The Impact of the Materials Explorers Curriculum on Relevance and Attitudes in ScienceConnelly, Rebecca (2018) The Impact of the Materials Explorers Curriculum on Relevance and Attitudes in Science. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)
AbstractStudents majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are in high demand. Over 1 million STEM graduates will be needed by 2022 to meet the projected workforce needs (The Progress Report on Coordinating Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education, 2016). If students are needed to fulfill jobs in areas such as science and engineering, then high school science pedagogy needs to shift from being “unengaging” and “decontextualized” (Bøe, Henriksen, Lyons, & Schreiner, 2011, p. 58) to exciting and relevant. Students in two sections of Honors Chemistry were evaluated using a series of self-report measures including: audience analyses of the planned and learned curriculum (Remillard, 1999) and a motivation and interest survey adapted from Keller’s (2009) Course Interest Survey (CIS) and Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS). The purpose of these evaluations was to determine if the Materials ExplorersTM curriculum was relevant to students and the impact of relevant curriculum on students’ attitudes towards science. The results of this study indicated both Materials ExplorersTM activities led to increased value, satisfaction, interest, and connections to content. The Materials ExplorersTM Practical Prosthetics activity also led to increased content knowledge. A two-way ANOVA revealed significant differences in pre-test and post-test scores within both sections of Honors Chemistry in regards to the Practical Prosthetics activity. There were not significant differences in pre-test and post-test scores for the Patterns of the Periodic Table activity. The results from this study are promising, however the sample size was small, and therefore the data is not generalizable. Additionally, many influences including initial differences between the treatment and control groups, teaching practices both groups were exposed to, and each group being aware of their status influenced the results. Share
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