Changing Science Outcomes: Cognitive Accelerationin a US Setting

摘要

Inquiry is seen as an integral part of science education in the USA; however, fewAmerican science programs explicitly focus on the higher order thinking skills that are theprecursors to inquiry. In this paper, Australian researchers report the result of using aversion of the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) program in aschool district in Oregon (USA) to address teacher-identified concerns about studentcompetence in scientific inquiry. The substantial effect of CASE on British children'scognitive development and scholastic achievement has been demonstrated convincinglysince its inception in the United Kingdom in 1981. The Oregon CASE project was not amere replication of the original British CASE research: different instruments wereemployed, and both the measures of cognitive level and student achievement wereRasch-calibrated. The Oregon CASE teachers received comparatively less professionaldevelopment than did their British counterparts. Neither did they deliver the entireintervention. The results of the study suggest that many of the benefits of CASE still applywhen the intervention is conducted in a sub-optimal setting. Cognitive growth was apparentin participating students and high correlations were found between cognitive level andresults in some state-mandated tests.