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Abstract

This study compared the achievement of biology, physics, and chemistry students in Higher Level (HL) International Baccalaureate (IB) programs with that of students in Subsidiary Level (SL), and the achievement of students in IB with that of students in regular Alberta programs. The samples included 708 participants from seven schools in two cities in Alberta. The research employed a quasi-experimental factorial design with repeated measures (pre-test-post-test). ANOVA analyzed the data. In all sciences, students in IB out-performed students in regular programs. Within IB, HL and SL achieved equally well in biology and physics. In biology, males and females achieved equally well. In physics, males scored higher than females. In chemistry, males in HL out-performed all other students; males in SL performed as well as females in HL; females in SL scored lower than but showed the same increase in achievement as both males in SL and females in HL.

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An Empirical Study of the Achievement of International Baccalaureate Students in Biology,Chemistry,and Physics—In Alberta

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