Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform

Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 922–939, 2008Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61206/1/20248_ftp.pd

Toward High Performance Computing Education

High Performance Computing (HPC) is the ability to process data and perform complex calculations at extremely high speeds. Current HPC platforms can achieve calculations on the order of quadrillions of calculations per second with quintillions on the horizon. The past three decades witnessed a vast increase in the use of HPC across different scientific, engineering and business communities, for example, sequencing the genome, predicting climate changes, designing modern aerodynamics, or establishing customer preferences. Although HPC has been well incorporated into science curricula such as bioinformatics, the same cannot be said for most computing programs. This working group will explore how HPC can make inroads into computer science education, from the undergraduate to postgraduate levels. The group will address research questions designed to investigate topics such as identifying and handling barriers that inhibit the adoption of HPC in educational environments, how to incorporate HPC into various curricula, and how HPC can be leveraged to enhance applied critical thinking and problem solving skills. Four deliverables include: (1) a catalog of core HPC educational concepts, (2) HPC curricula for contemporary computing needs, such as in artificial intelligence, cyberanalytics, data science and engineering, or internet of things, (3) possible infrastructures for implementing HPC coursework, and (4) HPC-related feedback to the CC2020 project

Observations of urban middle school students engaged in technolgy-supported inquiry

Recommendations about effective approaches to minority and urban education both by general and science educators (e.g., Detailed accounts of students engaging in inquiry often come from demonstration sites or classes taught by researchers. There are few descriptions of students' initial attempts at inquiry, especially among urban students in regular classrooms. Our observations of middle class students illustrate patterns similar to those others have reported: a tendency to focus on procedures rather than content, ask low level questions, to neglect prior knowledge in making predictions, and to summarize rather than use evidence to interpret findings Methods Setting This study focused on a subset of nine classrooms from the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools (LeTUS) in Detroit, Michigan. We focused on two seventh grade teachers enacting the Air Quality curriculum over a two-year period. In addition, we focused on two eighth grade teachers enacting the Force and Motion curriculum-one for one year, the other over a period of two years. Students In each class, four students (for a total of 36 students) were nominated by the teachers for intense observation, based on the criteria of average school performance, talkativeness, and good attendance records. Data Collection Classrooms were taped across the curriculum units, approximately three times a week. For this study, we selected tapes from three events in each curriculum: investigations, technology use, and artifact creation. Approximately sixty-six hours of videotape were analyzed for use in this study. It is important to note that because the target students were filmed with their entire group, patterns of inquiry were based on student groups rather than individuals. Analysis Data were analyzed in several phases. First, a detailed summary of each videotape was prepared that contained descriptions of teacher and student behavior and conversation. 2 Second, each instance of teacher set up, wrap up and whole class discussions was coded for pedagogical strategies, stated goals, content accuracy, procedural accuracy, emphasis, and statements on group work. In this phase, student conversations and behavior were also coded for focus, use of justifications, content accuracy, process accuracy, interactions with group members, science language, affect, and actions. Third, the codes were synthesized across classrooms and then across teachers in order to form general patterns of student and teacher behavior during inquiry. Background In each curriculum, three types of inquiry events were chosen for analysis: investigations, technology, and artifact creation. In order to provide context for students' patterns of behavior, the following describes the inquiry events from the Force and Motion and Air Quality curricula in more detail. Force and Motion Investigation In the Force and Motion investigation, students grappled with the concepts of force, mass, and motion. Students were asked to a) design an investigation using a ramp, cart, washers, and set of blocks to determine the relationship between the mass of a moving object and its tendency to stay in motion, b) specify independent and dependent variables and decide what kinds of measurements to make, and c) use the data they collected to draw conclusions about how mass is related to Newton's first law. Technology in the Force and Motion Curriculum Students used motion sensors to create representations of their own motion-in the form of a graph of distance and time-that were recorded on the computer screen in real time. The motion sensors allowed students to explore the components of motion, and more specifically, to describe velocity. The intent was for students to recognize that a faster motion created a steeper slope on the graph, and a change in direction of motion changed the direction of the slope. Each of these changes to motion, speed or direction, resulted in a different graph, implying that the description of the motion or velocity would also be different. To support students in thinking about their graphs a prediction, observation, and explanation (POE) cycle was used in which students first predicted what they expected a graph of their motion to look like based on previous experience. They then conducted a motion and generated a graph. Last they would compare their observed and predicted graphs, explain their motion, and reason about why the graphs may have been similar or different. They built on this experience to create predictions for their next POE cycle. Artifact Creation in the Force and Motion Curriculum Artifact creation and student presentations were included near the conclusion of the Force and Motion unit. Students created helmets to protect an egg during a collision and tested it using the same ramp and cart apparatus used in the investigations. They also used the motion sensors to collect data on velocity. The presentation was intended to be the integrating event for the unit as a whole. Preparing for the presentation was an opportunity for students to integrate and apply science concepts (force, Newton's first law, velocity, and acceleration), explain a collision, and test an experimental design. The 3 presentation itself was an opportunity to share and defend ideas with the class and receive critical feedback. Air Quality Investigation In the Air Quality curriculum, students investigated the concepts of physical and chemical change. Students completed a series of experiments in which they combined different chemicals-such as vinegar and baking soda-made observations, and used evidence from the reactions to determine whether and why a physical or a chemical change had occurred. Technology in the Air Quality Curriculum Students created a dynamic computer-based model to support their thinking about a complex system, in this case the air quality in their community. Students used a technology-based learning tool called Modelbuilder that helped them to make qualitative models of cause and effect relationships. Students a) created "objects"-representations of real world entities in the model system, b) created "factors"-measurable, variable quantities of those objects, and c) defined relationships among those factors to show how they were interrelated by cause and effect. In a typical modeling task, a student might make an object that existed in the system of air quality called "vehicles". They would then choose a measurable quantity associated with vehicles that would affect air quality, in this case a factor called "amount of car exhaust". Next a student might make a relationship between the causal factor "amount of car exhaust" and the effect factor "air quality", and define the relationship as having negative effects, i.e. that as the amount of car exhaust increases, the air quality decreases. The Modelbuilder program provided facilities for testing relationships so students could demonstrate their understanding of the factors in the model, and a "factor map" to visualize the model as a whole. Artifact Creation in the Air Quality Curriculum As in the Force and Motion curriculum, students prepared for final presentations as a way to synthesize their knowledge-in this case, of air quality and the particulate nature of matter. Students were to present the sources and effects of a certain pollutant, and the pollutant's word equation, chemical formula, and number of atoms/elements. During the second year of the Air Quality curriculum, students were additionally supposed to present pollution data that compared their city to another in the U.S. Students were to conclude by connecting what they had learned in their presentation to the driving question. Results In this section, we describe the themes that emerged from student patterns of inquiry behavior across all three inquiry events: investigations, technology, and artifact creation. In each event and curriculum, we found that the urban students we observed behaved similarly to other students engaging in inquiry for the first time. When we looked at urban students' patterns in inquiry, we uncovered three major themes. First, students can do thoughtful work in science inquiry, but need teacher support to concentrate on the science content rather than the procedures. Second, students have very little difficulty using the technology tools and evidence complex thinking about 4 content while using technology. Third, students were highly invested during their inquiry tasks. By examining these themes we hope to provide educators with additional insight into the promise and challenges associated with implementing inquiry in urban and nonurban environments

Inquiry in project-based science classrooms : initial attempts by middle school students

Although inquiry is an essential component of science learning, we know little about students' experience with inquiry in regular science classrooms. Our goal is to describe realistically what middle school students do and where they have difficulties in their first encounters with inquiry learning. We report findings from case studies of 8 students as they designed and carried out their own investigations during 2 projects that spanned several months. We detail how students asked questions, planned and designed investigations and procedures, constructed apparatus, carried out their work, interpreted data and drew conclusions, and presented the findings. We discuss how collaboration among group members and support from the teacher influenced this process. The findings indicate that middle school students were thoughtful in designing investigations and in planning procedures; for instance, they thought about controls, about samples, and about how to organize data collection. However, the cases also reveal areas of weakness, such as failures to focus on the scientific merit of questions generated and to systematically collect and analyze data and draw conclusions. Teacher structuring and questioning were crucial in encouraging students to be thoughtful about the substantive aspects of inquiry. Overall, these findings can help curriculum developers and science educators in their attempts to design instruction to improve the inquiry process. (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508406.1998.9672057