Collecting and Analyzing Our Data

Happy almost Thanksgiving!! As we are all packing up and heading home for the holidays, we wanted to let you know that we have finalized how we are going to collect and analyze data about brain breaks and their effectiveness. Hopefully we can entertain at least a few fellow commuters who may need a bit of light reading on their long and (hopefully) traffic-free trips home.

We have five ways that we are going to collect data during the course of our action research project:

1. Primary Behavioral Observation Chart: We will have two of these charts each day. The first chart will be filled in during the lesson directly before that day's brain break and the second chart will be filled in during the lesson directly after the brain break.

2. General Attitude Survey: This survey will be administered at the beginning of the study, before any brain breaks have been administered, and at the end of the study, after the three weeks of brain breaks have been completed. The survey will ask students how they feel about brain breaks in general and how they feel about each of the three specific brain breaks. A snapshot of the survey is included below.

3. Weekly Specific Attitude Survey: This survey will be in the same format as the General Attitudes Survey but will be given to the students at the end of each week of brain breaks, asking their opinion on that specific week's brain break (yoga, dancing, and fitness).

4. Pre/Post Academic Assessment: Although unclear on the specifics for this assessment, we are going to give a pretest at the beginning of the week and a posttest at the end of the week on the specific material being covered over the five-day period. This will be a way to measure academic success, and allow us to see if there is a correlation between type of brain break and academic success.

5. Anecdotal Notes: The observer(s) will record anecdotal notes about student behavior during the lesson directly before and directly after each brain break.

We will let you know more as we talk to our mentor teachers and find out exactly when this will all take place. Have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!!