An analysis of frequency of hands‐on experience and science achievement

A variance analysis of the relation between the amount of time students spent experiencing hands-on science and science achievement was performed. Data collected by the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 on a nationally representative sample of eighth-grade students were analyzed. Student achievement in science was measured by a cognitive test battery developed by the Educational Testing Service. Information regarding the frequency of hands-on experience was collected through a selfadministered teacher questionnaire, which included a series of questions specific to the science curriculum. From the analysis it was concluded that significant differences existed across the hands-on frequency variable with respect to science achievement. Specifically, students who engaged in hands-on activities every day or once a week scored significantly higher on a standardized test of science achievement than students who engaged in hands-on activities once a month, less than once a month, or never. The successful flight of the Soviet Sputnik in 1957 gave renewed impetus to the curriculum reform movement begun toward the end of World War I1 (Klopfer & Champagne, 1990). Critics of the US educational system demanded a shift in the goals of education, particularly in the areas of mathematics and science. In response to this shift, science cumculum development boomed during the next 20 years. Many new programs, referred to as “alphabet” science programs, thrived through financing by federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, and private foundations (Kyle, Shymansky, & Alport, 1982). Although these programs differed in their organization and style, each placed a great deal of stress on, and value in, hands-on activities that were oriented towards discovery learning. One of these elementary programs, Science-A Process Approach (SAPA), was designed to emphasize the laboratory method of instruction, and focused on ways of developing basic skills in the processes of science. These processes included observing, classifying, measuring, predicting, and other important skills needed to conduct science investigations. Developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Commission on Science Education, the Commission believed that science was best taught through inquiry, and that an understanding of the scientific approach to gaining knowledge of the world was a fundamental part of a child’s education (Lee, 1967). In a policy statement pertaining to elementary science, the Commission wrote,