Funded by the National Science Foundation, the P-SELL project created a third through fifth grade curriculum and prepared teachers to follow that curriculum which integrated classroom teaching with hands-on-experiments. Many teachers also integrated English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) methods in teaching science.
In 2004, the year prior to the implementation of P-SELL, third graders enrolled in P-SELL schools started out with FCAT scores in Math that were 7 points below those of third graders in comparison schools (which did not implement P-SELL). Over the next three years – while P-SELL was being implemented – third-grade students in P-SELL schools caught up and surpassed the comparison schools. In 2007, P-SELL third graders averaged a score of 306 on the FCAT Math; comparison third graders, 293.
“What this shows is that P-SELL works,’’ said Okhee Lee, a professor at the School of Education, who led the P-SELL study team. “Children become better learners when their teachers teach them not only to be hands-on, but also minds-on. That means they work like scientists. In a lab, they do hands-on work; but also, they measure and use math, and they write down their observations and conclusions.”
Similar gains were shown in fifth grade P-SELL students compared to non-P-SELL students. In 2006, before P-SELL was introduced, comparison students outperformed P-SELL fifth graders by 278 to 265 on the FCAT Science. Three years later, P-SELL fifth graders scored an average of 288 on the FCAT Science as compared to 283 for the comparison fifth graders.
“The consistency with which the P-SELL schools out-performed the comparison schools across the three-year period is compelling evidence of the positive impact on student achievement,” said UM Associate Professor Randall Penfield, a member of the P-SELL research team. “This level of consistency is rarely observed in school settings.”
“We hope to scale-up the program to larger numbers of schools, teachers and students,” said Walter Secada, Professor, P-SELL Associate Director and UM Senior Associate Dean for the School of Education. “This is a program that has succeeded here in our backyard and can help many communities throughout the nation.”
For more information about this project, please contactolee@miami.edu or visit the P-SELL web site:http://www.education.miami.edu/psell/
