cadre-admin's blog

Over the last few years, rural schools and communities have received increased visibility in the media and in the broader educational conversation, with depictions of rural places presented in many ways: idyllic due to their natural resources and beauty; characterized, and sometimes villainized, by perceived political leanings; highlighted for their pockets of extreme poverty; or on occasion recognized for their innovative pla

If you had asked me a few years ago how I was preparing my second graders for their future studies in algebra, I would have laughed! Algebra is for teenagers and addition and subtraction facts are for second graders...now I realize how wrong I was. I was fortunate enough to be a part of an amazing STEM professional development for early elementary mathematics instruction. The skills, strategies, and techniques I learned have changed the way I will teach mathematics and think about my math students!

Thank you to evaluators Kristin Bass, senior researcher, Rockman et al; Kathy Haynie, director, Haynie Research and Evaluation; Dan Heck, vice pr

CADRE invited the PIs of the TRUmath and Lesson Study: Supporting Fundamental and Sustainable Improvement in High School Mathematics Teaching project (Grant Nos. 1503342, 1503454) to reflect on the lessons they've learned from their work at the district level.

Mixed methods research, dating back to the mid- to late 1980’s (Creswell & Plano, 2011), is defined as “research in which the investigator collects and analyzes data, integrates the findings, and draws inferences using both quantitative and qualitative approaches” (Tashakkori & Creswell, 2007). In a recent CADRE newsletter, an article on mixed methods research drew a lot of attention. This, in turn, caught our attention, so we pulled together a few resources listed below.

Scientists use models to explain and predict phenomena in order to better understand our world. Here are some concrete examples across a range of professions:

On October 16th, 2018, I had the opportunity to attend a presentation at the University of Missouri by Dr. Ashley Woodson, Assistant Professor in Social Studies Education. Dr. Woodson’s presentation, “Same Script, Different Cast?: The Civic Case Against STEM Superheroes” was part of the Sandra K. Abell Conversations about College Science Teaching lecture series. Dr. Woodson brought to the audience’s attention a parallel between K-16 social studies and STEM education involving the use of representation to discuss racial diversity, equity, and inclusion. Utilizing the iconic song, Same Script Different Cast recorded by Whitney Houston and Deborah Cox, Dr. Woodson compared the messaging in the song to what she is noticing in K-16 STEM education—Whitney Houston, the previous partner of said individual warning Deborah Cox, the current partner of said individual, of his devious and duplicitous nature. Her observation was that as K-16 STEM education seeks to diversify its approaches to be more inclusive of racialized students, these fields are falling prey to the same trap that has possessed K-12 social studies education since the multicultural movement of the 1970s. That trap being the failed promises and missed opportunities of using representation as the tool for building inclusion or promoting equity. In this presentation, Dr. Woodson embodied the voice and messaging of Whitney Houston warning us STEM educators (Deborah Cox) of the impending threats of using representation as a sole tool or strategy.

Since that presentation, this notion of representation as a tool for promoting and supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion work has been at the forefront of my mind. As a Black male scholar whose research focuses on identity expression as it informs the retention and matriculation of Black women in STEM, I could not help but think about the ways in which representation is or becomes the de facto construct investigated within STEM education research or presented as the solution for promoting student engagement and continued participation. It is all too common to hear scholars, practitioners, and policymakers discuss ways in which we can increase the representation of diverse populations in STEM, cite statistics on the changes in representation of specific identity groups by STEM disciplines as evidence for diversity and inclusion success, or use role-models in STEM fields as a way to entice and attract racialized students by showing them that “they too can make it.”

Knowledge, power, identity. What do these words mean to STEM? As a STEM education researcher, I’d say a lot. More so, as a Black woman, a mother, and a feminist who studies critical STEM education, I’d say they mean everything. See what happened there? Providing more information about who I am and how I view myself and the world contextualized the question I led with, and what’s important to me in STEM contexts.