American Museum of Natural History

The Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds

Evaluation

Inverness Research Inc. is a national, independent educational research organization that assessed the Seminars on Science program over an eight year period. Their evaluation reveals that educators achieve a deeper understanding on science through these courses, mastering significant new material, gaining a better sense of how science is conducted, and aquired valuable classroom materials. Here are some highlights of the course evaluation for this course.

Course Experience

79% of teachers say the course "was more valuable than other professional development available to me locally"

74% of teachers say the course "rekindled my passion for science and the work of scientists"

Content and Resources

"My students were always disinterested when I taught a unit on taxonomy. But teaching about dinosaur evolution—for instance, the adaptations that became a basis for flight—changed their interest and deepened their understanding."
AP Biology and Physics teacher
What do teachers gain for their own learning from the course?

79% "Gain motivation to continue learning about the course topics on their own"

74% "Gain a bank of resources for their own learning"

Interaction and Instruction

67% of teachers say the course "provided me with hands-on, inquiry learning that can serve as a good model for [what I] can have students do"

"This summer online course was a perfect fit between courses required for my degree program. ...I was able to attain graduate level credit that was transferable to my degree program." —rural combined middle-high school science teacher

Further Reading

You can explore the complete evaluation results from Inverness Research Inc. by downloading these reports (PDF):

Seminars on Science Full Report
The Link Between Dinosaurs and Birds Course Specific Report
Inverness Research Inc. is based in Inverness, CA and provides insight into the design, quality and effectiveness of educational improvement initiatives.

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