Project Activities
The researchers will evaluate the efficacy of the Connection Chemistry Curriculum (CCC), a fully developed technology-infused high school science curriculum. The team will use a cluster randomized trial, randomly assigning classrooms within schools to condition. Researchers will assess the impact of CCC on student learning outcomes and engagement in chemistry, along with changes in teacher practice.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The study will take place in urban and suburban high schools in Illinois.
Sample
Participating schools have a diverse sample of students from economically and racially diverse communities. The sample will include 40 high school chemistry teachers and 9,600 of their students.
Intervention
The Connected Chemistry Curriculum (CCC) contains two critical components: (1) a comprehensive set of curriculum materials and (2) a rigorous teacher professional development program. The curriculum materials include a stand-alone chemistry software application that presents simulations to help students visualize and better understand the nature of the submicroscopic interactions that are responsible for the macro-level events observed in laboratory investigations. CCC contains nine curriculum units that cover nine core disciplinary concepts (i.e., Modeling & Matter, Solutions, Chemical Reactions, Pressure & Gas Laws, Kinetics, Thermodynamics, Acids & Bases, Equilibrium, and Nuclear Chemistry) that are routinely taught in high school chemistry classrooms across the U.S. Across the nine units, there are 54 individual lessons that include approximately 200 unique activities that require a minimum of 120 days of instruction to implement in its entirety. Curriculum materials include over 100 individual computer simulations, nine guided-inquiry student workbooks (843 pages total), and nine teacher guides.
Research design and methods
The research team will conduct a cluster randomized control trial with teachers within schools randomly assigned to implement the Connected Chemistry Curriculum (CCC) or continue with their business-as-usual chemistry instruction and practices. Prior to randomly assigning teachers to treatment or control conditions, teachers will be stratified on multiple school, teacher, and student variables in order to further minimize differences between groups. In Year 1 of the study, the teachers in both groups will use business-as-usual practices, and the researchers will collect baseline pretest and posttest data. In Years 2 to 4, teachers in the treatment group will receive professional development on CCC and implement CCC for three years. In contrast, control group teachers will implement their business-as-usual chemistry curriculum during Years 2 to 3. In Year 4, the control group will participate in the CCC professional development program and implement CCC in their classrooms for the first time. Throughout the four years, the researchers will collect pretest and posttest data at the beginning and end of instruction every year. Students in CCC classrooms will also be administered CCC unit assessments throughout the year, and data on teachers' fidelity of implementation and pedagogy will be collected.
Control condition
Teachers assigned to the control condition will use their business-as-usual chemistry curriculum.
Key measures
The project will include end of unit CCC assessments and the American Chemical Society (ACS) General Chemistry Exam as the main outcomes. Student engagement will also be evaluated with the Chemistry Self-Concept Inventory. The researchers will evaluate changes in teacher practice and fidelity of implementation with the Revised Teacher Observation Protocol (RTOP), classroom observations, and teacher self-reports.
Data analytic strategy
The research team will use hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), with students nested within teachers within schools, to analyze the impact of CCC on student learning and engagement in chemistry. Researchers will also use a comparison of instructional observations using the RTOP to analyze changes in teacher practice between treatment and control teachers.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: This project will provide evidence on the impact of the CCC intervention on student learning outcomes in high school chemistry and changes in teacher practice. Researchers will also produce peer-reviewed publications.
Project website:
Related projects
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Alison Superfine
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
