Bringing Innovators to Life Through Biography: A Cluster-Randomized Intervention Study

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Abstract

This study uses a cluster-randomized intervention design to examine the implementation of an advanced-level curriculum intervention using biographies to explore the lives of innovators from diverse backgrounds. We randomly assigned 19 schools to intervention or comparison. Educators in intervention schools participated in a hybrid summer institute and taught the curriculum within their second-grade classrooms. We analyzed data for 705 students in 48 classes using multilevel modeling to compare students’ knowledge of biography and enjoyment of biography after the intervention, controlling for pretest scores and student demographics. We found that students exposed to the intervention exhibited statistically significantly higher knowledge of biography (d = 0.37) but their enjoyment of biography was not statistically significantly greater than their peers (d = 0.13).

Authors

• Ann E. Robinson, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

• Jill L. Adelson, Adelson Research & Consulting, LLC

• Monica Meadows, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

• Keila Moreno Navarrete, University of Arkansas at Little Rock