Efficacy Study of Project-Based Inquiry Science

这项研究和开发项目研究了基于项目的探究科学(PBIS)对几个大型学区的8年级学生的影响。PIs包括SRI国际学习技术中心的研究人员和密歇根大学的Joseph Krajcik，他是PBIS的原始开发者之一。在过去的二十年里，国家科学基金会资助了PBIS的开发，在材料设计和相关的教师专业发展方面进行了重大投资，旨在帮助教师理解该单元的内容和如何教授该单元。PBIS是一门综合性的3年制中学科学课程，侧重于基于标准的科学内容，并使用基于项目的探究科学单元来帮助学生学习。以往对PBIS的小规模研究表明，PBIS对学生的成绩和动机以及教师使用以改革为基础的教学产生了积极影响。本研究探讨的问题有：1.效度。PBIS对学生的学习有什么影响？在什么程度上，PBIS的学生比非PBIS的学生在学习测量上有更好的表现？课程设置对教学质量有何影响？课堂教学的保真度是多少？实施的深度和水平与学生的结果有何关系？这项研究涉及定量和定性两种方法；实验设计的使用允许在将专业发展与课程材料相结合时估计因果影响。这是一项随机对照试验，旨在测试PBIS在36所学校和72名教师(18所学校和36名教师，每种情况下)的效果，影响大约8,500名8年级学生。学生的因变量包括州级科学考试成绩，以及他们在课程单元背景下解释和设计能力的衡量标准。中介分析衡量了背景因素之间的联系，如实施的保真度和专业发展经验的质量与学生学习之间的联系，从而能够更深入地理解结果。这项工作对支持基于标准的科学课程改革的持续努力至关重要。PBIS在城市环境中取得了一些成功，拥有不同的学生群体，包括那些来自历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体的学生，现在正在向更大规模发展。该课程是为数不多的处于研究和开发周期阶段的科学课程倡议之一，其实施工作的重点是扩大到更广泛的学校和学区。课程单元基于学生如何学习的理论和研究得出的设计原则，并与国家和国家标准中的学习目标保持一致。项目成果为已出版和可用的探究式科学课程的效果提供了证据。

This research and development project studies the impact of Project-Based Inquiry Science (PBIS) on 8th grade students across several large school districts. The PIs include researchers at SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning and Joseph Krajcik of the University of Michigan, one of the original developers of PBIS. NSF funded the development of PBIS over the past two decades, with major investments made in the design of materials and with associated teacher professional development designed to help teachers understand the content of the unit and how to teach it. PBIS is a comprehensive, 3-year middle school science curriculum that focuses on standards-based science content and that uses project-based inquiry science units to help students learn. Prior small-scale studies of PBIS have shown positive impact on student achievement and motivation, and on teacher use of reform-based instruction. The research questions explored are: 1. Efficacy. What is the impact of PBIS on student learning? To what extent do students in PBIS perform better than non-PBIS students on measures of learning?2. Enactment and teacher practice. What is the impact of the curriculum on teaching quality? What is the fidelity of classroom implementation? How does the depth and level of implementation relate to student outcomes?The study involves both quantitative and qualitative methods; the use of an experimental design allows estimates of causal impacts when combining professional development with the curriculum materials. This is a randomized control trial to test the efficacy of PBIS in 36 schools total and with 72 teachers (18 schools and 36 teachers per condition), and affecting approximately 8,500 8th grade students. The dependent variables for students include results on state-level science test scores and measures of their ability to explain and design in the context of the curriculum units. Mediational analysis measures the association between contextual factors such as fidelity of implementation and quality of the professional development experience and student learning, allowing a deeper understanding of results. This work is critical to the ongoing effort to support standards-based curriculum reform in science. PBIS has enjoyed some success in urban settings with diverse groups of students, including those from historically underrepresented groups in science, and now moves to larger scale. This curriculum is among a small number of science curriculum initiatives that are at a stage in the research and development cycle where implementation efforts are focused on scaling to a broader range of schools and districts. The curriculum units are based on design principles drawn from theory and research on how students learn and are aligned with learning goals found in state and national standards. Project outcomes provide evidence about the effects of a published and available inquiry-based science curriculum.