Efficacy Study of Project-Based Inquiry Science

这个研究和开发项目研究了基于项目的探究科学（PBIS）对几个大学区的八年级学生的影响。PI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，PBIS的原始开发者之一。在过去的二十年里，NSF资助了PBIS的发展，主要投资于材料的设计和相关的教师专业发展，旨在帮助教师理解单元的内容以及如何教授它。PBIS是一个全面的，为期3年的中学科学课程，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。以前的小规模研究PBIS显示出积极的影响，学生的成绩和动机，并对教师使用改革为基础的教学。本研究探讨的问题为：1.功效。PBIS对学生的学习有什么影响？在何种程度上，学生在PBIS表现优于非PBIS学生的学习措施？2.实习与教师实践课程设置对教学质量有何影响？什么是课堂实施的忠实度？实施的深度和水平与学生的成绩有什么关系？这项研究涉及定量和定性的方法;使用实验设计，可以估计因果关系的影响时，结合专业发展与课程材料。这是一项随机对照试验，在36所学校和72名教师（18所学校和36名教师每种条件）中测试PBIS的有效性，影响了大约8，500名8年级学生。学生的因变量包括国家级科学考试成绩和他们在课程单元的背景下解释和设计能力的测量结果。中介分析测量上下文因素之间的关联，如实施的保真度和专业发展经验和学生学习的质量，允许更深入地了解结果。这项工作对于支持科学课程标准化改革的持续努力至关重要。PBIS在拥有不同学生群体的城市环境中取得了一些成功，包括那些历史上在科学领域代表性不足的群体，现在正在扩大规模。该课程是少数科学课程举措之一，这些举措正处于研究和开发周期的阶段，实施工作的重点是扩大到更广泛的学校和地区。课程单元基于从理论和研究中得出的设计原则，这些原则是关于学生如何学习的，并与州和国家标准中的学习目标保持一致。项目成果提供了关于已出版和可用的探究式科学课程效果的证据。

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.