Friday, March 13, 2009

Depth vs. Breadth for Addressing Course Content


“Students who experience breadth of coverage in high school biology perform in college as if they had experienced half a year less preparation than students with without breadth of coverage, whereas those who are exposed to indepth coverage perform as if they had had half a year more preparation than the students without depth of coverage” (p.17).
Not interested in biology? In high school chemistry the difference was ¼ of a year difference and for high school physics it was two-thirds of a year.

So here is the scorecard compiled from the study (if you want to know about the study details they are provided after the list:
(1) Depth of coverage (one month spent studying a BIG concept) prepares students better for future study (e.g., higher grades in college courses)
(2) Breadth of coverage (lots of topics) may result in higher standardized test scores in high school
(3) Balancing depth and breadth neither positively nor adversely affected future grades
(4) The findings were consistent regardless of subject area in the study.

A recently released article (press release; for the study one needs a subscription to the periodical) reports the findings from a survey of 8,310 college students in 55 U.S. institutions who were enrolled in a fall introductory science class (i.e., biology, chemistry, or physics). The researchers sought to answer or at least add to the discussion of what is better depth or breadth of coverage in high school science courses.

College students were asked about their high school coursework for example introductory physics students were asked about high school physics. They also provided information about their demographics and high school teachers. At the end of the semester, the students’ professors provided their grades in the college course. The researchers decided to use the course grade as introductory classes are the gatekeepers to future study in the subject area and they believed would be more valid than a specially-developed test.

The article cited another study that found that students of teachers who did not rely on the textbook earned higher grades than students whose teachers used the book extensively. This suggests that when teachers judiciously use the textbook, they design learning experiences that scaffold knowledge and skills such that students can interact and learn them in meaningful ways.

Blogger's Thoughts

The implications of such study are important for us as educators. The TIMSS study consistently finds that countries that outperform the US address fewer topics indepth. Yet, US teachers are working in an age of accountability testing in which there is an “incentive” to ensure that all topics that appear on the test are addressed in class. We have ready access to standardized test scores and often do not hear from our students or others about the lasting effects of our teaching. The question for us as teachers is: how do we prepare students for future study (long term goal) while facilitating their learning for demonstration on end-of-course and grade level tests (short term).


Want to read the study?
Schwartz, M. S., Sadler, P. M., Sonnert, G., & Tai, R. H. (2009). Depth versus breadth: How content coverage in high school science courses relates to later success in college science coursework. Science Education. Retrieved 3/11/09 from http://www.interscience.wiley.com/ NOTE: released first online, so no vol(issue) is available at the time of this post.

Image taken at Hooker Falls in North Carolina

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