Publication Date

1972

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Hoppe, Arthur

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Educational Administration and Services

LCSH

Science--Examinations; Science--Study and teaching (Secondary)

Abstract

Comparison was made of achievement test scores before and after the introduction of a new inquiry/laboratory science teaching curriculum in a suburban Mid­western middle school. The same test, given by the writer as an independent tester, was given to students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades at the beginning and end of the school years, the year before the new curriculum was introduced, and again in like manner the following year. Random samples of each set of scores were analyzed for statistical significance of differences. There was a significant increase in achievement in the sixth and eighth grades during the year previous to the new curriculum (P= <.05) and nearly so in the seventh grade of that year, but virtually no increase in the before and after scores during the year of the new curriculum. The expected progression from grade to higher grade was evident only in the year before the new curriculum. Thus, the hypothesis that students would show a higher score on science achievement tests designed to measure acquisition of science principles and concepts as well as science facts when taught by the new laboratory and inquiry method rather than by the traditional textbook-teacher-demonstration method was rejected as a result of the findings in this study. The results confirm the findings of numerous other studies of similar design, and have been interpreted to mean that either the new curriculum did not produce much learning as determined by the achievement test or that the test did not measure what was being learned.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

58 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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