Poster #16 - Examining the Impact of a Science Curriculum: Establishing Causality Without a Comparison Group

• In Event: 18.060 - MTCC Poster Session Two
  In Poster Session: 18.060-3 - Research on Science Teaching and Learning Poster Session 1

Abstract

This study presents a technique for establishing the impact of curricula in the absence of a control group. We generated a plausible within-case growth-score comparison through manipulation of our curriculum’s companion assessment. The assessment included questions covering content from the previous grade (5th grade) as well as middle school extensions, which were directly addressed by our curriculum. We divided the assessment, creating a subtest of the 5th-grade content to use as a comparison to a subtest of middle school content. An effective curriculum would result in more growth in the middle school content. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant Subtest-Time interaction, indicating students experienced higher knowledge gains on the new content (m=13.1) than the 5th-grade content (m=6.5).

Authors

• Kerry Ann Bartlett, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Molly Ewing, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Janice L. Anderson, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Lana Marie Minshew, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Kelly Johnson Barber-Lester, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill