In December, I created the Plan for my Enquiry Focus – which can be found here:
https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/gVRpirDRraw/enquiry-plan-1st-draft
Now I will go through the plan and reflect on the following points:
What did you actually do, with whom and when?
What changed and why?
1 – Identifying the Focus
My focus has remained unchanged.
2 – Research
Research that I did prior to this enquiry has fed into a PG Cert I have undertaken and vice versa, reading undertaken for the PG Cert course has influenced my enquiry.
3 – Specific Focus
My original specific focus was In what way does the creation of a STEM area in a classroom address the gender gap? This has had to change due to the fact we have not created a STEM area in the classroom. I have had to taken alternative action to this enquiry which is detailed below.
4 – Plan and Implement
The original plan of creating STEM boxes for classrooms and to work alongside SLT to develop STEM areas in the shared areas has changed due to the time constraints, lack of engagement from pupils in the shared areas, and not being able to implement this fully. Instead, I have ensured that through the 90 minutes I have with each class during the week there are ample opportunities to explore gender in STEM, as well as through a wider variety of visitors during our Digital Learning Week.
5 – Gather Data
The gathering of Data was carried out in January with a focus group of 4 children per year group (2 boys and 2 girls). The plan was to revisit the questionnaires with the children before the end of term 3 (april holidays) however, with recent events and restrictions placed upon schools I am now going to carry out a questionnaire with our P4-7 pupils and use this questionnaire in two ways:
1 – to pick out those who had previously completed the survey and compare results.
2 – to use results as a way of seeing where we are in the upper school in regards to our attitudes towards STEM and how I can use this to inform the future of STEM in our school.
6 – Analyse Data
The gathering of Data was carried out in January with a focus group of 4 children per year group (2 boys and 2 girls). The data gathered was analysed and showed a clear bias towards. The results of the other questionnaires are still pending but I will update this once I have the results.
7 – Evaluate and Report
I will report my findings back to my SLT and colleagues which will inform us of how we can move towards tackling the Gender Gap in STEM as a whole school.
8 – Take Informed Action
This will be decided upon conversations between myself, SLT and colleagues.
9 – Repeat
The hope would to be to carry out the questionnaire annually to see how attitudes of our children are changing.
This is a clear overview, Jayne. How do you feel now about the changes you made to your original plan? Do you feel the STEM areas were too ambitious or, with hindsight, do you feel they would not have been the best approach? Would you try to implement them at a future date?
When I first realised I had to change I felt a bit downhearted to be honest however, I feel that it was for the best and it was maybe a bit too ambitious to have STEM areas set up immediately. By approaching it this way, I will have gathered data that can inform the future for how we can tackle the gender gap within STEM. I do plan to set up STEM areas in the future, but it would need to be from the beginning of a session and planned alongside my colleagues and the whole SLT rather than myself and the PT to achieve the best results.
Hi Jayne,
I’m commenting from another group but I wanted to say how informative I found your overview. The way you lay it out has really helped me see key points of the enquiry.
Thank you!
Hi Jayne,
I love your presentation in your blog it is so easy to follow. =) I particularly like the idea of using the same survey every year to track changes in pupils opinion over time.