Electrical Wiring,.. Plumbing Practicums! Wait What are we Doing!!!

During our student teaching experience this semester, we have had several assignments to help keep us on track. The SLO (or Student Learning Objective) / Action Research Projects are both items very common in Pennsylvania Classrooms. In this assignment we were able to combine these two items into one project

More info: SLOs https://www.pdesas.org/Page?pageId=7
Action Research http://edglossary.org/action-research/

My SLO/ Action Research Project was based in my Ag Mechanics I Class. Here is a quote of my Problem Statement:

 

There are two sections of the Agriculture Mechanics I Class at Athens Area High School. Classes meet during periods 3 and 7. Not having much experience in these areas as a new and beginning teacher, I want to know how much the students learn during this unit, and if there is a difference between the two sections. While one will be learning electricity, the other section will be working on plumbing. The goal is to evaluate student learning based off of the unit goals. Students will rate their competency before and after each unit based off of the unit goals. The researcher will then examine the difference between the pre and post-test to evaluate the student’s perception of their own learning. This research will affect the students as well as the researcher. The students can self-evaluate their learning and the instructor can see how closely the curriculum relates to the unit goals, and the instructor can evaluate the units based off of student learning.

In third period, we were examining Electricity and Electrical Wiring

Students engaging in the Battery Lab for the Electricity Unit. This lab directly related to one of the objectives.

 

One of my favorite pictures from the Electrical Wiring Practicum portion..Gotta love the Light Bulb Moment!

Here is some more information about the unit and students perceptions of their competency for the objectives.




Here is an infographic describing the results for the Electrical Wiring Unit

The seventh period class was studying Plumbing Safety and Careers, and Plumbing Skills.

Here is an example of the survey given to my students studying plumbing:

 

Rate your own ability to complete these objectives 1-10

 (1= I have NO idea!) (10= I could teach this!)

 Plumbing Safety

OBJECTIVE	RATING (1-10)
Demonstrate the importance of plumbing in everyday life.
Identify important parts in the history of plumbing, and it’s relation to health and sanitation
Demonstrate working safely in an agricultural shop setting.
List different careers that relate to plumbing
Name common tools for plumbing
Use common tools for plumbing properly
Name common parts for plumbing.

Plumbing Practicum

OBJECTIVE	RATING (1-10)
Perform the skills necessary to accomplish basic plumbing jobs
Able to solder copper tubing
Demonstrate safe use of common plumbing tools
Describe the purposes for various plumbing fittings, materials, and tools
Create a plumbing square project utilizing copper, PVC, galvanized steel, and flexible plastic tubing along with the appropriate fasteners.

 

Soldering supplies! This was one of the objectives for the Plumbing Unit.

Here students are acquiring their supplies for the Plumbing Square Project.

You can learn more about my students' view of the Plumbing Unit by reviewing the infographic below.





Here is an infographic describing the results for the Plumbing Practicum Unit

 This process was very helpful just to go through the steps of filling out an SLO and conducting Action Based Research. This project also allowed me to discuss these items with not only my cooperating teacher and supervisor, but other educators as well.

Thanks for reading

Best

Sarabeth