IMAGINE: the best schools in the world for every student in Delaware.

Inquiry-Based Learning through Science Kits

Beginning in 1995 with a significant grant from the National Science Foundation, Delaware Science Coalition Kits have become integral to Delaware’s science curriculum. Now supported by the Delaware Science Coalition, a partnership between the Department of Education, 18 Delaware school districts, several charter schools, and representatives of the Delaware business community, the kits emphasize an inquiry-based approach to science instruction through hand-on experiences. The program offers 36 different kits in grades K-10 teaching a wide array of concepts that range from chemistry, physics, and astronomy to biology, genetics, and ecology. Over the last several years, Delaware students in grades 4, 6, 8, and 11 have shown consistent gains in DSTP Science scores.

How does it work?

The Delaware Science Coalition Kits provide students with detailed, inquiry-based, and hands-on science instruction while also allowing teachers to work collaboratively through each activity and share ideas before they present lessons to their students. The concepts presented in the kits correlate with Delaware’s eight Science Standards, or themes, which include many areas of the life, earth, and physical sciences. To be sufficiently trained in each kit, science teachers are usually required to complete anywhere between nine and eighteen hours of training at the elementary level and 90 hours at the secondary level for grades 6-10, depending on the kit, in the professional development program. Upon the successful completion of each kit’s investigations and lessons, students in grades K-12 take summative assessments created by the Delaware Science Coalition to test an array of knowledge: declarative (knowing what), procedural (knowing how), schematic (knowing why), and strategic (knowing when, where, how to use the knowledge in new situations).

What are the results?

Since the restructuring of Delaware’s science curriculum in 1995 to include the kits, students’ science achievement has improved statewide. Between the years of 2000 and 2006, Delaware has seen an average yearly increase in DSTP Science scores of almost 5 percent for grades 6, 8, and 11 along with high achievement and consistent improvements for grade 4. And science achievement gaps for low-income students have been closed in some cases since the adoption of the new curriculum. Between the years of 2000 and 2006, yearly increases in DSTP Science scores averaged around 9 percent for low-income students in grades 6, 8, and 11 along with yearly increases around 3 percent in grade 4, outpacing the state’s average yearly increases for the same grades. The Delaware Science Coalition describes the kits as successful in making “students, like real scientists, learn to ask questions, test variables, and develop concepts based on close observations of their experiences.”

How does Vision 2015 address statewide curricula and training?

Vision 2015 recommends:  

• Setting sights high, with challenging expectations for every child, coupled with high-quality curriculum
• Establishing and electronically distributing research-based statewide curricula
• Aligning content-specific teaching tools and professional coaching
• Closely aligning coaching with the state’s curriculum and individual teachers’ needs
• Establishing professional development centers to allow teachers to share best practices

Where can I learn more?

Science Curriculum, Delaware Department of Education:
http://www.doe.k12.de.us/programs/ci/content_areas/science.shtml

Delaware Science Coalition:
http://www.sciencede.org/

Delaware Science Comprehensive Assessment Program:
http://www.scienceassessment.org/