The Effectiveness of Multimedia and Activity-Based Supplemental Teaching Resources in Materials Science Education
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The Effectiveness of Multimedia and Activity-Based Supplemental Teaching Resources in Materials Science Education Deborah A. Day1, Eeman Abbasi1, Brian Liang1, Satish Bhat1, Scott DeMeo1, Jacquelynn Garofano2, 3, Louise Grober2, 3, Nicole Ferrari3, Christine Broadbridge2, 3, 1. Science Research Program, Amity Regional High School, Woodbridge, CT, United States. 2. Department of Physics, Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States. 3. Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP), Yale University and Southern CT State University, New Haven, CT, United States. ABSTRACT A comparative study investigating the integration of supplemental teaching resources in materials science education was developed for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of teaching strategies. Digital stories created by students, excerpts from the Nova Making Stuff documentaries, YouTube educational videos and student generated demo-kits were used as part of the investigation whereby two 9th grade science classes (n~26) were evaluated. Each participant in the study received one period (40-min) of a traditional lesson on Materials Science including specific content, vocabulary, and a pre- and post- lesson assessment. Additionally, the students in each class participated in a 30-min supplemental component, e.g. video or activitybased demonstration using aforementioned kits or video compilation. Pre- and post- evaluations (e.g. open-ended and likert questions) were administered to all of the participants. As hypothesized, the students’ feedback and performance on assessment activities reveal that the use of multimedia and activity-based resources may be equally effective teaching methods as traditional methods. INTRODUCTION Making Stuff is a nationwide education outreach campaign that launched in fall of 2010 and culminated with a four-part television series highlighting materials that are transforming our world. The Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP) was among 20 institutions in the country selected to establish a local outreach coalition. The CRISP-led Connecticut Making Stuff Outreach Coalition was created with the goal of targeting two low-performing urban districts in CT (New Haven and Hartford) by using Materials Science as a vehicle for enhanced scientific literacy. To achieve this, the Coalition hosted public events, demonstrations, professional development workshops, and science cafés using the turnkey Making Stuff resources but also integrating newly-developed Materials Science resources such as those developed by high school students in the Amity Science Research Program (SRP) at Amity Regional High School, a partner of the CT Making Stuff Coalition. The students adopted the demonstrations designed by Yale Prof. Ainissa Ramirez (Demoworks: The Fine Art of Materials Science Demonstrations) to create Materials Sciencerelated educational kits that enrich the existing K-12 curriculum. Over the course of the kit development, the students worked in groups to: master understand
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