Effecting Principled Improvement in STEM Education (epiSTEMe)
News
Applications invited for ESRC linked +3 Research Studentship for PhD study.
Project Summary
The project, which runs between August 2008 and January 2012, is funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council as part of its Targeted Research Initiative on Science and Mathematics Education. It aims to redesign key aspects of the teaching and learning of physical science and mathematics during the early stages of secondary education. The design of the classroom intervention will be based on pedagogical principles that have been found to effectively enhance the engagement of students and their understanding of these subjects. The intervention will consist of teaching modules that focus on three curricular topics, with proportionality as the subject-spanning module, and probability and electricity as the subject-specific topic modules in mathematics and physical science, respectively.
Research Phases
The project comprises three phases. In Phase 1 (Oct08/Sep09), we will collaborate with teacher co-researchers from several schools to devise and pilot the intervention. In Phase 2 (Sep09/Jun10), we will analyse and evaluate the classroom implementation by these teacher co-researchers and refine the intervention accordingly. In Phase 3 (Jul10/Jun11), we will examine not only the repeated implementation by the teacher co-researchers, but also the initial application of the intervention of a large sample of further teachers from a wider range of schools. Teachers from similar schools, who will continue their established practice, will form a control group to which we will compare the outcome of the intervention group. Evaluation will be in terms of change in aspects of student attitude and achievement, and will include scrutiny by socioeconomic status, gender and ethnicity.
Project Information
Principal Investigators
Research Associates
Riikka Hofmann
Stefanie Luthman
Project Administrator
Mrs Jenny Parr
University of Cambridge
Faculty of Education
184 Hills Road
Cambridge
CB2 8PQ
Tel: 01223 767594
Fax: 01223 767602
E-mail: jlp23@cam.ac.uk
Publications
Publications will be available for download later in the project.