SNUDLE: Student Efficacy Trial

Project Name
Efficacy Study of the Universally Designed Science Notebook: An Intervention to Support All Students’ Elementary School Science Learning

Project Description

Science Notebook in a Universal Design for Learning Environment (affectionately called SNUDLE) is a digital solution to support the active science learning of elementary school students. This notebook was previously developed by CAST in collaboration with Lawrence Hall of Science under a U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences Goal 2 Development grant. SNUDLE differs from traditional science notebooks in that the design provides access to the use of science notebooks for students who have difficulty reading and writing, or are otherwise unmotivated for science learning. UDL is leveraged as the design framework so that construct-irrelevant barriers to science learning are actively lowered through the provision of support, and just-in-time scaffolding is provided to support the process of active science learning and, specifically, the effective use of science notebooks.

This Goal 3 project was a replication study that built upon the positive outcomes from the prior efficacy trial to:

Test SNUDLE over a broader range of content
Test SNUDLE with two widely used commercial science curricula
Be appropriately powered to generate additional evidence about the impact of the SNUDLE on elementary school students’ science content knowledge and motivation for science with a broader range of students

We focused on 4th grade students in elementary schools in three states (Texas, Indiana and Massachusetts) in urban, suburban and rural settings with students and teachers in inclusive 4th grade classrooms participating in the study.