“The Effects of Classroom Amplification Systems on Early Elementary Students’ Academic...
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Transcript of “The Effects of Classroom Amplification Systems on Early Elementary Students’ Academic...
“The Effects of Classroom Amplification Systems on Early Elementary Students’
Academic Achievement, Attending Behavior, and Their Ability to Hear Their
Teacher”
Faith Loven University of Minnesota DuluthNancy Anderson Hermantown Elementary SchoolKelly J. Fisk Cedar Mt. SchoolsSheila J. Johnson Children’s Hospitals and Clinics
Background Information
Importance of audition in the classroom45% of a child’s school day is spent
engaged in listening (Berg, 1987)
Schools are terrible auditory environmentsNoisyReverberant
An audio example of the auditory environment of a typical classroom
Speech Understanding
Poor acoustics and speech understandingLoven & Collins (1987)
Children with Hearing Loss
in the ClassroomUnidentified hearing lossFluctuating hearing thresholds
Otitis media
On any given day, 30% of children in a regular education placement are struggling with an educationally significant hearing loss, known or unknown (Nelson & Schmidt, 1993)
Loss of important linguistic cues and contextual information
FM Amplification Systems
Improves the acoustics of the classroomA pictureA demonstration
Sound Field Amplification Systems
Address the problems of personal FM systems
Benefit ALL children
Not so much an amplifying system as it is an equalizing system
Efficacy of Sound Field FM Amplification Systems
Mainstream Amplification Resource Room Study (MAARS) in 1980Hearing impaired children in regular classroom
settings made greater academic improvement than similar children in a resource room placement
Other studiesImprovement in
Academic achievement (Sarff, Ray, & Bagwell, 1981)Test taking performance (Burgener & Deichmann,1982)Vocabulary growth (Lovass, 1986)Identification of vowels and environmental sounds (Lovass, 1986)Speech discrimination ability (Jones, Berg, & Viehweg, 1989)Language development (Gilman, 1989)
The Research Questions
What are the effects of classroom amplification on “normal” hearing students in primary grade classrooms in terms of the following dimensions?Academic achievement in three core areas
ReadingMathematicsSpelling
Objective attending behaviorStudents’ subjective judgments of the listening
environment
Methods
Subjects
48 second grade boys and girls in two separate classrooms in a northern Minnesota K-3 elementary school
Predominantly CaucasianAges ranged from 7-9 years24 students were in each classroomNo known impairments that would affect learning
The Amplified Classroom
Classroom “A”Deluxe Classroom Amplification System
manufactured by Audio Enhancement4 ceiling-mounted speakersCordless microphone and transmitter
Used during instructional time Gain adjusted to provide a 65 dBA
presentation level
Sound Level Measurements of the Classrooms
Classroom “B” (non-amplified)Average signal-to-noise ratio was +5 dB
Occupied teacher quiet vs occupied teacher talking
Classroom “A” (amplified)Average signal-to-noise ratio was +14 dB
Occupied teacher quiet vs occupied teacher talking
Measures of Academic Achievement
Core area curriculum used in both classroomsMath in My World (McGraw Hill, 1998)Collections from Young Scholars (Open Court Publications,
1999)Dolch Sight Word Lists (University of Illinois Press 1974)
Unit tests in reading, mathematics, and spellingScores recorded by the classroom teacher
# items correct/# items possible
Data periodsPeriod 1: November-December. Pre-amplificationPeriod 2: January-March: First comparisonPeriod 3: April-May: second comparison
Measures of Attending Behavior
Six students (3 boys/3 girls) randomly selected in each classroom
Observation recording formAttending behaviors:
Eye contact w/teacherEye contact w/another student
called upon by the teacherEye contact w/materials currently
in use by the class
20 random observationsObservations made during
period 1 and the end of period 3
Measures of Listening Judgments
Student survey form
Filled out by every student in Classroom A and B and two first grade classrooms and two third grade classrooms during period 1 and at the end of period 3
144 students surveyed
Results for Academic Achievement
Each curricular area analyzed separately
Figure shows the average reading test scores as a function of observation period for amplified and non-amplified classrooms
T-test determined a significant (p<.05) difference between the two classrooms during period 3
Results for Academic Achievement
Figure shows the average spelling test scores as a function of observation period for amplified and non-amplified classrooms
T-test determined a significant (p<.05) difference between the two classrooms during period 3
Results for Academic Achievement
Figure shows the average mathematic test scores as a function of observation period for amplified and non-amplified classrooms
T-test determined no significant (p<.05) differences between the two classrooms any of the three observation periods
Summary of Results for Academic Achievement
Significantly better performance was demonstrated in the amplified classroom, compared to the non-amplified classroom, after some period of exposure to the system in the areas of reading and spelling. No differences were evident between the two classrooms for math.
Results for Classroom Attending Behaviors
Two-way factorial analysis of variance Procedure (ANOVA)
ANOVA summary suggests a significant (p<.05) interaction between classroom and observation period
Results for Classroom Attending Behaviors
Figure plotting the average number of positive attending behaviors recorded as a function of classroom and observation period
Tukey Test for Honestly Significant Differences
Significant (p<.05) differences involve the May time period between the amplified and non-amplified classroom
Summary of Results for Classroom Attending Behavior
Observations of attending classroom behaviors increased significantly in the classroom with the FM sound field amplifier, after installation of the unit
Results for Listening Judgments
Tables show the averaged responses to each survey item across all classrooms
The last item shows a difference between the average %-change across the two classrooms
Summary and Conclusions
Classroom amplification systems, used in classrooms with normally hearing, normally developing second graders, lead to significant gains in academic achievement
The benefit of amplification is not immediate
Objective measures of classroom listening behavior increases in an amplified classroomMay be related to the childrens’ perception of a quieter
classroom in the amplified classroom