PEEP Explorer's Guide: Summative Evaluation

Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG) conducted a summative national field test study of the PEEP Explorer's Guide in early childhood education (ECE) classrooms. Participating teachers used four-to-six Explorer's Guide Units with their students over the course of one school year. GRG assessed changes in teachers' science-teaching practices after using the PEEP Explorer's Guide over an extended period of time and examined potential barriers to using the PEEP Explorer's Guide throughout the course of a school year. The evaluation sought to measure the following professional audience impacts and indicators of effectiveness that were identified by WGBH. As a result of using several PEEP units and activities: The quality of inquiry-based science teaching by preschool educators will improve. The amount of time spent by preschool educators with science curriculum in their classroom will increase. Preschool educators' comfort level using science curriculum in their classrooms will increase.In sum, GRG's summative evaluation of the PEEP Explorer's Guide revealed that the curricular design of presenting one topic through different activities and over an extended time had the intended impacts on the professional audience of early childhood educators. With its ease of use, clear instructions, and variety of activities, the PEEP Explorer's Guide serves well as a solid year-long science curriculum. Offering effective and engaging activities for students, that are easy for teachers to lead, the Guide fulfills a real need in early childhood classrooms. It increases teachers' quality of teaching and their comfort with leading hands-on inquiry science activities. The Guide provides accessible materials and ideas for engaging and retaining parental involvement in the classrooms, which benefits teachers as well as students and their families. Throughout the school year, the participating teachers used at least part of all six PEEP Explorer's Guide units with their students, and their response was similar across all units. The following findings are based on teachers' reports. The Guide met teachers' needs for science teaching throughout the year and teachers were highly satisfied with all aspects of the Guide. The Guide was easy to access online and the activities were easily incorporated into teachers' curricula. The units were easy to use, with just the right number and variety of activities. The Guide included new activities that teachers reported they had not seen in other curricula. The Guide's science, language and literacy, and early math goals for students were met and the activities were appealing to children. Teachers learned new content, new techniques, and gained new insights about their students' interests and found it easy to share general and science-related information with parents. Parents were excited to see their children's work and enthusiasm and tried some of the activities at home. Teachers planned to use the Guide again and to share it with others. The appendix of this report includes the surveys used in the study.

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