Establishing validated science programs for students with or at risk for learning disabilities requires testing treatment effects and exploring differential response patterns. This study explored whether students’ initial mathematics and reading skills influenced their treatment response to a whole-class, second-grade science program called Scientific Explorers (Sci2). The original Sci2 study employed a cluster randomized controlled design and included 294 students from 18 second-grade classrooms. Differential effects of the program by initial mathematics and reading skill levels were not observed for an interactive science assessment and a distal science outcome measure. However, based on initial reading skill levels, moderation results were found on a science vocabulary measure, suggesting the effects of Sci2 were greatest for students with higher initial reading skills. Similar results were found using initial mathematics skill levels as a predictor of differential response such that students with higher mathematics skills reaped stronger treatment effects on the vocabulary measure. Further, we found initial mathematics skills also influenced outcomes on the proximal science content assessment, where students with higher initial mathematics skills led to higher outcomes. Overall, findings suggest Sci2 produced robust effects for all students ( g = 0.24–1.23), regardless of initial skill proficiencies. Implications for exploring differential response in science intervention research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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数学和阅读技能会影响学生的科学成果吗？


为有学习障碍或有学习障碍风险的学生建立经过验证的科学计划需要测试治疗效果并探索不同的反应模式。这项研究探讨了学生最初的数学和阅读技能是否会影响他们对全班二年级科学项目“科学探索者”(Sci2) 的治疗反应。最初的 Sci2 研究采用整群随机对照设计，包括来自 18 个二年级教室的 294 名学生。对于交互式科学评估和远端科学结果测量，没有观察到该计划对初始数学和阅读技能水平的不同影响。然而，根据初始阅读技能水平，在科学词汇测量中发现了适度结果，表明 Sci2 对于初始阅读技能较高的学生的影响最大。使用初始数学技能水平作为差异反应的预测因子也发现了类似的结果，因此具有较高数学技能的学生在词汇量测量上获得了更强的治疗效果。此外，我们发现初始数学技能也会影响近端科学内容评估的结果，具有较高初始数学技能的学生会获得更高的结果。总体而言，研究结果表明，无论初始技能熟练程度如何，Sci2 对所有学生都产生了显着影响 (g = 0.24–1.23)。讨论了探索科学干预研究中差异反应的意义。