Evaluation of a Large-Scale Science Teaching Intervention Employing Arts-Integrated Instruction

Authors: Brad Hughes, Robert Kalinowski, Christa Renee Mulker Greenfader, Doron Zinger, Douglas Grove, Drew Bailey, Alex Ray
Presented at 2017 AERA

Abstract: This study examines the first year of a large-scale science intervention that utilized visual and performing arts (VAPA) techniques to foster science learning, particularly for English learners (ELs) and children from low-SES households. Third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students participating in the intervention received three VAPA-based and three inquiry-based lessons and were randomly assigned to which set of lessons they received first. Regressions using data from a researcher-designed earth sciences measure suggest that there were no differences or clear heterogeneous impacts between treatment groups on the type or order of the lessons. Treatment students (N=2,910) outperformed students from a constructed control group (N=826) on the earth sciences measure. Implications for utilizing VAPA-science integration methods are discussed.