We share more calculated insights and show what changed and more!
Background
It's been around 4 months since the inception of ScienceTeX and we can't be more satisfied and happy with how successful students have been doing in our classes. It's also been more than 9 weeks since we issued our first data report, and we have a lot more insights to present since then. In this article, we will explore the results, what changed, what drove the changes and more!
The Data
Since the first data report, we saw a noticeable improvement in scores and student proficiency in the classes. We saw an average score of 81.9% and that is a rather conservative number at that. This represents a 1.00% improvement over the first report, and this is quite remarkable even as the assessments became harder, concepts became more cohesive and complex, and the pace increased. One should keep in mind however, this is a conservative average, as most students over-performed beyond this score, and these questions are more difficult than they would normally be for the concepts taught. This is because our quizzes are designed by us, and we believe that applying mass critical thinking in problems is key to a high level of understanding of the material taught. Additionally, this doesn't even factor in the review that we do, as when we do a second pass on the material, they are bound to do better than original.
What Led The Improvements?
Since the early lessons, we have made many strides towards improving the experience and quality of the lessons. First off, we changed the fundamental way of teaching changing the lesson material from transitioning from PowerPoints to digital whiteboards. This brought many benefits, as our students said they preferred the whiteboards. The digital whiteboards were far more interactive, and so the quality of our lessons improved tremendously. Additionally, the introduction of the ScienceTeX SuperPortal made it easier for students to access all the material and additional guides + videos that we publish to access. Through all of these improvements, we think the overall experience for the student, in addition to proficiency increased.
What Concepts Were Addressed?
As the lessons have come and gone, we have addressed many concepts that are usually taught in high school and beyond. Here is a breakdown of all the concepts that we have taught in accordance to the AP Framework, and additional information.
AP Biology- Standards from the AP Biology Framework
3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 5.3,2.7, 2.9, 2.4, 2.5, 1.6, 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1, 2.8, 3.7, 4.1, 5.4, 5.2
AP Chemistry- Standards from the AP Chemistry Framework
1.7, 1.8, 2.5, 3.5, 3.10
Additional Concepts that we have added from experience
Enzyme Kinetics, Inhibition Kinetics, and More!
How Ahead is This?
Through averaging the numbers and looking at the ages, we determined that these kids are proficient at content that is more than 7.5 years ahead of them, which is truly remarkable.
Final Thoughts
Overall, these results are very promising, and show a bright future for the students, and also let us know that our curriculum is working! If you would like a PDF of this data, please feel free to download it here!
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