Collecting data has never been my strong point, and this year I wanted to track attendance since GH is voluntary and I wanted to improve my mentoring strategies. That being said, there are some variables in the following statistics that should be noted:
1. Information was taken from sign-in sheets the students used. Although students were constantly reminded to sign-in to GH, I am well aware this did not always occur. Therefore, I am posting the statistics based on those sheets although, in reality, they are probably higher.
2. The following information is from days the GH was actually offered, vacations and days off were not included, however there were days that a grade may have been absent due to a fieldtrip.
3. GH for grades 6-8 occurs during their lunch and recess time. Students are asked to attend at least ONCE a week for the duration of their project. They may FAIL at any time or complete a project and leave GH. They may also start a new one once finished with one; the choice is left to the individual.
I am a firm believer that GH is a student based inquiry platform where I mentor and guide students. Since this is held during their lunch and recess, students have control over project duration and may come and go as they so choose. While this method has proved successful for my school, it may not for other schools as there is no right or wrong way to conduct GH if you follow the three main principles: 1. Choose a question that cannot be answered by a simple Google search 2. Research 3. Share.
The data has been divided into two groupings: 7 & 8 th grade- who may have chosen to participate last year, and 6th grade who generally starts later in the year as this is their first year.
Data grades 7 & 8
~ Out of 55 students, 32 chose to participate in GH at some point during the school year.
~ GH lasted for 28 weeks
~25 students finished at least one project and continued to work on another.
~ 8 Fizzles ( student interest but they showed up sporadically)
~ 5 FAILS
~ 3 students attended every week at least twice a week
~30 students showed up at least more than once a week during their project.
8th grade
~20 were returning students from the prior year
~2 were new GH students
~66% of 8th grade participated
7th grade
~ 8 returning students
~ 2 were new GH students
~45% of 7th grade participated
Data for 6th graders
~ 17 students out of 25 participated
~ GH ran for 21 weeks
~3 Fizzles
~ 2 FAILS
~12 students showed up at least twice a week
~ 68% of the 6th grade participated
A total voluntary participation rate of 61% in grades 6-8.
