Measuring the Efficacy and Student Achievement of Research-based Instructional Materials in High School Multidisciplinary Science

Purpose: The education and business communities in the United States have grown increasingly concerned about student achievement in math and the sciences. In addition to generally poor performance by U.S. students, other analyses indicate that current science instructional materials and curricula are fragmented, lack coherence, and are not carefully articulated through a sequence of grade levels. Few materials address in-depth, comprehensive standards as outlined in the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996) or Benchmarks for Science Literacy. In order to improve student achievement in science, school districts in the U.S. need rigorous evidence regarding the impact of instructional materials so they can make sound decisions about their science programs. In 2000, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study team began the design and development of BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach to meet the need for multidisciplinary science curricula. Their initial work was funded by the National Science Foundation. Now that the curriculum has been developed and commercially published, in this IES project, the researchers are conducting a rigorous evaluation to test whether students who use this curriculum will learn more than students using the existing commercially produced science curriculum.