Project Name
Efficacy Study of the Universally Designed Science Notebook: An Intervention to Support All Students’ Elementary School Science Learning
Project Description
Science Notebook in a Universal Design for Learning Environment (affectionately called SNUDLE) is a digital solution to support the active science learning of elementary school students. This notebook was previously developed by CAST in collaboration with Lawrence Hall of Science under a U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences Goal 2 Development grant. SNUDLE differs from traditional science notebooks in that the design provides access to the use of science notebooks for students who have difficulty reading and writing, or are otherwise unmotivated for science learning. UDL is leveraged as the design framework so that construct-irrelevant barriers to science learning are actively lowered through the provision of support, and just-in-time scaffolding is provided to support the process of active science learning and, specifically, the effective use of science notebooks.
This current Goal 3 project is a replication study that builds on the positive outcomes from the prior efficacy trial to:
- Test SNUDLE over a broader range of content
- Test SNUDLE with two widely used commercial science curricula
- Be appropriately powered to generate additional evidence about the impact of the SNUDLE on elementary school students’ science content knowledge and motivation for science with a broader range of students
We will focus on 4th grade students in elementary schools in three states (Texas, Indiana and Massachusetts) in urban, suburban and rural settings with approximately 1,800 – 2,000 students and 36 teachers in inclusive 4th grade classrooms participating in the study.
Timeline
2015 – 2021
Funded by
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education
Partners
Principal Investigators
Jose Blackorby, CAST
Tracey Hall, PhD, CAST (Co-PI)
Jennifer Yu, SRI International
Contact
For more information about this project, please contact Jose Blackorby or Tracey Hall.