A National Study of Science Curriculum Effectiveness With High Ability Students

Abstract

This study assessed student growth on integrated science process skills after being taught a 20-36 hour science unit. The prototypical unit, Acid, Acid Everywhere, was implemented in 15 school districts across seven states. Although seven science units for high ability learners have been developed through a federally funded project, the student outcome results only from Acid, Acid Everywhere, the most widely replicated unit, are reported here. All units were based on the Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM) developed specifically for gifted learners; the model stresses advanced content, high level process and product, and a concept dimension. Results indicate small, but significant, gains for students in integrated science process skills when compared to equally able students not using the units. Implementation data reflected satisfaction of teachers with the units, especially in terms of student interest and motivation. The effectiveness of this curriculum, designed to align with the new science standards and to be appropriate for gifted students, lends credibility to the argument for using the new content standards as a basis for curriculum development efforts with gifted learners.

The Integrated Curriculum Model (ICM)

“…Another manifestation of the dimension emphasizes problem-based learning (PBL) -an approach that allows the student to generate learning tasks based on a paradigm of the known, the need to know, and the process by which needed knowledge can be acquired (Roh, 2003;Sonmez & Lee, 2003;VanTassel-Baska, Bass, Ries, Poland & Avery, 1998). PBL was first used in the medical profession to better socialize doctors to patient real-world concerns.…”

Selecting Instructional Strategies for Gifted Learners

“…Thus, problem-based learning wrapped around a set of challenging outcomes. Preliminary studies of student learning resulting from employing the William and Mary units for at least 25 hours of instruction showed significant growth gains in the outcomes associated with integrated science process and demonstrated enhanced student and teacher motivation in science learning (VanTassel-Baska, Bass, Ries, Poland, & Avery, 1998).…”

Why & How We Apply PBL to Science-Gifted Education?

“…Leaning science Doing science discover and solve problems, and improving the ability to learn (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992;Stepien & Gallagher, 1993;Van Tassel-Baska, Bass, Ries, Poland, & Avery, 1998). Furthermore, such researches indicate that the harmony of content and process, unique research-based learning, development of scientific concepts, and interdisciplinary approach among diverse subject areas can be accomplished naturally through problem-based learning.…”