Inquiry Based Activities And Technology To Improve Student Performance On The Science Reasoning Portion Of The Act (American College Test)

A six-week module to prepare Louisiana high school students from a small rural community for the science portion of the American College Test (ACT) was developed and taught by two graduate engineering students from Louisiana Tech University. The graduate students, in their role as Teaching Fellows in a National Science Foundation Graduate/K-12 Teaching Fellows Program (DGE-0231728), integrated ACTive Prep® software, inquiry based activities, analysis of science demonstrations, and reading of scientific literature into the program in an effort to develop the specific skills tested on the science portion of the ACT. Targeted skills included data interpretation/analysis, reading comprehension, and science reasoning. High school students interested in participating in the program were identified and placed in either an experimental or control group based solely on their ability to attend all program sessions. The experimental group of seven students met twice weekly for 1 1⁄2 to 2 hours per session throughout the six week period and participated in all program components. Three students serving as the control group met only to take the practice ACT tests that were administered to both control and experimental group students at 0, 3, and 6 weeks. At the conclusion of the course, a slight increase in average composite and science scores was found for the experimental group; composite scores for the control group also increased slightly with no increase in scores on the science portion of the tests. The difference between the experimental and control groups was not statistically significant. Several factors may have contributed to this fact including small sample size, student motivation, and the sporadic attendance of students in the experimental group. Student input indicated that participants developed an improved confidence in their ability to score well on the science portion of the ACT. Finally, the course participants were not the only ones impacted; the graduate students responsible for the design and implementation of the course indicated that their involvement was personally and professionally rewarding.