
Talking over teacher
Students trying to get the attention of students the other side of the class by shouting
Leader back & groups carrying on with work…
Smiling
Discussing
Some students not contributing
Off task out off seats
Calling miss
Arguing with teacher
Students working
Gone quiet
‘Alien’ talk
Working hard
Wasting paper
On task talking
Shouting across classroom
Tapping
Banging
Colouring
Chucking rubber
Back table working well
Focused
Rocking on chair
Out of seat off task
Talking about work
Working hard
Showing teacher work
High concentration levels
On task out off seat
Discussing with peers what the should do next
Out of seat off task
Distracting others by pulling faces
Teacher applauding work
Shouting across class
Out of seat of task
Not listening to countdown
Talking over teacher
Discussion
I am very pleased with my results and my work so far.
I found this research project an interesting subject to look at as it varied from what I thought. The first part that I was surprised about was in the questionnaire. I thought that students would like watching videos but only 11% thought this was enjoyable where as 31% thought drama was the most enjoyable.
When I looked at the results of what lesson is the most enjoyable it was clear that drama and P.E. was favourite which also surprised me as when we have drama lots of my class mates just moan.
When I was observing the lesson that was watching the video students did seem to enjoy it. I think this could have been for two reasons. 1) They could talk quietly and not be noticed (Which you can see I picked up on in the observation whole class comment); 2). The video was about destruction.
I found the observations most useful because what I saw was reality (talking, working and focusing, see whole class comments) where as what students wrote may not be true. They were also in real time and could have been improved if recorded.
If I had more time I would do the same research with other ages/ years. I would either look at other years, sixth form, college or primary.
Conclusion
I set out to find out ‘What made a lesson enjoyable to a Year 8?’ I have now finished and found out three main points.
1. Drama & P.E. are yr 8’s favourite subjects
2. Students do not like swapping their leaders round (Having the leader of their group to go and help other groups.
3. Yr 8 students like working in groups.
I think teachers should ask their class what they enjoy and learn from and plan lessons around this.
To take this research further I could look at how the enjoyment is affected by the relationship with the teacher. “The relationship between the pupils and teacher was also an important influence on pupils’ enjoyment. Pupils liked teachers who were fun and enthusiastic, but also considered the way teachers talked to them to be important. This included both teachers’ ability to explain things and the way they addressed pupils.”Harris and Haydn, 2006
Bibliography
Harris, Richard and Haydn, Terry. University of Southampton and University of East Anglia. The Curriculum Journal, 17(4), 2006 pp.315-333. [Accessed 22nd June 2009]
Appendices:
Questionnaire
This questionnaire information will remain anonymous. Please do not write your name anywhere on this sheet of paper. It is your choice to take part and you can choose not to. The information collected goes to help are student research project “What makes a lesson enjoyable?” Once we have finished the project all records will be destroyed.
Questionnaire –Students as researchers
- What gender are you? (Please circle one)
Male Female
- What makes a lesson enjoyable?
- Why does this make a lesson enjoyable?
- If the lesson is enjoyable for you do you…(Please circle)
A.Learn More than in an not enjoyable lesson
B.Learn the same as a lesson that is not enjoyable
C.Learn less than if the lesson is not enjoyable
- Do you think listening to music has an impact on the lesson?
(Please circle) Yes / No
(If yes please specify the impact) Impact:
- What’s the most enjoyable to have in a lesson? (Please circle one only)
Video Drama listening to music Independent work Group work
Other (Please specify) ______
- What subject do you find the most enjoyable & why?
Subject:
Reason for choice:
- What dangers are there if a lesson is enjoyable? (Please specify)
Dangers:
- What do you think makes a lesson not enjoyable?
- On a scale of 1 to 10 (1=Not at all, 10= Very) do you think sitting with your friends makes a lesson enjoyable? (Please circle)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11. Why did you choose that certain number in question 10? (Give reason(s))
Reason(s):
Thank you, for taking part.
Interview (Questions):
Interviews SAR
What makes a lesson fun?
What do you think of drama?
Why do you think this?
Which cup?
What do you think of Business enterprise?
Why do you think this?
Which cup?
What do you think of Geography?
Why do you think this?
Which cup?
What do you think of P.E.?
Why do you think this?
Which cup?
What is your favourite subject?
Why?
What is your least favourite subject?
Why?
Thank You
Whole class observation sort tables
Code name / Example QuotationCategory name / Code / Example quotation
Person / 5mins / 10mins / 15mins / 20mins / 25mins / 30mins
1