Category: Maths and Science Learning

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Effective Teaching Approach Maths and Science Learning Secondary School Education

Is inquiry-based instruction effective? Evidence from 6 countries

Many researchers and educators advocate for inquiry-based learning and argue that inquiry-based activities can boost students’ learning and develop students’ problem-solving skills. However, little research has compared the effects of inquiry-based instruction with traditional teacher-directed instruction on a large scale. Using data from PISA 2015 – an international comparative student assessment — Oliver and colleagues explored the association between students’ science performance and three types of instruction in science classrooms: inquiry-based, teacher-directed, and adaptive instruction. The sample includes 15-year-old students (N = 64,718) in 6 countries: Canada, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Ireland, and the USA.

After controlling for student socioeconomic status in the multivariate regression analysis, the authors found that, common to all 6 countries, students’ scientific literacy was negatively associated with inquiry-based instruction, so that increases in inquiry-based instruction were associated with lower scores. Teacher-directed and adaptive teaching were both positively correlated with students’ science achievement. Additionally, the authors disaggregated the composite variable of inquiry-based instruction and found that different aspects of inquiry, including different classroom activities and frequency of these activities, were differentially associated with students’ scientific literacy.

Noteworthy is that the variables used to measure the three types of instruction only reflect the frequency rather than the quality of different teaching activities. The findings, therefore, do not serve to invalidate the value of inquiry-based instruction in the science classroom. What they do serve is a reminder that, as the authors noted, improving student learning through an inquiry-based approach is not a question of whether to use inquiry-based instruction or not, but a question of how often and for what purposes a teacher might use this approach.
 
 
Source:
Oliver, M., McConney, A., & Woods-McConney, A. (2021). The efficacy of inquiry-based instruction in science: A comparative analysis of six countries using PISA 2015. Research in Science Education. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11165-019-09901-0… Read the rest

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Effective Teaching Approach Maths and Science Learning Primary School Education

What works for students with mathematics difficulties?

A recent meta-analysis evaluated the effectiveness of interventions for elementary students with math difficulties. To be included in the review, studies had to use randomized or quasi-experimental designs and evaluate word-problem solving interventions.

A total of 52 studies were included in the review. Overall, results showed a significant positive effect for mathematics outcomes (ES = +1.01), with a high variability suggesting the presence of factors influencing the effect. By analyzing these factors, the results showed a larger effect when the students involved had only math difficulties (ES = +1.04) compared to both math and reading difficulties (ES = +0.66). When the intervention was delivered in large groups (more than 8 students), the effect was larger than for one-to-one or small-groups (ES = +1.41, +0.86, respectively). Intensive interventions (3 to 5 times a week) were more effective than interventions implemented one or two times weekly (ES = +1.15, +0.76, respectively). A difference was also found for instructional model: interventions involving general heuristics were more effective than the ones based on schema-based instruction (ES = +1.18, +0.71, respectively).

The overall effect was also influenced by methodological factors that should be considered. When only researchers delivered the intervention, the effect was higher compared to researchers plus school personnel as interventionists (ES = +1.23, +1.08, respectively). However, only interventions delivered by school personnel are easily replicable in regular school settings. Furthermore, when the effect was assessed with a measure developed by the researchers (ES = + 1.17) the effect was almost double than when measured by standardized tests (ES = + 0.59). The measure type is one of the most influential methodological factors in this meta-analysis together with group assignment and year of publication.

For more on methodological factors to consider, an earlier BEiB article discusses the effects of research design on effect sizes.

 

Source:
Myers, J. A., Witzel, B. S., Powerll, S. R., Li, H., Pigott, T. D., Xin, Y. P., Hughes, E. M. (2022). A meta-analysis of mathematics word-problem solving interventions for elementary students who evidence mathematics difficulties. Review of Educational Research, First Published Online. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543211070049… Read the rest

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Achievement Effective Teaching Approach Maths and Science Learning

Virtual reality and science learning: Two experiments

Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of an immersive virtual reality (IVR) simulation method compared with a video for teaching and learning scientific knowledge by conducting 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, 131 students were randomly divided into an IVR condition (n = 64) and a video condition (n = 67) to learn forensic analysis of a DNA sample. Researchers used a prequestionnaire to check students’ prior knowledge and demographic characteristics, and a postquestionnaire to investigate students’ perceived enjoyment, presence, declarative knowledge, and procedural knowledge. In Experiment 2, 165 students replicated the experiment but were randomly assigned to 4 conditions, IVR (n = 42), IVR with enactment (n = 41), video (n = 39), and video with enactment (n = 43), to investigate whether enactment can enhance students’ learning achievements as well as the knowledge transfer process.

According to the results of both experiments, students from the IVR groups felt significantly more presence and enjoyment than those from the video groups. While students preferred learning in IVR and felt a greater sense of engagement, IVR did not yield better learning outcomes compared to conventional media like video. The data of Experiment 2 revealed significant differences between the video groups (higher scores, M = 10.55, SD = 4.25) and the IVR groups (lower scores, M = 9.60, SD = 3.97) on assessments of declarative knowledge, which led to the conclusion of the main media effect that the video is more instrumental in students’ acquisition process of declarative knowledge than IVR, while enactment makes no difference. Moreover, Experiment 2 reinforced the finding that enactment can be effective in enhancing learning, especially in IVR.

In conclusion, only when IVR is appropriately integrated into lesson plans and carefully implemented with generative learning strategies in classrooms can the media be effective to facilitate student learning and improve academic performance. Several factors, such as sensations of touch and weight perception, could be optimized in IVR to achieve better learning performance. 

 

Source:
Makransky, G., Andreasen, N. K., Baceviciute, S., & Mayer, R. E. (2021). Immersive virtual reality increases liking but not learning with a science simulation and generative learning strategies promote learning in immersive virtual reality. Journal of Educational Psychology, 113(4), 719–735. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000473

 … Read the rest

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Maths and Science Learning Programme Evaluation Secondary School Education

An intervention for high school chemistry and physics

Designed by a group of Finnish and American interdisciplinary researchers, the Crafting Engaging Science Environment (CESE) intervention aims to increase both students’ interest and performance in secondary-level science subjects. The intervention, containing 3 lessons each in Chemistry and Physics, constructs its lessons using Project-Based Learning (PBL). By challenging students in the lessons, the intervention seeks to elevate students’ engagement and pursuit of meaningfulness. Lessons center on “real-world phenomena” to enhance students’ ability to plan and investigate by themselves.

Schneider et al. conducted research with 61 schools, 119 teachers, and 4,238 students in California and Michigan, looking into the possible effects of CESE. Participating teachers and students were evenly divided into two groups–one followed the instructions of the CESE intervention while the other continued with business as usual. A 2-level Hierarchical Linear Model was used to evaluate the intervention effects between the groups among different races and ethnicity while adding on the potential influences from different genders. To assess the change of education ambition of students after finishing the intervention, a mixed-effects logistic regression was conducted.

Results showed that students using CESE scored 0.21 standard deviations (p < .01) higher, a 7 percentage-point score increase, than those who didn’t use the approach, indicating more effective science learning. However, there were no significant results among students differing by gender, race, or ethnicity. By frequently practicing “doing science” and “modeling”, students using CESE were able to perform better in the science subjects (28% of the total treatment effect). Additionally, students’ interest in science was heightened after taking the intervention lessons.

 

Source:
Schneider, B., Krajcik, J., Lavonen, J., Salmela-Aro, K., Klager, C., Bradford, L., Chen, I.-C., Baker, Q., Touitou, I., Peek-Brown, D., Dezendorf, R. M., Maestrales, S., & Bart, K. (2022). Improving science achievement—is it possible? Evaluating the efficacy of a high school Chemistry and Physics project-based learning intervention. Educational Researcher, 51(2), 109–121.  … Read the rest

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Maths and Science Learning Programme Evaluation Secondary School Education

Effectiveness of a PD program in a repeated randomized study

business man writing people development concept

A study published in Evaluation Review evaluated the effect of a teacher professional development program on student math achievement in two experiments. The evaluation was conducted through repeated randomized control trials on two consecutive cohorts of teachers. Since replication is rare in education, the authors wanted to evaluate the relevance of program implementation on its effectiveness.

Two cohorts of 730 teachers and their 13,000 sixth grade students participated in the study in 2008 and 2010. In both cohorts, teachers were randomly assigned to the intervention or to the control group for three years of program implementation.

The PD program, named PON M@t.abel+, was promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education to train math teachers in using strategies close to the students’ everyday life and learning by doing. Training was provided to groups of teachers (15-20 each group) by a tutor using both in-person and online sessions. The training covered different subject areas, such as arithmetic and geometry, and units. During the training, teachers had to implement some of the units in their class and discuss their experiences with the tutor and their colleagues.

To observe the differences in the program effectiveness across the two cohorts, the protocol followed was the same for the two studies and the characteristics of the schools similar.

  • Cohort 1 results showed no significant effects on student math achievement after three years (ES = -0.05).
  • Cohort 2 results showed significant positive effects (ES = +0.21).

The authors investigated the reasons for the difference in program effectiveness across the cohorts and concluded that it relied on the implementation of the program. Although the protocol followed was the same, some differences were found in the way the program was implemented.

  • In cohort 2 there was less time lapse between the enrollment and the beginning of the training, resulting in a lower drop-out rate.
  • In cohort 2 a higher compliance was observed with 70% of teachers receiving the full attendance certificate compared to 47% in Cohort 1.
  • Teachers in cohort 2 reported more positive impressions about the program compared to teachers in cohort 1.

Based on the results, the study suggests the importance of replicating randomized studies to have robust results and to better study the impact of the program implementation.

 

Source: Abbiati, G., Argentin, G., Caputo, A., & Pennisi, A. (2021). Repetita Iuvant? A Repeated Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of an At-Scale Teacher Professional Development Program. Evaluation Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/0193841X211055354… Read the rest

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Maths and Science Learning Primary School Education Programme Evaluation

Does small group mathematics instruction work for all students?

A recent randomized evaluation conducted in Norway investigated the effects of a small group mathematics instruction on student academic achievement in elementary school. The study involved 159 elementary schools and 14,891 students in 10 municipalities in Norway. Schools were randomly assigned to receive the intervention or business as usual.

Students in the intervention group were pulled out from their regular math class into small groups homogenous for ability for 3-4 hours per week. Therefore, the small group instruction was delivered to all students in the class, not only to low-achieving students or pupils at risk for failure. The intervention lasts for one or two years with two periods of 4-6 weeks of intervention each year.

The authors evaluated the effects of the intervention on student mathematics achievement in fifth grade – after one or two years of intervention – through the Norwegian national test. Results showed significant positive effects for student math achievement (ES = +0.06). Although the long-term effect is small, the authors concluded that low-dosage small group tutoring can increase outcomes in mathematics for students of all ability levels.

 

Source (Open Access): Bonesrønning, H., Finseraas, H., Hardoy, I., Vaag Iversen, J. M., Nyhus, O. H., Opheim, V., Salvanes, K. V., Sandsør, A. M. J., & Schone, P. (2021). Small Group Instruction to Improve Student Performance in Mathematics in Early Grades: Results from a Randomized Field Experiment (SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 3979348). Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3979348… Read the rest