Additional information
Publisher | Edge Enterprises, Inc. |
---|---|
Year Printed | 2010 |
Includes | CD (Program also available on a flash drive for an additional charge of $6.00) |
$46.00
Publisher | Edge Enterprises, Inc. |
---|---|
Year Printed | 2010 |
Includes | CD (Program also available on a flash drive for an additional charge of $6.00) |
Research on the Narrative Strategy CD Program
Overview
The Narrative Strategy CD is a computerized program for teaching students how to tell and write stories. This study was conducted with 60 junior-high students who were enrolled in an inner-city, high-poverty school; 85% of them were receiving free or reduced-price lunches. Sixty-two percent of the students represented minority populations, and 12 percent were students with disabilities with formal IEPs. Six classes of seventh graders were randomly assigned to Group A or Group B. A counterbalanced design was employed.
For the first condition, students in Group A worked through the Narrative Strategy CD program independently. Students in Group B worked through another CD program. For the second condition, students in Group B worked through the Narrative Strategy CD program independently. Students in Group A worked through the alternative CD program. While working through both CDs, the students took quizzes at various points during the programs. They had to reach the mastery criterion in order to be allowed to progress to the next lesson or next portion of a lesson and to complete a program.
Before and after Group A worked through the Narrative Strategy CD program, all participating youths took a written knowledge test, an oral story-telling test, and a written story-telling test. Additionally, the tests were repeated at the end of Condition 2. The written knowledge test required students to write answers to questions about the Narrative Strategy. The oral story-telling test required the students to listen to a story, prepare to tell the story, and orally tell the story to a researcher. The written story-telling test required students to write a story.
Results
With regard to the knowledge test, on the pretest, Group A students earned a mean of 8% of the points available, and Group B students earned a mean of 5% of the points available. On the posttest, Group A students earned a mean of 65% of the points, and the Group B students earned a mean of 4% of the points. The results of an ANCOVA indicated that there was a significant difference between the posttest scores of the two groups [F(1, 47) = 205.591, p < .000, h 2 = .817], in favor of Group A. This effect size represents very large effect between the groups. During Condition 2, the mean Group B pretest score was 6% and the mean posttest score was 75%. Results of a t-test between these mean scores of the Group B students in Condition 2 showed a significant difference between their pretest and posttest scores, t(16) = -15.142, p = 0.000.
On the oral test of story telling during Condition 1, the Group A students earned an average of 13% of the points available on the pretest and 76% of the points on the posttest. The Group B students earned an average of 10% and 17% of the points on the pretest and posttest, respectively. An ANCOVA revealed a significant difference between the groups’ posttest scores [F[1, 42] = 200.743, p < .000, h 2 = .830], in favor of Group A. This effect size represents very large effect between the groups. During Condition 2, the mean Group B pretest score was 12% and the mean posttest score was 70%. Results of a t-test between these mean scores of the Group B students in Condition 2 showed a significant difference between their pretest and posttest scores, t(16) = -12.231, p = 0.000.
On the written story-telling test for Condition 1, the Group A students earned an average of 30% of the points available on the pretest and 78% of the points on the posttest. The Group B students earned an average of 24% and 27% of the points on the pretest and posttest, respectively. An ANCOVA revealed a significant difference between the groups’ posttest scores [F[1, 37] = 83.195, p < .000, h 2 = .698], in favor of Group A. This effect size represents very large effect. During Condition 2, the mean Group B pretest score was 21% and the mean posttest score was 76%. Results of a t-test between these mean scores of the Group B students in Condition 2 showed a significant difference between their pretest and posttest scores, t(16) = -8.965, p = 0.000.
Conclusion
The Narrative Strategy CD program is an effective means of teaching students to tell stories in oral and written form. All students reached mastery on all the lessons in the program. The students’ story-telling knowledge and skills increased significantly from pretest to posttest. Posttest scores of students who used the program in Condition 1 exceeded the scores of a same-age comparison group who did not use the program.
Reference
Vernon, S. (2008). Effects of a hypermedia program on oral and written story-telling skills. Phase II Continuation report for SBIR Grant #1 R44 HD047974.
Author/Product Information Form
Product Name: Speaking with Power Series (The Narrative Strategy, Informing Others, and Persuading Others)
First Author: D. Sue Vernon, Ph.D.
Affiliations: President
Social Perspective, LLC
Retired Director of Research & Development
Edge Enterprises, Inc.
Research Affiliate
University of KS Center for Research on Learning
Guest Lecturer
Department of Education, University of KS
SIM Professional Development Specialist
Licensed instructor for the Resilient Educator Program
Institute of HeartMath
The story behind this product:
My focus for the last 30 years has been on helping at-risk youths, particularly in the area of learning, using social skills, and communicating effectively. My interest in social skills instruction began when I was a Teaching-Parent in a group home for adolescents who had a history of social problems. One of our major goals in our group home was to make it a safe, respectful place where the kids would feel connected and comfortable while they were learning skills to help them succeed socially and academically. As I watched their growing success, I wanted to find a way to introduce social skills instruction to more children as a way to prevent social problems. I thought the perfect place for this instruction would be in the general education classroom. As a result, two lines of research were born. My first series of research studies focused on social interactions in cooperative groups and resulted in the Cooperative Thinking Strategies Series. The importance of creating a positive, productive learning community in the classroom was part of each program in this series, but teachers indicated that they would like more information about creating learning communities. They wanted their students to be tolerant and supportive, and they wanted a way to systematically teach those concepts and skills to the whole class. As educators, my colleagues and I wanted to help teachers build learning communities where all student learning is supported, especially the learning of students who struggle in school. Thus, we began work on a series of instructional programs focused on the classroom community. Those programs now comprise the Community-Building Series. Our goal in these series was to develop a program that benefited students both with and without exceptionalities by helping them become engaged and connected learners within a positive, supportive environment.
These programs provided a foundation for the Speaking with Power Series. Effective oral communication is required for success in the educational setting and is critical for success in the business world. The Cooperative Thinking Series and Community Building Series focused primarily on ways to communicate informally with peers. Another major part of communication, of course, is being able speak in formally in front of different audiences in a variety of settings. The Speaking with Power programs enable students to learn strategies related to the complexities of spoken language at levels required in middle and high school. These communication strategies are designed to help students listen, identify critical information, and effectively deliver that information to a variety of audiences. Instruction includes the differences between the use of formal and informal speech, discriminating when to use each, and practice to reach mastery with regard to formal speech.
My Background & Interests:
I have gained knowledge and experience from a number of perspectives–a child psychologist, a university instructor, a certified teaching-parent, a trainer and evaluator of child-care workers, a SIM professional development specialist, a parent of three children (one with exceptionalities), a biofeedback instructor, and a researcher. My hope is that all those perspectives are reflected in the programs I’ve developed. I have a history of working with at-risk youth with and without exceptionalities (e.g., students with learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, behavioral disorders) in community-based residential group-home treatment programs and in schools. I also have extensive experience with training, evaluating, and monitoring staff who work with this population, and I have conducted research with and adapted curricula for high-poverty populations. As a lecturer of graduate-level university courses in the Department of Education at the University of Kansas, I teach teachers how to access and become proficient in validated research-based practices.
My Thoughts About Speaking with Power Instruction:
The programs within the Speaking with Power Series were developed in response to comments from teachers and as an extension of the first two series of programs. Speaking in public is not typically popular among students. This self-paced instructional series serve as a supplement to traditional curricula and instructional methodologies or as a remediation tool for use with students with expressive language deficits. The programs provide a non-threatening context for instruction and enables students to gain confidence with formal speaking activities. Mnemonic devices, quick quizzes, interactive modules and games, color graphics, animation, video segments, audio effects and descriptive text help keep students engaged while they are learning about the complexities of spoken language. The instruction has been shown to be beneficial especially for those students who struggle with listening, paying attention, and knowing how to do what is required. Encouraging all students to support, respect, and treat one another in civil and kind ways is also an underlying goal throughout the programs. Seeing students develop confidence and become comfortable in speaking while they also significantly improve their accuracy in presenting information is rewarding.
Student Feedback on These Products:
The guidance and demonstrations by youth actors, interactive instructional lessons with vignettes of examples and non-examples of skills and strategies, games, interactive activities (including games) were particularly popular with students who used the programs. Examples of student comments included, “It was really fun to do this program,” I thought it was really cool learning all that,” “It was perfect,” “It teaches you all you need to know when you write and tell a story,” “I had more fun than I expected,” “I liked most how it taught me things I didn’t know,” “The video clip demonstrations were awesome,” “The thing I liked most how it is an ‘on your own’ kind of thing.” “It is awesome writing and giving speeches.” “Now I can give a speech without being nervous.” “Its fun and I learned a lot.”
My Contact Information:
Sue Vernon, Ph.D.
President
Social Perspective, LLC
708 W. 9th Street, #106
Lawrence, KS 66049
Email: svernon2@windstream.net Work Phone: 785-371.6554