Sustained professional development can support STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) reform. The authors describe a 3-year study of sustained professional development for 3 diverse urban schools across the salient factors of fidelity of implementation of project-based learning, development of professional learning communities, and student achievement. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The students who experienced the greatest fidelity of implementation exhibited the greatest gains (d D 1.41-2.03) on standardized test scores, while those with the lowest fidelity of implementation exhibited negative gains (d D-0.16 to-0.08). Qualitative data indicated teachers perceived there were multiple benefits from the implementation of project-based learning.
Recent studies on professional development programs indicate these programs, when sustained, have a positive impact on student achievement; however, many of these studies have failed to use longitudinal data. The purpose of this study is to understand the how one particular instructional practice (STEM PBL) used consistently influence student achievement. Three urban high schools in the southwest U.S. were assigned to participate in a professional development program for STEM teachers. Data for 565 students from these schools were collected at grade 8, 10, and 11. According to instructional practice observation tool, School 1 had a high level of STEM PBL implementation, school 2 showed an average level of STEM PBL implementation, and school 3 had almost no STEM PBL implementation. Results indicated students' success for school 1 was significantly different than students' success for schools 2 and 3. Results also indicated no difference in student data for ethnicity in school 1.
Very few Lebanese students have been able to perform at the highest level in mathematics and science in TIMSS, leading to the belief that current curricula and/or pedagogies are not supporting our highly able students to realize their potentials. In this research, we investigate how the national Policy documents and the mathematics and science centralized curricula, and textbooks address the needs of highly able students. Teachers’ perceptions and role in providing for the educational needs of highly able is also examined. Through qualitative methods, the following data sources were used to address the research aim: policy document analysis, curriculum analysis, and teacher interviews. Findings indicated no specific policy for highly able students in Lebanon and little evidence of curricular provisions and attention to the needs of highly able learners in the mathematics and science national curricula and textbooks. The resultant data also provided important insights into the limited knowledge of teachers in the area of supporting highly able learners. The findings of the current study will inform the efforts of the policy makers and the Ministry of Education faced with the challenge of effectively educating their most able students.
This longitudinal study was designed to examine how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) affected the success of high school women in comparison with high school men in mathematics and science, with English performance as a control. We analysed the four-year performance, course-taking, and retention of high school students (n = 186) in these three subjects in a school where STEM PBL was enacted. Students’ Texas state-mandated high-stakes test scores were collected. A repeated measures MANOVA was used for analysing changes in performance after infusing STEM PBL activities into their classes. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant change in scores for both men and women in mathematics and science; however, the attrition for women was much less than for men. We included implications for how to escalate women's performance and retention in STEM-based areas.
Objectives: This study describes the results of NBME (National Board of Medical Examiners) implementation in Balamand Medical School (BMS) from 2015 to 2019, after major curricular changes were introduced as of 2012. BMS students’ performance was compared with the international USMLE step 1 (United States Medical Licensing Examination, herein referred to as step 1) cohorts’ performances. The BMS students’ NBME results were analyzed over the successive academic years to assess the impact of the serial curricular changes that were implemented. Methods: This longitudinal study describes the performance of BMS preclinical second year medicine (Med II) students on all their NBME exams over 4 academic years starting 2015-2016 to 2018-2019. These scores were compared with the step 1 comparison group scores using item difficulty. The t test was computed for each of the NBME exams to check whether the scores’ differences were significant. Results: Results revealed that all BMS cohorts scored lower than the international USMLE step 1 comparison cohorts in all disciplines across the 4 academic years except Psychiatry. However, the results were progressively approaching step 1 results, and the difference between step 1 scores and BMS students’ NBME scores became closer and not significant as of year 4. Conclusions: The results of the study are promising. They show that the serial curricular changes enabled BMS Med II students’ scores to reach the international cohorts’ scores after 4 academic years. Moreover, the absence of statistical difference between cohort 4 scores and step 1 cohorts is not module dependent and applies to all clinical modules. Further studies should be conducted to assess whether the results obtained for cohort 4 can be maintained.
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