An empirical study of International Baccalaureate students in the sciences
Abstract
This study compared the achievement of biology, physics, and chemistry students enrolled in the Higher Level International Baccalaureate (IB) programs with that of students enrolled in the Subsidiary Level. It also compared the achievement of students in the IB programs with students in the regular non-semestered and semestered Alberta science programs. The samples included 708 participants from seven high schools in two major cities in Alberta, Canada. A pretest was administered in the fall of 1990 and a posttest in the spring of 1991. The research design is a quasi-experimental 4 by 2 by 2 factorial design with repeated measures on the last variable. The independent variables are level of instruction (Higher Level IB, Subsidiary Level IB, regular Alberta Curriculum Semestered, regular Alberta Curriculum Non-Semestered) and sex (male, female); the dependent variable is the score on a standardized achievement test. An analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to analyze the data. In all three sciences, Higher and Subsidiary Level IB students scored significantly higher and showed a significantly greater increase in achievement than students in regular science programs. In biology there was no significant difference between the achievement of males and females. In physics males scored higher than females in each level of instruction. In chemistry Higher Level males showed superior performance compared with any other males or females; Subsidiary Level males performed as well as Higher Level females; Subsidiary Level females scored lower than but showed the same increase in achievement as Subsidiary Level males and Higher Level females. The study suggests that the IB programs in the sciences challenge academically able students. However, the practice in universities of selecting for advanced placement or college credit only students in the higher level programs is questionable. The study also suggests that the IB science programs consist of one level rather than a Higher Level and a Subsidiary Level. I also recommend that the International Baccalaureate Organization replicate the study with a larger sample size in order to obtain adequate numbers of participants in each cell.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Feldhusen, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Science education|Secondary education
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