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2004 NSF K-12 Math, Science, and Technology Curriculum Developers Conference

Active Chemistry

Principal Investigators:
Arthur Eisenkraft, Ph.D. - Education Potential, Bedford, NY
Gary Freebury - Kalispell High School, Kalispell, MT
Darlene Schuster, Ph.D. - American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Washington, D.C.
Barbara Zahm, Ph.D. - It’s About Time, Inc., Armonk, NY

Four writing teams, led by top science and chemistry educators from around the country, work in conjunction with the Principal Investigators to develop the materials. In addition, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and a prestigious Board of Advisors, review the materials and oversee the project.

Active Chemistry is a full-year curriculum that is strongly correlated with research on how people learn and what engages students intellectually. This curriculum design follows the classroom success of Active Physics and is similar in style and philosophy. Using thematic challenges that engage students’ interest, students learn about the impact of chemistry in a context of Arts and Leisure, Food and Drugs, Sustainability, and The Natural and Fabricated World.

Active Chemistry Pilot: 2003-2004 A cadre of twenty-three high school chemistry teachers came to a week for training in Bozeman, Montana last summer and have since been piloting the materials all school year. Throughout this past school year the teachers have been participating in piloting the materials. Classroom testing of the materials will provide the writing teams the necessary feedback and data to revise the materials for the Field Test.

The formative evaluation this year focuses on the quality of the student and teacher materials and the testing of our evaluation measures to be used next year. Data collected includes specific feedback on each chapter, videotapes, classroom visits, notebooks, journals, surveys and achievement tests. Lists serves have been set up to help pilot test teachers communicate with one another and the writers.

Field Test: 2004-2005 We are currently recruiting and finalizing our field test sites anticipating 40 teachers. Professional Development of the Field Test Teachers will be conducted this summer at Ohio State University in late July 2004.

Independent Evaluator: Dr. Frances Lawrenz and a team of two graduate students from the University of Minnesota are conducting the evaluation for the Active Chemistry Project. The evaluation is designed to inform the development process as well as to investigate the effectiveness of the curriculum. The emphasis of the process is to evaluate if the learning goals of the program are being met and to determine the evidence of student success.

The poster session will display:

• Current developed materials
• Professional Development agendas and strategies for summer training
• Teacher feedback materials from the pilot test
• Student work
• Instruments of evaluation

 

This project is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. ESI-0352345). Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.