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1 PROJECT PROPOSAL ON THE ANTICIPATORY SET

Project Proposal on the Anticipatory Set

Rebecca Zahurak

Marist College


Abstract

The idea behind the anticipatory set is simple. It is the “hook” of a lesson, something that sparks

the interest of the students’ so that they will be more inclined to participate in the lesson and or

interested in the lesson. It is typically done at the beginning of each lesson and can take a number

of forms: short video clip, quote, pictures, activity, worksheet; the opportunities are endless.

Doing an anticipatory set is a great way to begin any lesson plan, for this reason anticipatory set

should be practiced in the classroom more often then it typically is. Many teachers do their own

version of an anticipatory set without knowing the research behind this teaching strategy or know

that it is called an anticipatory set. This paper hopes to provide a better insight on the teaching

strategy of the anticipatory set along with effective activities that can be used as anticipatory sets

in any grade and subject area. The aspiration of this paper is to inspire educators to experiment

with anticipatory sets and to further their exploration on the topic.


Introduction

I have always found the idea behind the teaching method of the anticipatory set to be very

interesting. As I reflect on my undergraduate program, I can recall that when creating lesson

plans, including the anticipatory set was of great importance. It was drilled into our heads that if

we did not include the anticipatory set then the students were not going to learn. That is far from

true. However, I now question how truly important including the idea of the anticipatory set is

when beginning a new unit or even a new lesson. This question has lead me to other questions

and ultimately one final research question in hopes to learn how student performances, interest,

and motivation in the lesson are different with or without the use of an anticipatory set. After

much research, I discovered that I might be the only one who calls the anticipatory set, an

anticipatory set. It seemed that with each article I read, with read textbook I picked up, each

author(s) and researchers had developed their own name and definition for the anticipatory set.

Further reading has leaded me to conclude that we are all in general, referring to the same

teaching method, the anticipatory set. The following pages are my testament to the anticipatory

set.

Literature Review

Teaching today is much more than reciting facts from a text book, it has become a series

of techniques and strategies that teachers compile together to form teaching methods. One

teaching method that is used in many different ways and has many different titles is what some

would call the anticipatory set. The next several pages will attempt to describe the concept of the

anticipatory set and the research that has been conducted on this teaching method.


The Anticipatory Set

The idea behind learning is that it is a cognitive process that all humans are able to do. As

we age and grow that process becomes more complex and we are able to reflect on that process,

at which point we have learned something new. In the classroom, it is not always easy for

students to be able to reflect on that process. To help encourage students through this process,

cognitive psychologists have established three key terms to help define what it means to learn:

reception, availability, and activation. When teaching a lesson, reception and availability are

accomplished when teachers are able to pinpoint students’ attention on a specific domain and

provide them with an outline. The purpose of the outline is to help students organize the content

into something meaningful and something they can relate to; otherwise known as the anticipatory

set. Another more popular name for this concept is advanced organizer (Borich, 2007). Admired

educator Madeline Hunter suggests that this method takes place at the beginning of every lesson,

unit or both. The main reason to do this at the beginning of each lesson, unit or both is to spark

the interest of the students (Masci, 2006). From a cognitive psychologists’ view point all teachers

must support “this approach to learning and instruction” (Borich, 2007, p.262). They believe that

when teachers are able to reflect on their students own experiences and interests, their students’

are able to change what they believe to be true about the topic, disregard old and perhaps wrong

information for new information, ask questions, explore and assess what they know (Borich,

2007). Therefore, when the class period is over, students may not recite this process out loud but

cognitively speaking they are processing what they just learned.

The anticipatory set is characteristically some type of activity. This activity can take

many forms and can be prepared for any classroom, grade, and content level. Traditionally, an

activity is defined as a structured and prearranged behavior that the teacher wants the students to


engage in for a certain period of time and to fulfill a common purpose (Emmer, Evertson, &

Worsham, 2006). That common purpose is usually not revealed to the students but is something

that the students will have to figure out as they participate in the activity. When creating an

activity for the anticipatory set it is important to keep a few criteria in mind. First, time is

valuable, especially in a 45-50 minute class period. As a result, the anticipatory sets should not

take the whole class period. A few minutes should do just fine. In keeping with time it is also

important to create anticipatory set activities that will meet the objectives of the lesson and or

unit, which should meet the standards. Lastly, once the anticipatory set activity is complete

students should feel excited and eager to learn more. The time between the anticipatory set and

the lesson is called transition. In order to keep students from waiting, which can result in chatter,

and at which point the value of anticipatory set is lost because they no longer feel that

excitement, the transition should go as smooth as possible. In the education field this process is

known as smoothness. “A smooth flowing lesson keeps students’ attention” (Emmer et al., 2006,

p.88). Thus students are better able to retain what they need to learn.

Time

So much time is wasted in everyday classrooms from the time the bell rings to when the

actual lesson begins. That is why it is so important to plan lessons accordingly to make sure time

is on your side. Masci, (2008) stresses the importance of time on task activities: “time on task

involves both the time associated with learning and the nature and quality of the tasks devised by

teachers” (Masci, 2008, p.34). This involves a great deal of planning and preparation on the

teacher’s part. However, this should take place on a day to day basis, establishing a routine,

providing an agenda, and showing consistency which allows students to be familiar with what is

expected of them. “A well-managed classroom is a task-oriented and predictable environment…


[where] students know what is expected of them and how to succeed” (Wong & Wong, 2004, p.

88). This idea of a well-balanced classroom is not only enjoyable for the teacher but the students

as well. Conducting an anticipatory set everyday not only has benefits for the students but the

teacher as well. Part of the anticipatory set activity can be to pre-assess students’ knowledge on

the topic or review what was learned the previous class. “The more students already know about

a particular subject, the easier it is for them to acquire new information about it” (Masci, 2006,

p35). Teachers’ ability to combine two strategies not only saves time, but getting the students

interested in a topic while finding out how much they know about the topic ensures for a smooth

running classroom.

Advanced Organizers

In the 1960’s cognitive psychologist David Ausubel (Drake & Nelson, 2009) coined the

term advanced organizers. He advocates using advanced organizers to help students facilitate

what they will need to learn. Ausubel claims that advanced organizers present students with a

general overview of the topic to be studied while the details will come later (Box & Little, 2003).

The two terms; advanced organizers and anticipatory set, are very similar in that they both

present an overview or clip of what the current topic of study will be and both leave the students

in suspense, if you will, about the details to follow. There are two real difference is that an

anticipatory set can take many forms such as: video clip, activity, or worksheet whereas an

advanced organizer typically is only a worksheet. The second difference is time. An advanced

organizer does not necessarily have a time restriction like an anticipatory set does. An advanced

organizer can be used during the whole duration of the class with students referring to it

throughout the lesson. Back in the 60’s before the age of computers, SmartBoards, and

PowerPoint, the majority of teachers lectured. So it is not surprising that Ausubel defines


advanced organizers as a means for students to organize lectures. By being able to see the main

ideas prior to the lecture, students are able to focus their attention on the big picture. According

to Ausubel, this helps students to organize the information they are receiving from the teacher

(Drake et al., 2009). Times have changed and the teaching method of lecturing is no longer

commonplace. Instead, educational researchers and teachers have adapted Ausubel’s theory on

advanced organizers to accommodate the every evolving world of education.

Interestingly enough Chen, Hirumi, & Zhang, (2007) conducted a study to determine the

effectiveness advanced organizers play in improving student performance. The study took place

at the undergraduate level in an on-line class, with sixty-three juniors and seniors, for a period of

six weeks. The researchers developed not one but two hypotheses for their study. Their first

hypothesis is “there is no difference in the short-term knowledge-based and performance-based

learning achievement” (Chen, Hirumi, & Zhang, 2007, p.224) while their second hypothesis

states that “there is no difference in the long-term knowledge-based and performance-based

learning achievements” (Chen et al., 2007, p.224). According to the researchers findings there is

no difference in either the short or long term scores among students who used the advanced

organizer and students who did not (Chen et al., 2007). The researchers’ results conflict with

Ausubel’s theory which states that when given advanced organizers, students will perform better

on tests. Lastly, their use of an advanced organizer does not seem to yield in the same fashion as

conducting an anticipatory set. For example, anticipatory sets are meant to spark the interest of

the students where as an advanced organizer is to provide students with the overall concept of the

lesson. But whose says an advanced organizer cannot do both? Perhaps, student performance did

change because they were not interested enough in the readings to be able to relate to it. This is


the whole essence of the anticipatory set and Ausubel’s theory. However, it is still up to debate

whether Ausubel’s theory is true to this day or is outdated.

Methods behind the Anticipatory Set

It is always difficult to research any topic when there is not a common name or

definition. Here are some of the names that are linked with anticipatory sets and advanced

organizer: WOW’s, anchor activities, prime time, and warm up activities, activators, graphic

organizers, and aesthetic scanning. Whatever the name they all share the same concept: powerful

learning tools that have the potential to target all three learning styles and can be done in a

variety of creative ways. Other benefits include, activates student thinking while retrieving prior

knowledge. After the student has remembered that “hey this sounds familiar”, they are able to

link together their old knowledge while adding onto new knowledge. Lastly, this teaching

method allows students to visually see and take in the learning process (Kryza, Stephens &

Duncan, 2007).

However, there are some negative aspects to this teaching method. If the teacher is not

creative with his or her method of presenting the anticipatory sets or advanced organizers then

students could quickly get bored. Especially if it is in the form of a worksheet and is done on a

daily basis (Kryza et al,. 2007). Students might get the sense that we are just doing it to do it or

to kill time. They begin to feel redundant saying the “same ol’ thing [again]” (Loimer, p.26,

2006). In efforts to help prevent this from happening it is suggested that teachers try to be as

creative as possible. Use the anticipatory set time to create a visual aid that represents the topic

or objective of the lesson by having students make it “BIG & LOUD!” (Kryza et al,. p. 52,

2007). Then display them on the wall for all to see and review during the unit. This method can

take on many forms but the forms at which Kryza (2007) focuses the “BIG & LOUD” idea


behind takes the form of poster boards. By having students express the main idea or one

particular question, quote, theme, statement ect… in the form of a drawing, paragraph, bullets, or

perhaps combine some. This method is to encourage team work, think about the topic through

students’ prior knowledge, and it focuses on different learning styles (Kryza et al., 2007).

It is also believed that by doing an anticipatory set the teacher is attempting to motivate

his or her students participating in the lesson. Kryza (2007) suggests that “when [teachers]

attempt to motivate [their students, they] are trying to get them to do something that is our

[meaning the teachers] interest” (Kryza et al., p.4 2007). Instead, Kryza (2007) believes that

teachers must inspire, and only when teachers inspire are the students driven by their own

interest and prior knowledge to learn (Kryza et al., 2007). This teaching method of the

anticipatory set has the potential to inspire students.

Response Cards

One great formative assessment for teachers are the use of response cards as and

anticipatory set. One study went as far as conducting research on the research-based instructional

strategy of response cards. Response cards can be defined as cards, signs, or really anything one

can think of, that are held up by all students at the same time in response to a question (George,

2010). The design behind this is so that all students are able to participate. It is also a great and

fast way to assess student knowledge. According to George (2010) response cards creates an

environment where low-achieving students can feel comfortable participating when

characteristically they are less likely to raise their hand to answer a question or ask a question

especially, when they will be the only ones to do so. Seeing peers respond with response cards

can be inspiring, thus reducing the risk of feeling embarrassed or dumb (George, 2010).


The study was conducted at the middle school level, over the next ten school days the

teachers infused response cards into their teaching methods. The results indicated that the use of

response cards resulted in the improvement of posttest scores. Even great findings were that

overall academic performance gains were increased by 88%. Additionally, students answered

more questions and with the correct answers then when the response cards were being used as

opposed to when the response cards were not used. Lastly, students felt they retained more of the

content with the response cards then without them (George, 2010). Even though the study was

not directly focused on the anticipatory set, response cards could be used as an anticipatory set

activity. Moreover, regardless of how a teacher does an anticipatory set the goal is to increase

students’ interest in the lesson. Practicing the use of response cards is one way to accomplish that

goal because “studies have shown that students who make more academic responses during

instruction learn more than students who make few responses” (George, p. 201, 2010). The study

makes it clear that response cards can be used at any time during a lesson but why not use them

as a anticipatory set activity?

Methods

Research Question

Does the teaching strategy of the anticipatory set (AS) have an effect on student

performance?

Hypotheses

The teaching strategy of the anticipatory set does have an effect on student and by

practicing this teaching strategy student performance will increase.


Demographics

This proposal will be applied in Arlington Middle School (AMS), located in

Poughkeepsie, New York. AMS is sixth through eighth grade that is divided up into six teams.

The teams that this study will focus on are eighth grade teams five and six. Team five will act as

the control group; will not receive an AS, while team six is the treatment group; will have an AS.

Both teams comprise of a social studies, english, math, and science teachers. The health and

language teachers will also take part in this study, even though they are not loyal to one team. By

including then in the study the hope is to determine if content is a major variable. Also one

special education teacher is present but they only represent team six and co teach with the team

six teachers. Unfortunately, it is unclear to the specific demographics of teams five and six.

However, a school wide demographic should provide an understanding of the school’s student

population. AMS is home to 553 students with 56 full time teachers giving AMS a 9.8 student to

teacher ratio. AMS is location just on the boarder of the city Poughkeepsie making 31% of

students get discounted or free lunch. Out of the 553 students that attend AMS 100 are African

American (19%), 61 are Hispanic (11%), 2 students are two or more races (0.4%), and 355

students are causation (65%) (School Digger, 2012).

Research Design

For the purpose of this study both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be

used; otherwise known as mixed-methods. Quantitative research can be defined as the researcher

analyzing data that was measured by the amount of variables in some numerical form. On the

contrary, qualitative research is defined as the researcher analyzing characteristics that cannot be

used in any numerical form. Or to put it more simply, the researcher investigates the concerns of

the research question (Leedy & Ormrod, 2013). Both methods are equally good methods and


have the potential to answer the research question; however, in order to provide a more rounded

explanation to the question the mixed method approach will be best for the this study. Due to the

fact that a mixed method approach is being practiced quantitative methods will be used to

comparing and contrast the pre and posttests and surveying, while the qualitative methods will be

measured through journal writing and interviewing.

Quantitative Research Methods

The pre and posttests will measure the students’ prior knowledge, and what they have

learned during the lesson. The results from the tests will then be graded and placed on a spread

sheet. Both team five and team six will take a pre and posttest in order to compare the control

group’s pre and posttests to the treatment group’s pre and posttests along with each individual

student’s pre and posttest scores. This will take place over a period of two weeks or ten

consecutive school days. Once all the results have been collected the research method of analysis

of variance (ANOVA) will be used to test if a significant difference exists among the treatment

and control groups. The results will be represented on the spread sheet then a graph will be

created to visually show if there was an increase in student performance. If an increase in

student’s grades are shown on the control group post tests compared to the treatment groups

posttest’s then that could very well mean that the teaching strategy of the anticipatory set does

increase student performance or vise versa. One limitation of conducting a quantitative study of

this sort is that there is nothing to compare it too. One way of eliminate that was the use of a

comparison group (team five), and a treatment group (team six). That is why this study will

compare and contrast the two teams.


Qualitative Research Methods

At the same time as the quantitative method of pre and posttests are being used, teachers

will also take part in the qualitative method of journal writing and interviewing. The students

will be required to write at least three journal entries per week, amounting to a total of six journal

entries during the duration of the study. The teachers are free to schedule the journals at any time

after the AS and on any given day. These will be formal journal writings at which students are

required to answer predetermined questions that have been created by both the teacher and the

researcher. The questions will be based on the lesson of the day which is influenced by the

content area.

One reason why this study feels it is important to collect data on content questions is

because one of the variables is content area. Naturally, not all students will like the same content

area nor will all students be strong in the same content. The data can be flowed if content area is

not taken into account. Referring back the research question: does the teaching strategy of the

anticipatory set (AS) have an effect on student performance? The question is vague in the sense

that it is not asking specifically about one content area yet at the same time the question is asking

that with the use of the AS, students’ performance will be affected by using the AS regardless of

content area. The use of the journal entries will help eliminate the content area limitation to

provide a more direct explanation of the results from the quantitative research.

To triangulate results a survey will be the third method for collecting data. The survey

will be given to both students and teachers. They will be two different surveys. The student

survey will focus primary of their self-regulation skills and their metognition skills. While the

teachers survey will focus on what they observe in the classroom both by using the AS and

without. Both surveys can be found in the appendix. Lastly, an interview of just teachers will be


done. All the teachers at AMS will be interviewed not just the ones on teams five and six. By

interviewing all teachers the researchers will be able to determine what teachers use an AS and

what teachers do not, why they use an AS and what differences the teachers’ notices from when

they do use an AS from when they do not. Also what other names the teachers might call an AS,

and lastly to provide a clearer explanation to determine if content is effected by an AS. The

interview questions can be found in part D of the appendix.

Expected Results

It is expected that student performance will increase with the use of an AS. One of the

advantages for teachers is that they can be creative with their AS activities. As mentioned in the

literature review an AS can be done in many different ways and in really any subject matter. It

can be as simple or complex as the teacher wants, long or short, individual or group work. The

possibilities are really endless. Due to that fact, that when a teacher plans an AS into their lesson

planning the reason why they take the time to create an AS activity and take up class time to

practice an AS activity is because the teacher is anticipating that the students will benefit from

the activity. Classroom time is valuable; teachers do not do something just to do it, they have a

reason behind it and according to the hypothesis that reason is to increase student performance in

class. The students may not realize it but by paying attention and actively participating in the

lesson they are learning. The AS was designed to help encourage that participation.

Educational Implications

It is difficult to say what exactly one could learn from the results of this study because it

has not been conducted. However, one could expect to learn if practicing an AS is worth the time

and energy in the classroom. Case in point, does the class time it takes to complete the AS worth

the benefits? The results of this study will certainly provide an answer to that question.


Depending on the answer, those who do an AS, might rethink their AS’s or some who do not do

an AS might begin too. Another idea regarding what one could learn from the results of this

study is the type of AS the teachers do. For example, does one particular activity, capture the

students attention better then another? The answer to that is most definitely yes, but what is that

particular activity that captures the students’ interest more so then another one. Several teachers

take part in this study and even more have been interviewed. Each one of them has different

teaching styles, ideas, mannerisms, and experiences that are different from the next. This study

could teach the researchers about what may or may not work in the classroom in respect to the

teachers in general. Since the teachers presence also can be a limitation or advantage.

Future Research, Improvement and Better Study

For this particular study future research will certainly be beneficial. AMS is mixed school

with both a small urban population and a larger rural population, with the families being middle

to upper/middle class. It would be in interesting to continue this study at two different schools;

one school in a completely rural setting such as Silver Creek, NY and another in a very urban

setting such as, Brooklyn, NY. Then compare and contrast the results of the two schools. The

similarities and differences will provide a more in-depth expiation to the research question. Or

even interesting one school could prove the hypotheses to be true while another does not, at

which point more questions must be asked.

An additional improvement could be the length of time the study was conducted. In the

methods portion of this paper it is said that the study will only be conducted for two weeks, or

ten consecutive school days. That is not a very long period of time. A study that was conducted

throughout a semester or an entire school most definitely will generate different results or

reinforce results. Lastly, this study is set up in a middle school with 8th

graders. A better more in-


depth study could be 6th

-12th

grades or just high school students compared to middle school

students.

Limitations

One of the concerns of using the research methods described above in this fashion is will

students performance increases just because a new teaching strategy is introduced or is it really

because of the use of an anticipatory set? Perhaps extending the study for a longer period of time

will help answer that question because after a certain period of time the anticipatory set will be

routine and therefore could become obsolete. In theory, this study can be conducted as long as

the researcher would like but for the sake of argument two weeks or ten conceptive school days

will remain the duration of the study. On the contrary, that is why the mix method approach is so

vital in this study because the quantitative method of journal writing will hopefully reveal to the

researcher if student performance increased because a new teaching strategy was introduced or

was it the actual strategy.

Content Area

The area of content could also reflect the results that this study might produce. Again,

according to the hypothesis, student performance will increase with the use of an AS regardless

of content area. However, the hypothesis could be incorrect and the results could indicate that

certain content areas produce higher performance during the lesson because of the AS; while

other content areas may not. For instances, a math teacher can practice the teaching strategy of

an AS all 180 days of school but if the student does not like math or feels frustrated when they

walk into the classroom will the AS really make that big of a differences to improve that one

students performance? Perhaps but it may not be consistent. Foreseeing that content could be a

concern in this study was one of the main reasons for using a mixed method approach, especially


qualitative methods when using journal writings. With that in mind, the researcher will compare

and contrast the students’ pre and post test, journal writings, and survey in order to attempt to

formulate a sound conclusion. Some conclusions that might be discovered by this study could be

that the AS activity itself places a role in student performance. For example, did the teacher carry

out all the objectives of an AS? Was the activity fun and or interesting? If the answer to all three

questions is no, then that will most definitely effect the data and draw in different a conclusion.

Location and Social Economic Status

Arlington Middle School (AMS), located in Poughkeepsie, New York was the school of

choice to measure the research question. Some limitations regarding location could be that the

school has a mixed group of students. Some students live in the suburbs of Poughkeepsie while

others live in the city of Poughkeepsie. Does the exact location of where the students reside play

a role in the study and therefore could alter the results? Perhaps, but more importantly the Social

Economic Status (S.E.S.) of the students family could. For example, a student whose home is in

the suburbs generally means that their S.E.S. is greater than a student whose home is an

apartment in the city. In terms of an AS, the results could be altered because of the students

personal experiences and prior knowledge leading up to the AS activity. As a result, if the

teacher does a picture slide show of New York City, for example, as the AS to the lesson and the

student who has the higher S.E.S. has been to New York City a hundred times may not show an

interest in the AS because they have the mind set of “been there done that,” opposed to the

student whose family has a low SES and has never visited the Big Apple. This limitation could

possibly be lessened by the teacher knowing the students and creating AS activities that all

students could relate too or be interested in.


Class Time

Throughout the research, it has been noted that class time is a concern as to why teachers

do not do an AS activity. Traditionally, an AS activity is 3-5 minutes and should never last

longer than 10 minutes. However, if class time is 40-45 minutes long those 5-10 minutes can

make an immense difference. The results of this study could be greatly impacted if the duration

of class time was longer, for example, block scheduling. With block scheduling the teacher has

two class periods and therefore could spend more time on an AS activity, which could then result

in a different reaction in terms of student interest in the upcoming lesson. Due to the fact that

AMS has only 41 minutes class and part of the research method requires teachers to conduct a

survey and have students do journal entries during classroom time is a major restriction. Will

teachers actually be able to teach the lesson? When time is broken down it seems like the lesson

could be rushed and or not fully comprehended by the students…

- Do-Now, 3-5 minutes

- AS activity 5-10 minutes

- Lesson

- Stop 10 before class time is over for journal writing (10 minutes)

Without including the survey, with just the do-now, AS, and journal adding up to 25 minutes at

the maximum that only leaves 20 minutes for the lesson. Are 20 minutes enough time to teach a

lesson? The next logical answer would be it depends on content area and perhaps even the topic.

But classroom time is not the only limitation; teachers’ time creating the AS could also be a

reason why teachers do not do an AS. Even though an AS is only a small portion of the class

period creating and prepare for an AS could take hours. For many teachers their time creating an

AS is not worth the time it takes to actually teach the AS.


The Teachers

The teacher could be absent during the ten consecutive day period. At which point, there

is not much the researcher can do but to except the days that the study was conducted. Internal

validity now becomes a concern because the teacher being absent is the cause of not completing

an AS activity during the study while the effect is not having all ten days to compare results too.

The teacher in general is also a concern and the relationship they have established with their

students. The students taking part in this study will have to like and respect the teacher. Students

who have a good connection with the teacher are more likely to do what the teacher is asking

because they do not want to disappoint the teacher. That however, can go both ways. If the

student does not like the teacher then they may do certain things to purposely upset the teacher.

Unfortunately, such limitations cannot be avoided.

Inconsistencies

Lastly, inconsistency is believed to be a limitation. Inconsistency can be from both the

students and the teachers. From the students perceptive it can be their interest in the class and or

topic. The student may not like science but may find the topic on astronomy to be interesting.

Likewise, that same student may enjoy English class, for a number of reasons, but finds when the

class is going around the room reading to be boring and mentally checks out because they will

enjoy it more if they read at home. As for teachers, the inconsistency can be found in their AS

activities. If one day the teacher WOWs the class with a music video and the whole classes is

buzzing about it and the next day all they do is define the vocabulary word on the board the

results of the study could be variegated.


Conclusion

In conclusion, based on the inquiries presented above it is not yet established if the

anticipatory set will indeed improve students’ performance on any given lesson or unit. More

research must be conducted; however, the research that is presented above does provide a

promising approach to different methods teachers can use as an anticipatory set, alone with a

potential research study that teachers can conduct themselves to answer the research question. If

done correctly, the anticipatory set can not only inspire students but create a revolution of

teachers making the anticipatory set a part of their everyday lesson planning. The goal of this

research proposal was to learn more about the teaching strategy of the anticipatory set but to also

help fellow colleagues and teachers who wish to acquire about the research methods that have

been created to test the hypothesis and answer the research question a question that many

teachers might be seeking the answer too.


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Appendix

A) Pre & Posttest p. 24

B) Journal p.25

C) Survey – teacher & student p. 26

D) Interview – Teacher only p. 27


A) Pre & Posttest

Teachers must create because they are based on content and the topic of study.

Treatment Group (With AS)

Class Content Pre-Test Post Test Student GPA

1 English

2 Math

3 Social Studies

4 Science

5 Language

6 Health

Comparison Group (With Out AS)

Class Content Pre-Test Post Test Student GPA

1 English

2 Math

3 Social Studies

4 Science

5 Language

6 Health


B) Journal Questions:

Are created by the teacher and based on the content and the specific topic within that content.


C) Survey

Teacher

1. What is your content area?

2. Define an anticipatory set (AS).

3. What other names do you use or know to describe an AS?

4. Do you practice AS in your classroom? Why or why not?

5. If yes to question 3, who often do you practice AS?

6. How much time do you allocate for an AS?

7. With the AS do you and your students feel rushed to complete the AS and or the lesson?

8. What type of behaviors do you notice from your students when you do the AS?

9. What types of behaviors do you notice from your students when you do not do the AS?

10. Do you think student performance is enhanced from the AS? Why or why not?

Student

1. Do you know what an anticipatory set is? If so explain what it is? If no explain what you

think it is. Other names you might know an anticipatory set is are… advanced organizer.

2. What motivates you the most to pay attention in class? Try to provide specific details.

3. What is your favorite class in terms of content? (math, english, health, social studies,

science, and language) Please explain why?

4. Class today was very busy and was broken up into sections (do-now, anticipatory set,

lesson, and the closure. What was your favorite part of the class and why?

5. Do you like doing an anticipatory set before each lesson? Yes or No please explain and

give details.

6. What do you feel you learn the most from doing the anticipatory set then from when you

do not?


D) Interview

Teacher Only

1. What is your content area?

2. How long have you been teaching?

3. Why did you choose this perfection?

4. How many students do you have?

5. How many students do you have in average per class period?

6. What technology is available to you?

7. Describe your teaching methods/style of teaching?

8. Describe what a typical day is like in one of your classrooms?

9. Is an AS a part of your agenda?

10. What other names do you know it by?

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