What might happen if every student in your class remained engaged?

Steve Kortenkamp, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, taught two identical classes for non-science majors last spring. Both classes had the same lectures, the same homework assignments and the same instructor.

When Kortenkamp gave the first exam, he understandably expected the results to likewise be the same, or at least reasonably similar. Instead, much to his surprise, he saw striking difference in student performance, with a significant achievement gap even among the highest-performing students.