Volume 7, No. 1, Spring 2003

Contents | Seeing Math | Video Case | Atoms | Modeling | PDF Version

Modeling Across the Curriculum

The Concord Consortium invites interested high schools to join Modeling Across the Curriculum (http://mac.concord.org/) as contributing schools. This NSF-funded project is a three-year longitudinal study of the effects of modeling technology on science learning. Implementations in three Massachusetts high schools began in 2002-2003 and ten additional U.S. schools were selected to participate in 2003-2004. We are observing students closely in order to measure cumulative gains in science content areas. Our main concerns are to determine whether computer-based modeling helps students learn to use mental models as explanatory devices, and if so, whether student modeling ability is transferable between content areas.

Contributing schools will be provided with two-week replacement curriculum units in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology that include embedded assessments and teacher manuals.

Subject Replacement Units

Physical Science Kinematics, Newtonian Mechanics

Chemistry Gas Laws, States of Matter

Biology Genetics, Population Dynamics

Benefits to teachers include access to information in the project database. Student work is recorded and organized, allowing teachers to see how students approach and find solutions to problem-solving activities. By logging answers in each activity, we generate individualized reports for each student with information such as:

• Answers to multiple-choice questions
• Relevant student actions as they run models and manipulate variables to solve problems
• Numbers of trials needed to arrive at target outcomes successfully
• Readouts of hypotheses and conclusions
• Activity scores

Further data analysis provides teachers the ability to compare answers to each question across the class, giving an overview of class needs and strengths.

For more information contact:
Paul Horwitz, Principal Investigator - paul@concord.org, 978.371.5856
Joanna Lu, Project Director - joanna@concord.org, 978.371.1339

The projects described in this newsletter are supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Noyce Foundation and others. All opinions, findings, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies. Mention of trade names, commercial products or organizations does not imply endorsement.

All Contents Copyright © 2002 The Concord Consortium. All rights reserved.