Running head: Action Research Action Research Plan Introduction Learning is determined by a number of factors, some of which are environmentally related while others are not. The approach of teaching is one of the major determinants of learning as far classroom learning is concerned. However, there has been a concern that the current approaches to learning are a little too abstract. Lack of real life scenarios and too much theory’ has been responsible for the growing apathy towards learning. I believe that student interaction helps students to learn and gain skills and knowledge that provides them with the foundation for. This study will also increase the knowledge of teachers about particular types of child-teacher interactions that encourage the development of young students. I have chosen a research participant who currently teaches 7th grade at a local middle school in Cleveland Ohio. By choosing my research participant in a K-12 setting, I will attempt to show in my research study that conducting action research for student interaction; can be a rewarding experience for teachers and can lead to new ideas and strategies to promote student success. It is for this reason that I have chosen to conduct this type of action research plan to see if it can improve learning. I am suggesting that one of the ways is by increasing the awareness and importance of student interaction. Context The research participant I have chosen is at Euclid Central Middle in Ohio. I have decided to choose my participant because of my previous background where I worked for an after-school academic enrichment organization where we had an academic campus at the same middle school. After visiting classrooms during school hours, it became apparent to me that the classes that I visited all suffered from similar issues. After talking to Mrs. Copez-Minor, who was in her first year of teaching at the time; she stated that student interaction and involvement was one of the biggest issues many teachers at Euclid Central had encountered. Euclid Central Middle School is a part of the Euclid City School’s district, which is an inner-ring suburb of Cleveland Ohio. From information compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics; the school has a total of 579 students. Over 80 percent of the students at Euclid Central Middle School, are identified as African-American, making up the majority of the student body. The majority of the student body for the Euclid school district is made up of over 80 % African-American students, so Euclid Central, fundamentally has the same ethnic circulation contrasted with different schools in the city. (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). The demographic breakdown of Euclid Central Middle School is radically unique in relation to that of a regular school in the condition of Ohio, which is comprised of 16.2% African-American students by and large. Participant Justification (Population Choice) I have chosen the populati ...

1. Running head: Action Research
Action Research Plan
Introduction
Learning is determined by a number of factors, some of which
are environmentally related while others are not. The approach
of teaching is one of the major determinants of learning as far
classroom learning is concerned. However, there has been a
concern that the current approaches to learning are a little too
abstract. Lack of real life scenarios and too much theory’ has
been responsible for the growing apathy towards learning. I
believe that student interaction helps students to learn and gain
skills and knowledge that provides them with the foundation
for.
This study will also increase the knowledge of teachers about
particular types of child-teacher interactions that encourage the
development of young students. I have chosen a research
participant who currently teaches 7th grade at a local middle
school in Cleveland Ohio. By choosing my research participant
in a K-12 setting, I will attempt to show in my research study
that conducting action research for student interaction; can be a
rewarding experience for teachers and can lead to new ideas and
strategies to promote student success. It is for this reason that I
have chosen to conduct this type of action research plan to see
if it can improve learning. I am suggesting that one of the ways
is by increasing the awareness and importance of student
interaction.
Context
The research participant I have chosen is at Euclid Central
Middle in Ohio. I have decided to choose my participant

2. because of my previous background where I worked for an
after-school academic enrichment organization where we had an
academic campus at the same middle school. After visiting
classrooms during school hours, it became apparent to me that
the classes that I visited all suffered from similar issues. After
talking to Mrs. Copez-Minor, who was in her first year of
teaching at the time; she stated that student interaction and
involvement was one of the biggest issues many teachers at
Euclid Central had encountered. Euclid Central Middle School
is a part of the Euclid City School’s district, which is an inner-
ring suburb of Cleveland Ohio. From information compiled by
the National Center for Education Statistics; the school has a
total of 579 students. Over 80 percent of the students at Euclid
Central Middle School, are identified as African-American,
making up the majority of the student body. The majority of the
student body for the Euclid school district is made up of over 80
% African-American students, so Euclid Central, fundamentally
has the same ethnic circulation contrasted with different schools
in the city. (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). The
demographic breakdown of Euclid Central Middle School is
radically unique in relation to that of a regular school in the
condition of Ohio, which is comprised of 16.2% African-
American students by and large.
Participant Justification (Population Choice)
I have chosen the population and the students of Euclid Central
as I had a previous history of working with some of the students
of Euclid High School and several of my colleagues would
discuss the students of the middle school and how they were not
prepared for high school. This was important because I took the
opportunity to investigate further by meeting with some of my
colleagues who worked at Euclid Middle School and they shared
a lot of similarities in their comments. After noticing a similar
pattern, amongst incoming freshman into the high school, I was
interested in seeing the Euclid Middle School students before
they entered our high school program.

3. Literature Review
In an article entitled “Explaining Student Interaction and
Satisfaction: An empirical Investigation of Delivery Mode
Influence: by Zachary S. Johnson et al, an experiment was done
to see if there was a difference in satisfaction due to how the
coursework was delivered-either face-to-face, or on the internet.
To be as objective as possible, the same teacher delivered the
same coursework through the traditional classroom as they did
online, in the same time period. Each student was given the
choice to either participate in the traditional classroom or the
online course according to their personal preference. The
online participants chose to watch either a live streaming of the
traditional classroom or to log online after the video was ready
to be viewed a few hours after the traditional classroom was
over. After conducting this study, the researchers came to the
conclusion that the students that were in the traditional face-to-
face setting had higher student satisfaction. Although online
interactions are more common than they were even 5 years ago,
they are overall still deemed as risky, which is why students did
not interact in the online community as much as the traditional
classroom counterparts. Also stated was that online students
may not have trusted each other due to the fact that it is hard to
test a person’s “warmth” online. Forcing students to engage
online can be done to reach an objective (their grade), but these
interactions can not be deemed as genuine. In this particular
study, student-to-student interaction was not particularly high in
the traditional classroom either, but was still higher than what
was seen online. A reason cited by the author was that this
course was a requirement of all students, so interest was not as
high as if it were a course taken by choice. Also cited as a
reason for low student-to-student was the larger class size. In
larger settings, it is possible for people to be disconnected with
those around them. In middle school, peer interaction is
essential as they are still learning social skills. Also, peer-to-
peer interaction is important to encourage peer pressure of
doing well in school. This study noted that being in a

4. classroom can not only foster learning, but make it is easier to
remember for a test, and apply in real life because of the
creation of memories of the people around you. Also stated in
this study is that student-to-student interaction can lead to
higher course performance, and that students gain less social
benefit in online courses. Middle school is the time that is
pivotal in academic and social development. In a study titled
Effects of Student Success Skills, it states that the more
connected a child feels with their school, the higher GPA they
will have at the end of the year. The study noticed direct
correlation between support and academic success. Support can
come from both teachers and peers, but is more likely to come
from peers because of being relatable. Students are in need of
positive natural interaction. As shown in the online versus
traditional classroom study, when students are forced to
interact, it is only done so because of their grade. Students
need to feel the warmth of a person-which is able to be seen in
the traditional classroom. While online courses can be
beneficial to college students, middle school students should
participate in the traditional classroom for academics and
socialization purposes.
Area of Focus
The area of focus for this study is to identify the importance of
students’ interaction in the
classroom. It has been shown that student interaction helps
students to learn and gain skills and
knowledge that provide them with foundation for later learning.
This study will also increase the
knowledge of teachers about how different types of child
teaching interactions encourage the
development of young students.

5. Research Questions
1. Why is student to student interaction advantageous?
2. What are the problems faced when trying to enhance
interaction?
3. How can we endorse a positive change in student
interaction across all environments in which the student is
involved?
Teaching and Learning
The classroom that I observed had computers, and learning
tablets that were made available for students, which was
something that I did not have access to as a child in school, as
there weren’t enough computers for each student to utilize, and
computer programs were still in early stages of academic
development and playing these games became boring and
cumbersome. After my interviews with the teacher and class
observations on student interactions, it was a noticeable
difference between how the class interacted when the teacher
was lecturing, versus when they had the opportunity use the
computers and tablets. My data collection strategies had
allowed to see how important technology can be to today’s
classroom and how it’s only of a teachers benefit to learn how
to integrate these tools into the classroom. Technology can help
facilitate the knowledge-constructed classroom. One author
views PCs as having a powerful impact on the showing and
learning procedures. They state that with the utilization of PCs
in the classroom, schools would turn out to be more learner
focused, more individualized learning would occur than any
time in recent memory (Bork, 1985). In the learner-driven
classrooms of today, with the PC's guide, learners have the
capacity to team up, to build upon learning deficiencies, and to
discover distinct options for arrangements of academic issues. I
believe that with my action plan centered on student interaction,

6. it appears that technology is the best way to improved student
interaction. My research participant uses a blended learning
approach whenever possible to try and break up the monotony
of the “traditional classroom” and put students the best position
to be engaged.
Intervention/Innovation Description
My intervention/innovation centered on how what methods are
used to improve the student- teacher relationship. By focusing
on these areas first, it allowed to first focus on these internal
factors, before I found what external factors can contribute to
this relationship, and how to use the external factors to improve
student interaction, with both parents, teachers and classmates.
One of the articles of literature I found for this assignment. In
an article written by Richard Ripple an Associate Professor at
Cornell University in New York, states that “ The factors
influencing student learning are numerous and diverse. To
arrive at a useful conceptualization of classroom learning it is
necessary to classify these variables into manageable
categories.” What I derived from this statement was I needed to
not only discover how the environment in which the student is
living before they come to school, effects their environment
which is the classroom or academic setting. Like Ripple I
placed these items into two categories. First being out- of
school interaction, which is how the student interacts with their
parents, and/or siblings. Second this would be in-school time
which creates an emphasis on how the student engages with the
different classmates and school officials. This brought
significant change to my intervention plan because prior I did
not think about whether or not a student’s behavior varies
depending on which environment they are in. This makes
perfect sense because a classroom setting may put them around
more of a situation where they have less control. This is
different from an out-of-school setting where the student may
have more freedom of choice on whom and how they interact
with peers and adults. The way I obtained my data allowed for

7. me to make informed conclusion on how these student
interactions vary, because I asked more questions; and became
more comfortable with my knowledge after each day.
Data Collection Strategies
The most important data collection methods that this study
relied were observations, interviews and artifacts.
Questionnaires were used to collect data concerning the
stakeholders. These questions that were on the questionnaire to
my research participant. What instructional activities are you
planning on using? What are the learner outcomes for students
that struggle with interaction? How long do you think it should
take before a student should show signs of improved
engagement? I gave her the survey before we went over the
lesson plan and at the conclusion of my study; which served as
a reflection of what went right with the class instruction
methods and whether or not the instructional activities and
learner outcomes for improved interaction were satisfied. The
importance of the observation data strategy was to confirm the
behavior in class shown by the students, matched that of the
pre-questionnaire that was given on day one of the study. I had
interviewed my research participant in order to understand both
her opinions and facts on why chose certain instruction and
implementation methods when it comes to this research study. I
was looking for ways to understand if she conducted each class
the same or whether or not she incorporated contextualized
learning concepts to deliver content. The chosen data collection
methods helped me create the best techniques for how she chose
to improve social interaction.
Outcome Analysis
Since I had 3 types of data collection tools. I wanted to use one
tool for each of the three days that I was present in the
classroom. On the first day, I presented my research participant
with the pre-questionnaire that allowed for me to get an
understanding of what she was going to teach, what type of
classroom did she have in terms of behavior, and how she would

8. implement curriculum, it was important that I didn’t interact
with her class, or answer any questions about why I was there,
although she introduced which helped. The strategies that
worked was how I felt that by answering, or even asking
questions, this could possibly alter my research conclusions and
outcomes.
This proved effective because everything went well with the
interview and the pre-questionnaire, which lead to the second
day of research. During the second day, I arrived at the same
time to observe the same class. The previous day I was there
during the math lesson. The observation for the second day was
centered on student behavior and social skills. I was mainly
looking for two components. The components were how a
student interacts with their teacher? And, how do they socialize
with their classmates? After I was able to receive sufficient
information from day one I found that I should have added more
questions to the pre-questionnaire that asked my research
participant whether or not student interaction varied based on
subject? Do the interactions differ between genders?
I concluded that the students in the class had difficulty focusing
on her teaching methods, but seemed to get along well during
group activities. This was done intentionally, at my request the
teacher put students in groups of random order, where it was not
a comfort zone of friends. I believed that this would create an
environment where I could interview the teacher during class
time where she and I could monitor her class and see which
groups were actively engaged in their groups or if some groups
were quiet and seemed to not have any synergy amongst each
other. She had stated that typically students work in groups
based of their choice. She believes that this creates a strong
learning investment for the students as they are less focused on
who they are in a group with, and more in completing the
assignment to the best of their abilities.
After the last day I interviewed with my Ms. Copez after giving
her a questionnaire about what she thought she could have done
differently and whether or how she felt the first questionnaire

9. she was given, coincided with being able to determine student
interaction I observed and concluded that the lack of student
interaction during her class instruction was due to the topic
discussed and how she delivered the activities. She stated that
because it was still only the second week of school and students
were still fighting the “summer hangover”, and they have not
yet entered the reality of being in a structured environment. I
agreed that it was hard to tell, at this point because of how early
it was in the school year, and also at the fact it was only 3 days
of observation; however, she did conclude that a few of the
students displayed learning themes that needed to be
differentiated based on the current classroom of students, and
couldn’t be used for all her students across several classes.
Learning Themes
After each day of my observation, I recall one of the questions I
asked Ms.Copez-Minor was how did some of her students like
to learn. Upon answering a few questions; I concluded that the
strongest learning style for the class room I observed for three
days was visual. This meant that they had to see a lesson
explained and more important than words, many needed to see a
lesson completed and be able to convert the lesson. Many of her
students needed to take what they see with their eyes and store
the images internally for later use if needed. This was great
information to know because since I understood how many of
her students learned it helped explained the lack of class
participation. She started the students in small groups and gave
them time to work on the assignment. This would have been a
good instructional strategy only if there were some examples of
how to complete the lesson the board or prior explanation given.
She told me that she refrained from explanation because this
was review from the past week and students should have an
understand of the lesson along with the use of the notes she had
provided from a few days ago. I would have changed this
strategy of instruction because if students are not retaining the
skills needed to be able to apply to practice, the teacher may

10. start another lesson and or assessment that may lead to a poor
grade by the student. They may not feel comfortable telling a
peer that they do not understand the material, which
unfortunately may lead to lack of student interaction and
academic progress.
Action Plan
Once I started noticing learning styles amongst the students and
how certain instructional activities affected the learner
outcome. One of the findings was how I noticed patters during
math lesson. The students were watching a math problem
completed by Ms. Copez-Minor and then she would erase it,
because she needed the board space and if the students were not
good at taking notes I noticed many of them looked confused
because they did not understand the problem, but yet were
moving on the next problem. The second day I asked her about
considering the idea of erasing the problem like before but then
asking the class to try one on their own without the notes on the
board, which were already erased, but the difference is whether
or not what you are providing for instruction is working. This
would create improved note-taking strategies for the students
and provide continuous feedback for future less planning as
student interaction would remain high. Instructors have to
realize that students learn best when they can communicate with
the substance on whatever number diverse levels as could be
expected under the circumstances; innovation assets can
encourage this and make more profound, more significant, and
positive learning encounters (Sichivitsa, 2007; Peterson, 2006;
Starkman, 2006).
When formulating my action research plan. I used my personal
learning style to help develop my understanding of how these
students might learn best, and how teaching styles can influence
outcomes regardless of the educational lesson or subject matter.
I have found that students who have technology in common;
seem to communicate better with one another because
technology provides a communication bridge to students to

11. interact socially and in the classroom. It is the responsibility of
the parents, school administrations, and teachers to determine
how to best use the technology in the classroom. I think that the
days where a student simply writes on instruction worksheets is
changing, and a teacher may have to use these materials as
supplementary to technology based learning whenever possible.
A critical rule choosing my action research plan was to inquire
in the event that it is something over which the instructor has
impact. Is it something of interest and worth the time and
exertion that will be spent? In some cases, there is a discrete
issue that is promptly identifiable. Alternately, the issue to be
concentrated on may originate from a sentiment uneasiness or
pressure in the classroom. For instance, an educator might be
utilizing the most recent chic showing methodology, yet not
truly knowing or comprehension what or how children are
learning.
One of the most important aspects of my action research plan is
wanting my research participant to display adaptability.
Adaptability requires that the instructor adjust their course plan
or lesson plan to suit the understudies needs. My educational
background and experience of working with the students of high
school age, allowed for me to be able to focus on what types of
instructional methods she as using to engage students. For
instance, Ms. Copez-Minor would be alright expanding the due
date on a classroom assignment if the whole classes needed. A
circumstance where adaptability functions admirably is in
course classes with many of the same types of learning styles or
habits. That way, perusing material or assignments and can be
adjusted as the course advances. Ms. Copez-Minor has room
schedule-wise to give more consideration to varying
instructional activities as she does not have to administer state
standardized testing, which is a huge weight off the shoulders
because she has the freedom to react to their adapting needs in
different ways. I understand that each student has varying needs
of education. The students in her classroom were still in an

12. adjustment period from when the school year begin to when I
performed my action research plan.
Conclusion
My research participant and I understand learning anything
includes investment. Given that dialect basically exists to
encourage correspondence, connection in that dialect must have
a vital part to play in building up a learner's capacity in that
dialect. At the end of the day, instructors need to advance
learner communication keeping in mind the end goal to help the
learners succeed. I’m certain that many people can concur that
learning anything includes interest. You can't figure out how to
play a musical instrument without really getting the instrument
and comparably it is hard to take in a dialect without connecting
with that dialect. Given that dialect fundamentally exists to
encourage correspondence, collaboration in that dialect must
have an imperative part to play in building up a learner's
capacity in that dialect. As it were, educators need to advance
learner connection keeping in mind the end goal to help the
learners succeed.
References
School Statistics: National Center for Educational Statistics.
(2014). Retrieved October 9, 2015.
Sichivitsa, V. (2007). Audacity in vocal improvisation:
motivating elementary school students through technology.
Teaching Music, 14(4).
Mamlin, N., Harris, K. R., Case, L. P. (2001). A Methodological
Analysis of Research on Locus of Control and Learning
Disabilities: Rethinking a Common Assumption. Journal of
Special Education, Winter.
Bork, A. (1985). Personal computers for education. New York:
Harper & Row

13. MAIN TITLE
Subtitle and Author
Introduction
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Materials / Methods
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Conclusions
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Study Results
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Relevant Literature
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Acknowledgement
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