Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Jonathan Hall and Bill Baxter have been using SCALE-UP to teach the calculus-based mechanics course since Spring 2007. Chuck Yeung and Bruce Wittmershaus started teaching the second semester calculus-based Electricity & Magnetism course with SCALE-UP starting in Fall 2008.
There is a nice symposium discussion online. A good press release available. According to a recent Behrend newsletter, "Students enrolled in the new SCALE-UP introductory physics courses scored only slightly lower on a standardized exam than Harvard University honors students." (This is from comparing our present FCI post-test to the results reported by Hestenes in 1992).
The room capacity is 72 students, with 3 groups of three at each of 8 tables.
Fall 2008: We are presently (led by Danielle Goodwin) analyzing data collected during Spring 2008, for both quantitative and qualitative research to determine the impact of SCALE-UP on student learning, in particular for students from under-represented groups. We are also using feedback from field observation notes, focus groups, etc., to improve the course.
The room capacity is 72 students, with 3 groups of three at each of 8 tables.
Fall 2008: We are presently (led by Danielle Goodwin) analyzing data collected during Spring 2008, for both quantitative and qualitative research to determine the impact of SCALE-UP on student learning, in particular for students from under-represented groups. We are also using feedback from field observation notes, focus groups, etc., to improve the course.
Photos of Penn State Erie's SCALE-UP room appeared on the cover of the August 3, 2007 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and also on pages A16, A17, accompanying the article, "The Tough Road to Better Science Teaching" by Jeffrey Brainard. The SCALE-UP lab, formerly a machine shop room, was renovated (and the equipment purchased) thanks to a grant from Penn State's University Committee on Instructional Facilities (UCIF) and also with support from the School of Science of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. This was all described in an article in the Behrend Magazine.
"At Penn State Erie: The Behrend College, over 550 students have enrolled in SCALE-UP physics as of the summer of 2008. Starting in spring 2007, all sections of the introductory calculus-based physics course in mechanics at Penn State Erie have been run using SCALE-UP methods. Overall achievement has increased from an average course grade of 1.8 on a 4-point grade scale before SCALE-UP (in the traditional lecture course) to a 2.2 since the start of SCALE-UP. Given the number of students, this is a highly statistically significant difference (p < .001). Scores on the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) post-test have also increased from an average score of 46% correct before SCALE-UP to 74% correct since SCALE-UP began. In the traditional lecture course before SCALE-UP was implemented, the FCI post-test scores were no better than the FCI pre-test scores, but now with SCALE-UP, student FCI scores jump by about 30% between the pre-test and the post-test. Additionally, on an opinion survey of former SCALE-UP students from previous semesters, students reported using the problem-solving, communication, and teamwork skills that they had learned in SCALE-UP in other courses. "Teamwork and group problem-solving…are very important skills for engineers and other fields requiring group collaboration" reported one Computer & Software Engineering student. A Mechanical Engineering student stated that "SCALE-UP physics helped me to learn that exploring concepts on my own, outside of a lecture, helps me to remember them better."
Female students start SCALE-UP at Penn State Erie with SAT mathematics scores and mathematics placement test scores that are well below those of their male counterparts (p < .001 and p <.05 respectively). At the time of the first test of the semester, females still have significantly different scores, with an average of 62% versus the male mean of 74% (p < .001). By the second exam though, the females catch up to the males, and maintain this equality of achievement through the final examination (p > .05). The final course grades of males and females in SCALE-UP are not significantly different (p > .05), despite the fact that women start the course with lower scores on tests of prerequisite skills. This finding supports Streitmatter (1994), who reported that female students prefer, and achieve better in, classrooms where learning activities are structured as cooperative endeavors rather than within a competitive structure."*
Streitmatter, J. (1994). Toward gender equity in the classroom: Everyday teachers’ beliefs and practices. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.* - Thanks to Danielle Goodwin and Andy George for collecting and analyzing the data from six semesters, three prior to SCALE-UP, and three with SCALE-UP.