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REVIEW:
What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
This proposal to pair college students studying STEM fields with
students learning science contains some interesting programmatic ideas
that could easily be implemented in schools near colleges, universities,
or community colleges. Unfortunately, the author of the proposal does
not establish a theoretical foundation for the project, nor does he
propose a research design that will answer the research question. In
addition, some of the project objectives (such as increasing graduation
rates) seem too far-reaching for this relatively small intervention.
Objectives that are more in line with the scope of the project are,
frankly, unmeasurable (such as a 15% increase in attitudes toward
science รป how do you quantify attitudes?).
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
Without a careful research design, it is unclear as to what would be
disseminated. While the project activities might be replicated, the
author does not outline a detailed plan for dissemination.
Summary Statement
While the effort to utilize college students in grades 3-12
instruction is commendable and would surely produce impacts on the
participants, this project does not seem to fall within the purview of
an exploratory project funded by the DR K-12 competition (it does not
clarify constructs, assemble theoretical or conceptual foundations, or
perform analytic or empirical preparatory work).
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