An integrative curriculum strategy emphasizing science process skills and hands‐on activities expanded the time allocated for in‐depth science instruction by replacing a district‐adopted basal reading program with science‐content reading designed to facilitate applied comprehension skills. This study investigated the combined effect of these curricular components (i.e., in‐depth science, science‐content‐based reading) upon student achievement, attitudes, and self‐confidence in both science and reading over the school year. In doing so, teachers in three fourth‐grade classrooms each incorporated applied reading (and language arts) objectives into science reading activities as part of a daily, expanded, in‐depth science teaching block that encompassed the total instructional time originally allocated to reading and science. Using multivariate covariance analysis, results showed that the students in the experimental group, compared to demographically similar controls, not only displayed significantly greater standardized test achievement as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills reading subtest and the Metropolitan Achievement Test science subtest, but also displayed a more positive attitude toward science and reading and greater self‐confidence in learning science. Implications of the strategy for future curriculum research in science education are discussed.

Summarized are research findings and policy implications obtained over a 5 year period (51 teachers, 1200 students) from the implementation of an in-depth expanded applications of science (IDEAS) model with average, above average, and at-risk students in grades 2-5. The IDEAS model replaced the time allocated for traditional reading/language arts instruction with a daily 2 hour time-block dedicated solely to in-depth science concept instruction which encompassed reading comprehension and language arts skills (e.g. concept-focused teaching, hands-on activities, utilization of science process skills, reading of science print materials, concept map construction, journal writing). The multi-year results revealed a consistent pattern of the model's effectiveness in improving both the science understanding (effects on the Metropolitan Achievement Test-Science ranged from 0.93 to 1.6 grade equivalents) and reading achievement (effects on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills-Reading and the Stanford Achievement Tests-Reading ranged from 0.3 to 0.5 grade equivalents). Participating students also consistently displayed significantly more positive attitudes and self-confidence toward both science and reading. Interpreting the findings, the IDEAS model was considered to provide clear evidence for the importance of focusing the teaching-learning process on the conceptual structure of the curricular knowledge to be learned in a fashion consistent with research and policy issues raised by the recent TIMSS study. Also discussed was the role of the IDEAS model as a means for linking theoretical perspectives from instructional design and cognitive science to science educational reform.

No abstract

This study focused on accelerating development of science knowledge and understanding at the primary level (grades 1 -2) as a means for enhancing reading comprehension (i.e. early literacy). An adaptation of a grade 3 -5 cognitive-sciencebased, instructional model (Science IDEAS) that integrated science with reading and writing, this year-long study implemented daily 45-min instructional periods emphasizing in-depth, cumulative learning of science core-concept "clusters" while integrating science and literacy in a manner that provided teachers with a thematic focus for all aspects of instruction. Results (a) confirmed the feasibility of implementing the integrated, in-depth science model at the primary level and (b) showed that experimental students obtained significantly higher achievement on Iowa Tests of Basic Skills Science and Reading tests than comparable controls. Discussed are curricular policy implications for increasing the instructional time for content-area instruction at the primary level.

This study focused on accelerating the development of in-depth science for students (N = 513) in grades 1-2 as a means for enhancing reading comprehension. Using an adaptation of a grade 3-5 cognitive-science-based, instructional model (Science IDEAS), the study implemented daily 45 minute instructional periods emphasizing in-depth, cumulative learning of science core-concept "clusters" that provided teachers with a thematic focus for all aspects of science instruction. Results confirmed the feasibility of implementing in-depth science instruction at the primary level and showed through analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) that experimental students obtained significantly higher achievement on nationally-normed Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) Reading and ITBS Science subtests than comparable controls. Curricular policy implications for increasing the instructional time for content-area instruction at the primary level are discussed.Despite a continuing national emphasis on educational reform over the past 20 years, the low percentage of students achieving proficiency in science and reading comprehension has remained a continuing systemic problem (National Center for