Active learning

1.      What study was the inspiration for this study? (Please cite author, title, where it was published, and the URL)

For Active Learning Module, I reviewed a research paper published by Developmental Psychology 1996, Vol. 32, # 1, 102-119

“The Development of Scientific Reasoning in Knowledge- Rich Contexts” by Leona Schauble

http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/Schauble96.pdf

Research Review:

The purpose of this research was to find the impact of experimentation on scientific reasoning. The participants included 10 middle school students (5 boys-5 girls) and 10 unrelated adults who had not attended college (9 women- 1man). The researcher monitored development of “Scientific Reasoning” by observing the following signs:

1.      The ability to make valid inclusion inferences (causal variables)

2.      The ability to make valid exclusion inferences (non-causal variables)

3.      Not being able to determine the variable causal role (indeterminacy)

*Validity is based on sufficient quality and quantity of experimental data.

The data was collected during two experiments conducted in six sessions.

The amazing results are clearly displayed in the following graph and tables:

2.    Why is the study important?

Nature of Science was 1 of the 5 objectives tested on TAKs (17/55 questions on the TAKs exam). Also, Nature of Science is an essential goal in the EOC Exam. The questions are asked at higher level on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Unfortunately, on the Biology EOC Exam conducted this year only 41% of the students passed the exam in the state of Texas. To avoid legal and liability conflict with parents the test results were curved! See the following snapshot from the tea.gov website (Texas Education Agency) http://www.tea.state.tx.us/staar/rpt/sum/

Based on the above data, science teachers in the state of Texas should include strategies that increase the problem-solving skills in the daily lesson plans. Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills should be utilized daily with every objective in the science content.

3.      What is the basic research question?

Teaching the science content in a project oriented units will improve students’ performance on the EOC Exam questions type.

4.     Who are the subjects/participants of the proposed study?

High School Physics Class/ students in physics classes standards and honor.

5.     Where the study would be conducted?

Public School setting in the state of Texas

6.     What is the time frame of the study?

The study will extend over the course time frame (Block-schedule/1semester: regular schedule/1 school year)

7.     What type of data would be collected?

8.    How the data would be analyzed?

type of data	Sample of data	How the data would be analyzed?
Qualitative	Observation/Survey Students’ motivation, participation, completion and quality of projects	Teacher will analyze the data by analyzing a 5 questions survey after each class on a scale from 0 through 5
Quantitative	Performance on 5 questions assessment (either released EOC questions or similar questions)	Percentage of passing (4 out of 5 questions right)