Friedman, Lawrence B.; Margolin, Jonathan; Swanlund, Andrew; Dhillon, Sonica; Liu, Feng (2017). American Institutes for Research. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED574773
Reviewed: December 2021
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Playground physics student survey - Intrinsic motivation scale (researcher-developed) |
Playground Physics vs. Business as usual |
2 Weeks |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Playground physics student survey - Engagement scale (researcher-developed) |
Playground Physics vs. Business as usual |
2 Weeks |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- |
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
| Black | 14% | |
| Other or unknown | 68% | |
| White | 18% |
| Hispanic | 33% | |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 67% |
The study takes place in 60 middle schools in New York City. The teachers were recruited from 48 NYC public schools and two charter schools.
The student sample was 53% female, 47% male, 13% black, 33% Hispanic, 18% white, 35% another race/ethnicity. Six percent of the sample were English language learners.
The Playground Physics curriculum highlights the principles of physics that are present in different types of playground experiences. The curriculum makes play the focus of learning and uses a series of structured lessons to present the physics concepts in a formal way. Playground Physics includes an app developed by The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) as part of its suite of Digital Noticing Tools™. The iOS-based Playground Physics app allows students to record videos of each other engaging in playground-type play and then to review these videos through three different lenses designed to highlight the physics principles of motion, force (Newton’s third law), and energy (respectively). The Playground Physics activity guide supports teacher instruction focused on motion, force, and energy while using the Playground Physics iOS app. For each unit, the teacher guide includes a review of the content knowledge in that unit as well as common student misconceptions about the topic. During professional development, teachers explore the concepts of energy, motion, and force and practice how they might use the Playground Physics app and activity guide to engage their students in science learning. The program was implemented during the 2015-2016 school year. The New York Hall of Science provided professional development in the program during fall 2015, as well as program materials (specifically, the app and activity guide) to the teachers assigned to the intervention group.
The teachers in the comparison condition were asked to teach topics of motion, force, and energy using their regular curriculum. Teachers engaged in business-as-usual instruction and participated in business-as-usual professional development. Teachers likely taught as they had in the past.
The teachers in the intervention group received professional development and a class activity guide, as well as curriculum materials.
Reviewed: November 2017
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Physics knowledge assessment |
Physics Playground Activities vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
| Black | 13% | |
| Other or unknown | 35% | |
| White | 18% |
| Hispanic | 33% |
The study took place in 50 (48 public schools and 2 charter) New York City middle schools. Each teacher taught between 1 and 5 classes and had between 1 and 26 students per class.
The authors do not report sample characteristics for the analytic sample, however they do present demographics for a partial samples. For a sample of 845 students presented, 53% were female, 47% male, 13% Black, 33% Hispanic, 18% White, 35% of other ethnicity, 6% English language learner, 12% students with disabilities, and 67% low SES.
Playground Physics' goal is to help students learn about force, energy, and motion to promote greater physics understanding. The intervention includes the Playground Physics app, accompanying curriculum, and teacher professional development. The app is iOS compatible. The curriculum is aligned with New York State Learning Standards, Common Core State Standards, and Next Generation Science Standards. The 9-hours of professional development were delivered in two sessions where developers demonstrated the use of the app, discussed the curriculum, discussed how the curriculum could be integrated into instruction; and teachers practiced using the app, and role played as learners experiencing the curriculum.
The comparison group teachers used their business-as-usual curriculum and then were given the Playground Physics professional development and app to use the following year (June 2016).
As part of the intervention, teachers were provided with two days of professional development in integrating Playground Physics in their classrooms.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).
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