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

Evaluation of Foundation Science: Chemistry

Jacqueline S. Miller

Foundation Science: Chemistry is currently being field tested in 41 classrooms across the country with a broad demographic distribution of 732 students. To assess student achievement of the desired learning objectives and to determine the usability of the materials with teachers and students, an evaluation plan was developed that consists of the following components:

1. Demographic survey of school districts
2. Survey of socioeconomic status and academic skills of students
3. Survey of field test teacher’s approach to teaching (self-reported)
4. Pre- test administered before teaching the module to determine prior knowledge and skills in chemistry.
5. Unit tests to determine student achievement of learning objectives for each unit.
6. Teacher Unit Report to obtain feedback from teachers and students at the end of each unit.
7. Samples of student work
8. Implementation fidelity surveys to a subset of teachers to determine how the curriculum is being used.
9. Telephone interviews with teachers and site visits to a subset of classrooms.

Post-test administered at end of teaching the module to assess student achievement of learning objectives for the curriculum. The pre-and post-test consists of supply (open-ended) questions that identify levels of understanding and uncover misconceptions. During development, the pre- and post-tests were double-scored and differences refereed until an interrater reliability of greater than 93 percent was achieved. The data collected from the pre-test, post-test and unit tests will be disaggregated according to the information provided by the surveys of schools, teachers, and students. The data obtained from all the components are used for formative purposes in revising the curriculum and summative purposes to document student achievement. When the data collection is completed and analyzed, the project will issue reports on:

• student achievement of the learning objectives;
• comparison of achievement based on student, teacher, and school profiles;
• recommendations for prior knowledge for course;
• guidelines for using assessment instruments

The results of this evaluation will be available in August, 2004.

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.