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Training Effectiveness in Innovative Science Curriculum

Abstract

In the summers of 2008 and 2009, 59 professors from 51 universities attended one of four high altitude ballooning program (HARP) workshops. The 2-day workshops were designed to equip participating professors with the materials, procedural knowledge, and educational techniques necessary to effectively implement high altitude ballooning into STEM classrooms. The first workshop was used as a pilot study to develop the assessment methods used in the subsequent workshops. The central research question was to determine if participation in the workshops enhanced the professors’ ability and confidence in implementing a ballooning project into the classroom. After obtaining a Cronbach’s Alpha of .92 and testing for validity, an 84 item HARP Workshop Assessment Tool© was administered as a pre-test and post-test at the beginning and conclusion of each workshop . A Repeating Measures ANOVA indicated significant growth in each of the four primary dependent variables: professor perception of their ability to intrinsically motivate students (p < .001, Eta2 = 0.31), professor perception of their ability to promote metacognitive processes in students (p < .001, Eta2 = 0.54), professor valuation of the HARP method (p < .05, Eta2 = 0.12), and overall procedural knowledge (p < .001, Eta2 = 0.83). The results indicate that the workshop’s design effectively prepares professors to implement HARP into undergraduate STEM classrooms. This will ultimately allow students to have control of and be engaged in projects that expose them to the scientific method using an innovative, hands-on curriculum.

Introduction

Introduction of problem

The problem addressed in this research investigation was the training of professors to implement a program involving high altitude ballooning into the classroom. The program uses the High Altitude Research Platform (HARP) to facilitate student experiments in the environment of near space. It was the goal of the workshops to provide the professors with both the technical and pedagogical knowledge on how to execute a balloon launch experience at their home universities. The word experience should be emphasized because HARP has the potential to be an extended hands-on learning experience rather than just a one-day event. Therefore, time in the workshop was split between teaching the procedures of a balloon launch and articulating the possible educational techniques that could be used to maximize student learning as a result of participating in a ballooning experience. The basic itinerary of the workshops is contained in the table below. Table 1: Workshop Schedule

Day One 7:00 A.M. Registration 7:05 A.M. Working Breakfast and Pre Assessment of Workshop 8:00 A.M. Welcome

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Snyder, S., & Gates, J., & Kilmer, L., & Paladin, E. (2010, June), Training Effectiveness In Innovative Science Curriculum Paper presented at 2010 Annual Conference & Exposition, Louisville, Kentucky. 10.18260/1-2--16793