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Inside Iowa State
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December 12, 2003

Research brief

New science teaching method
A new science, language and computer simulation research project focused on freshman chemistry courses at Iowa State appears to eliminate the achievement gap between male and female students in science courses and improves student achievement at all levels of science comprehension.

Lead researchers Brian Hand and Thomas Greenbowe said data show using the new teaching method, which combines the computer-simulated science experiments created by Greenbowe's team with Hand's science-writing-heuristic (using writing to learn strategies linked to inquiry) curriculum, improved student learning and comprehension above traditional teaching styles.

Low achievers gained even more benefit and women who scored lower on a chemistry pre-test than men scored similar to the men's average score after the combined curriculum.



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