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Measurement of Technology Skills, Attitudes, and Science Content in NSF/ITEST DAMSALS-2. by Gerald Knezek & Rhonda Christensen University of North Texas, USA DAMSALS-2 Evaluators Presented to the American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Toronto, Canada October 27, 2005.
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Measurement of Technology Skills, Attitudes, and Science Content in NSF/ITEST DAMSALS-2 by Gerald Knezek & Rhonda Christensen University of North Texas, USA DAMSALS-2 Evaluators Presented to the American Evaluation Association Annual Conference Toronto, Canada October 27, 2005
About DAMSALS-2 • Delta Agriculture Middle School Applied Life Science (DAMSALS) • Northeastern Louisiana (Mississippi Delta) • 1 of 13 funded for 3-yrs. By NSF in 2003 • Primary goals: • Enhance IT skills in teachers & students • Improve teacher content knowledge • Increase student achievement • Feed USA IT professional pipeline • Secondary goal: • Collect data to extract common findings across projects
Evaluation of DAMSALS-2 • Institute for Integration of Technology into Teaching and Learning (IITTL) • Pre-Post Assessments for • Magnitude of Change (ES) • Technology Skills for Teachers/Students • Content Knowledge for Teachers/Students • Classroom Behaviors of Teachers • Student Achievement • State-wide, national comparison groups
Findings • Large teacher gains: • Technology Skills ES = .87 (Time 1 to Time3) • Curriculum Integration Skills ES = 1.05 (Time 1 to Time 3) • Content Knowledge ES = 1.95 (PrePost Institute) • Practice students at summer institute asset • Teachers regressed by end of school yr.somewhat in Attitudes (ES = -.21) • Student gains during school year: • IT Attitude ES = -.04 (Time of year measurement factor) • Technology skills ES = .19 • Older students appear to gain in achievement: • 8th grade LEAP ES = +.23 2004-05 (state went down) • 7th grade ITBS 54 to 57 NPR 2004-05 (48-49 statewide)
Challenges Regarding Teachers • Small n of teachers • Incoming skills varied • Attrition is issue • Local support uncontrollable • Gathering data problematic • Measurement of science content knowledge
Challenges Regarding Students • Project too short to expect achievement gain (need longitudinal follow up) • Measurement of achievement varies by grade level • Characteristics of classes (6th, 7th, 8th) vary within one school • Selection of appropriate comparison group is problematic • Proving positive impact is due to ITEST is difficult
Challenges Across Projects • Agreement on Instruments • Forum to Exchange Results • Like PT3 collaborative exchanges • Local time/resources to support sharing
For Further Information • About Project: • Patty’s name or URL here • About Instruments: • http://www.iittl.unt.edu • About Evaluation Issues: • Gknezek@gmail.com • Rhonda.Christensen@gmail.com