Celebration of Scholars
The Effectiveness of The Gateway To Technology (STEM) Program
Name:
Megan Zirbel
Major: Education Administration
Hometown: Wheatland, WI
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors: Not Applicable
Type of research: Master's thesis
Funding: Not Applicable
Abstract
This study appraises the effectiveness of Gateway to Technology (GTT) middle school STEM curriculum in an attempt to answer the question “Does the GTT program improve a student’s academic growth in comparison to traditional science curricula?” Data from a small, rural middle school was used to determine the academic growth of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. Growth from the 2010-2011 school year was compared to growth during the 2011-2012 school year in an attempt to answer the study’s first research question: What are the effects of implementation of GTT on academic growth of students. Second, the effect on the number of years of program participation was analyzed. A third research question dealt with a comparison of the growth of male students versus female students. The final research question explored the growth of special education versus non-special education students. Data was analyzed using paired t-tests and t-tests for each year of program implementation. The results of the study were mixed, showing that upon the first year of implementation sixth grade students experienced significant academic growth, while seventh and eighth graders did not. However, upon the second year of implementation, participants experienced greater academic growth than in the first year. Correspondingly, females experienced a greater academic growth than males in the first year of implementation. However, special education students performed at levels similar to those of their non-special education classmates. Ultimately, these results insinuate further need for study.Submit date: March 17, 2014, 6:47 p.m.