Modern Blanket Toss: Findings and Observations

2016 FINDINGS
Students also clearly made
greater gains in science
content knowledge during the
summer program than during
the school year (Figure 4).
Students did report significant increases in their communication skills. They
reported the greatest gains in four areas: 1) ability to talk to a group of
strangers; 2) ability to talk with a stranger; 3) ability to talk in a small group of
acquaintances; and 4) ability to talk in a large meeting of strangers. These results
are shown in Table 20.
Figure 4. Average content knowledge scale scores by
survey date. July dates represent summer post-surveys;
April dates represent school year post-surveys; May
and September dates represent pre-surveys.
Table 20 Average survey responses to communication items from
first to last survey.
Communication Areas
First
Survey
Last
Survey
Change
Present a talk to a group of strangers. 2 2.49 0.49
Talk in a large meeting of strangers 1.82 2.23 0.41
4) Student communication and leadership skills
There were positive differences in self-reported leadership and communication
skills; however, only communication skills showed a statistically significant (P <
0.05) shift and then only when all students, both those that participated in the
summer course
Table 19 Comparison of student leadership and
communication scale scores from first survey to
last survey.
Scale
n
Pre-
All
Post-
All
Note: Bold indicates a statistically significant (P < 0.05) shift.
Note: The difference between the scale scores of first and last
responses for individuals were compared by school location; no
construct showed significant difference by location.
n
Pre-
Summer
Post-
Summer
Leadership Skills 57 3.17 3.19 28 3.15 3.26
Communication
Skills
57 2.65 2.82 28 2.63 2.88
and those just in
the school
course, are
included (this is
because the
smaller n of the
summer
students makes
a similar size
shift less likely to
be significant).
The results are
shown in Table
19.
Present a talk to a group of acquaintances 2.44 2.79 0.35
Talk in a small group of acquaintances. 2.63 2.91 0.28
Talk with a stranger. 2.11 2.37 0.26
Talk in a large group of acquaintances 2.39 2.61 0.22
Talk in a large meeting of friends. 2.88 3.07 0.19
Talk in a small group of strangers. 2.35 2.54 0.19
Talk with an acquaintance. 2.79 2.91 0.12
Present a talk to a group of friends 3.09 3.12 0.04
Talk with a friend. 3.75 3.58 -0.18
Talk in a small group of friends 3.54 3.29 -0.25
Note: Average is the average of Likert scales responses from 1 to 4.
Students did not report significant increases in their leadership skills, but did
report large gains in two areas: 1) ability to set and prioritize goals, and 2) ability
to work effectively with a diverse group of people.
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