Tim Wilson Blog ePortfolio

I've finally completed my research paper and case study of using Minecraft to develop reading comprehension.  I had a great time conducting the study and was quite pleased with the impact the activity had on the students.  Although the p value did not determine that the intervention was statistically significant, most likely due to the small sample size, the students in the class that used Minecraft  on average scored 10% higher on a 15 point comprehension test than the students from the class that used a traditional sequence of events graphic organizer to retell the story. The most important factor that I saw when observing the students using Minecraft  was their engagement level.  The entire class was immediately engrossed in the task from the word go.  They intuitively organized themselves divying up tasks, communicating progress, and researching actual building in Johannesburg.  No one asked them to do this.  They did it because they were in...

Yesterday I was completely blown away by the students in PYP 8.  I introduced the project that I am doing for my Masters research using  Minecraft  to recreate the settings and retell the story of the book they have just completed as a class, and they by far over took my expectations.  Every student, even the ones that forgot their device, was thoroughly engaged in their work.  The ones who didn't have  Minecraft  to be building on were going through the book looking for details that the others in their group could then build. The amount and quality of communication within the groups was excellent.  I heard one girl say to the other, "Don't make the road perfect, it was a really rough road."  All I did was explain to them what the project goal was and put them into mixed  Minecraft  ability groups and away they went. There was no need for anymore instruction.  They were engaged. The book they have read is called  Jou...

This is my final summative assessment piece for my Research Methods course at Endicott.  I found this to be an extremely demanding project, but also a very rewarding accomplishment.  The course was designed to perfection and Dr. Barrie Jo Price was an absolute pleasure and inspiration to work with. This is the first of two courses so there are some sections that will be filled in once I have actually conducted the intervention. Minecraft for Reading Comprehension Timothy J. Wilson Endicott College Abstract  “This will be completed during IED574 Research Project in the fall semester.” Background Study Location This study will be conducted at St. Francis College in São Paulo, Brazil.  St. Francis is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school providing each of the Primary Years Program (PYP), Middle Years Program (MYP), and Diploma Program (DP) following an inquiry...

In the Research Methods course we will be choosing a topic that we are interested in and will be able to cross reference against other studies.  I thought here I might start to start to flesh out some ideas. What happens to language/vocabulary acquisition as measured by? when first-time language users learn from interactive software for the first 6? months The reason I thought about this is 1 of 2 native English speakers in his class in Brasil. When we arrived everyone that we spoke to said "Oh in 6 months your kids will be fluent in Portuguese, their friends will all speak it on the playground". Well we don't just learn languages being surrounded by immersion alone. What I've noticed is that he is having a hard time making the jump from knowing nothing and not being able to interact in Portuguese to having just enough vocabulary to start to hear the language while others are speaking creating the snowball effect of knowing and more importantly using more ...