photo of professor in lab
 

Improving Science for Students

The National Research and Development Center on Cognition and Science is a five-year national grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to further the goal of fostering science literacy in young people so they are able to compete in a 21st Century global economy. The Center's work focuses on applying the lens of cognitive science to existing middle school science curricula (Foss and Holt) in an effort to improve student learning of science.

The new adapted curricula is being scientifically tested in a study involving over 180 schools in Arizona (Phoenix and Tucson) and Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh). Professional development on these cognitive principles and their application within the selected science materials has been delivered to teachers in participating schools. These methods for improving student learning are being evaluated through rigorously designed scientific studies. One of the measures of the effectiveness of the modifications will be student performance on statewide science asssessments because preparing students to meet the cognitive demand of those instruments is also a focus of the work.

 

Welcome

 

What is the rationale for conducting the proposed middle school study?

Current levels of science achievement suggest that the United States is not preparing the general population with levels of science knowledge necessary for the 21st century workplace. According to The Committee on Science Learning, Kindergarten through Grade 8 (2006), “Much of the current science education curriculum is based on dated assumptions about the nature of cognitive development and learning assumptions that lead to the suboptimal teaching of science” (p. 336).