1. Vocabulary Strategies to Improve SAT Scores Leonardtown High School Christine Chadwick, StefanieGlorioso, Daniel Morris, Marc Pirner

2. JustificationSIP: Improve SAT scores- Offer the entireschool testing skills and vocabulary words35 Strategies for developing Content Area Vocabulary byContent area achievement depends closely on studentsmastery of specialized vocabularyOur Strategy:Semantic Mapping 3. Content Area Examples English- students write the way they talk (ortext), emphasis on vocabulary to help overall academicEnglish English- explicit academic vocabulary instruction is notbeing observed in some classes Government- there are many words and concepts thatare specific to government that are fundamental tolearning / high performance in social studies Chemistry- there are many vocabulary words that arehighly specific to chemistry that are need to besuccessful in the sciences 4. Problem and Population Students could improve their verbal SAT scoresand content area achievement with more explicitvocabulary instruction. Population: Honors Chemistry English 11 and 12 Standard and CM Government 10 CM 5. Semantic Map Structured word map write the vocabulary word in the center connect words that are synonyms, antonyms, definitions, examples, parts of speech etc. Gives students context rather than dictionary definition usage rather than memorization more vocabulary Example of student work 6. Benefits of Strategy Allows for a visual/spatial representation ofvocabulary Students see the relationships between concepts andvocabulary Requires higher order thinking skills Can help activate prior knowledge 7. Research questions Affective Question: Do the students feel comfortable usingcontent area vocabulary? General Questions: Are the students using the vocabulary? Are students vocabulary scores rising? 8. Data collection planPre-post Tests Observation Student Work Do students feelcomfortable usingXXX contentvocabulary?Are the students using theXXXvocabulary? Are vocabularyXXX scores rising? 9. Pre-post Assessment I Half of the questions on the pre-post assessment willlook like the following question: (Vocabulary Word) A. I have never encounter this word before. B. I have seen this word before. C. I can define this word. D. I have used this word before Other half to check student understanding of each vocabularyword. 10. Pre-post Assessment II 10 vocabulary words Words will be used in context Students will determine whether the word isused correctly Selected response format Post assessment- vocabulary quiz 11. Observation guidelines Specific items to observe: If the students used vocabulary words When and how often students use vocabularywords in speech and writing Tally of how many times students usevocabulary words Questions to think about during observation: Do students hesitate when attempting to usevocabulary words? 12. Timeline Each group member will complete every step onthe decided day in their respective classrooms. October 18: pre-test 1 will be given with thevocabulary for the week. October 22: post-test 1 will be given for the samevocabulary. October 25: pre-test 2 given with vocabulary for theweek. Week of October 26: strategy implemented October 29: post-test 2 will be given for the samevocabulary November 8 and 9: analyze data 13. English 11 ResultsQuantitative Data Vocabulary words Student view onused correctlyvocabulary knowledge Pre-post 1: p=1.846E-12 Pre-post 3: p=3.787E-23Significant Significant Pre-post 2: p=0.308 Pre-post 4: p=3.376E-16Not Significant Significant Post-post 1: p=3.153E-11 Post-Post 2: p=6.182E-5Significant Significant The semantic maps Semantic maps made a made a significantsignificant difference in difference in increasingincreasing student self view vocabulary scores.of vocabulary knowledge 14. English 12 Results Quantitative Data Vocabulary wordsused correctly Student view ofvocabulary use Pre-post 1: p=0.102 Pre-post 1: p= 3.16x10^-Not Significant 5 Significant Pre-post 2: p=2.37x10^- Pre-post 2: p=1.28x10^-4 Significant 10 Significant Post-post 1: p=0.0516 Post-post 1: p=8.51x10^-Not Significant 3 Significant The semantic maps The semantic maps made a significantmade a significant difference in difference in increasingincreasing vocabulary vocabulary scores.scores. 15. Chemistry Honors Results Vocabulary Words Correctly Used Pre test 1: Post test 1 Ttest p.= 2.03x10-6 This shows that the students made significant improvements on their knowledge of the vocabulary words from the pre test to the post test. Pretest 2: Post test 2 Ttest p.= 8.95x10-13 This shows that the students made significant improvements on their knowledge of the vocabulary words from the pre test to the post test. Post test 1: Post test 2 Ttest p.= 0.0769 There is no statistical significant difference between the two post tests, but is approaching significance.. 16. Chemistry Honors Results Student View on Vocabulary Knowledge Pre-test 1: Post test 1 Ttest p.= 3.55x10-9 This shows that the students made significant improvements in their knowledge of the vocabulary words from the pre test to the post test. Pre-test 2: Post-test 2 Ttest p.= 1.37x10-16 This shows that the students made significant improvements in their knowledge of the vocabulary words from the pre test to the post test. Post test 1: Post test 2 Ttest p.= 0.0215 This shows that the students felt they knew the words more after they did the semantic maps than when they did not use any type of formal strategy. 17. Experiment Variation With this variation of the experiment, the same test wasgiven 3 different times: Pre-test- first time they see the test Post-test second time- still no intervention Final- third time after semantic mapping Data is compared between pre-post, pre-final, and post-final to determine whether or not the intervention wassuccessful 18. Government Results Vocabulary words used correctly Pre-post: p= 0.341761 Students view on Not significant vocabulary knowledgePre-post: p= Pre-final: p= 0.000149 0.003989 SignificantPre-final: p= Significant 1.34406E-12Significant Post-final: p= 2.80948E-07 Post-final: p=4.75131E-05SignificantThe semantic Significant mapping technique made a significant difference in The semantic mapping increasing student comfort with technique made avocabulary. significant difference in increasing vocabulary scores. 19. Findings from observations Few observations were made: rarely using vocabulary words in English orGovernment class used more in practice in Chemistry used when explicitly asked to Students recognized words when used by others 20. Overall Findings Vocabulary scores increased from Post 1 to Post 2 Student view of vocabulary use increased Rare student use of vocabulary words in the classroom setting, more confidence and use in Chemistry Recognition of vocabulary words when used 21. Answers to researchquestions Are the students using thevocabulary? Students use vocabulary rarely Students reported using vocabulary words moreoften after the implementation of semanticmapping Therefore- semantic mapping increases studentuse of vocabulary words 22. Answers to researchquestions Are students vocabulary scoresrising? Yes, scores are rising in English and Government, butnot in Chemistry could be due to a lack of vocabulary routine in Chemistry. 23. Discussion This strategy yielded overall positive resultsalthough reimplementation would help to providemore reliable results Reasons data could be flawed: Faulty selected response questions Strategies were not implemented identically in all classrooms, nor did they follow a specific procedure difficulty of vocabulary words varied across data sets Timing of the tests Deviation from observation guidelines Too many words in a short amount of time for Chemistry 24. Next steps? Implications for Future Research: strategy should be implemented identically across allcontent areas use fewer vocabulary words of relatively equal difficulty could be broken into two separate studies One study on vocabulary scoresspecify use as a study tool One study on student view on vocabulary use 25. Back to the big picture Semantic mapping is one of many study tools Students need to learn about different studytools encouraged to use other visuals as studytools to study for the SAT.