Hands-On Activities and Engagement in Kindergarten Students

Abstract- The purpose of this action research study is to investigate the effectiveness of implementing hands-on activities for increasing the engagement of kindergarten students. Participants will be the teacher/researcher’s 18 kindergarten students in a charter school. It is hypothesized that hands-on activities will increase students ’ engagement in the class. Statement of the Problem- The problem in this classroom is that the students are not engaged in the activities that the teacher gives them. Too often activities involve filling out worksheets. In this case, while students are doing their work in the classroom they complain of being bored and do not want to do the activity. Others finish their work rapidly and, with nothing else to do for the rest of the class time, distract others or walk around the room copying from other students, because they do not know what to do. Purpose and/or Research Question(s)- The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of implementing hands-on activities for increasing the engagement of kindergarten students. Is there a difference in engagement between a group of kindergarten students, when using hand-on activities and when there in not? It is hypothesized that kindergarten students’ engagement will increase when using hand-on activities