Improving Middle School Students' Understanding of Core Science Ideas Using Coherent Curriculum

Abstract

This study explores the influence of coherent curriculum on student understanding of core chemistry ideas across the middle grades. Participants in urban and suburban schools used materials designed based on what is known about promoting student learning of science, and that link ideas within and across grade levels in a coherent manner. Using a cross- sectional approach, student learning was assessed using an independent measure aligned with a learning progression on the transformations of matter. To develop the learning progression and corresponding assessment, we used construct-center design. Using IRT and analysis of variance, we demonstrate that students' latent ability changes across grade level, illustrating that curriculum coherence can, indeed, support students in building understanding of core chemistry ideas. We also found that boys and girls did not perform differently, in contrast with other findings, particularly in urban U.S. middle schools, in which girls outperform boys.