The ACCLIME project investigates teachers' uses and adaptations of CMP, an NSF-funded middle school curriculum. The project comprises three nested series of case studies involving school districts that are long-term CMP implementers and that have provided substantial and ongoing support, and 16 middle school mathematics teachers within these districts. The study seeks to better articulate: (1) the ways that teachers adapt CMP over time and how they develop professionally as a result of using the curriculum materials; (2) the connection between district policy, resource development, and teachers' curriculum processes; and (3) the dynamic nature of districts' long-term curriculum implementations.

This project is conducting a longitudinal study of the effects of an innovative pre-service elementary science education program at Western Washington University which was established with support from an NSF MSP grant.

There are four overlapping studies on the pre-service teachers (PSTs) and in-service teachers who are graduates of the program: (1) Comparing the pedagogical beliefs and skills of elementary PSTs as a function of the number (0-3) of reformed science content courses taken; (2) Comparing the same outcome variables for PSTs placed for student teaching with trained or untrained mentor teachers; (3) Comparing the impact of the science methods/practicum on PSTs who experienced the WWU reformed courses and those who did not; (4) An exploratory case study of the instructional practices of 20 novice elementary science teachers. The research utilizes the following existing instruments. (1) CLASS, the Colorado Learning Attitudes on Science Survey, (2) the Horizon Classroom Observation Protocol, (3) the Washington Educator Skills Test-Endorsement, and (4) the Washington State Science Assessment for 5th graders in addition to some instruments developed by the project. Studies 1-3 will each have 45 treatment and 45 control participants. Evaluation is by Horizon Research Inc. It focuses on project progress and effectiveness, which is appropriate for a research project. Its participation will also facilitate the use of the Horizon Classroom Observation Protocol.

The new undergraduate program at WWU has implemented and institutionalized many of the recommendations for best practices in preparing elementary school teachers in science. This project is seeking to analyze the impact of three essential dimensions of teacher preparation: inquiry-based science content courses, science methods/practicum courses, and student teaching.

This exploratory research and development project engages high-school students as student-tutors who create screen-capture videos that demonstrate step-by-step solutions to mathematical problems and explicate the use of interactive applets. The project has three development goals (a model for creating the media, a model for collaboration with teachers, and enhancements to a Lesson Study model) and three research goals (to test conjectures about student change, to analyze reconfigured roles for teachers and students, and to advance a theory of personalized learning communities.) The project tests whether the mathematical and communication skills of student-tutors improve in the process of making the video materials. It also tests whether teachers and the student users of the videos benefit from them. Further, the project will examine whether the process of creating and disseminating the videos is replicable and scalable.

The project uses design research methods as well as both formative and summative evaluations to achieve the research and development goals. The investigators pose a series of thoughtful research questions and plan to use a variety of research methods to collect and analyze data to answer them.

The project is potentially transformative. The advances in technology present opportunities and challenges for improving student learning. Built on strong theoretical and empirical foundations and prior work, the project takes full advantages of the opportunities of tutoring using 21st-century technologies - marrying screen-capture video with a model of student-delivered tutoring. The project will contribute to an understanding of how teachers and student-tutors change and exercise creativity through participating in digital media production. The findings of the project will have broader impact in at least three dimensions: (1) The videos created by students will be helpful for other students' learning; (2) The research on engaging students in creating videos can not only help us understand the effective use of technology, but also help us understand the mechanism for developing students' generative thinking and creativity; and (3) This project can provide insights about how to integrate 21st-Century technology into regular classrooms.

This research study is examining the persistence of improved teacher skills achieved during the K-2 Science & Technology Assistance for Rural Teachers and Small Districts project (K-2 STARTS) funded by the State of California.

K-2 STARTS provided four years of professional development to teachers in 16 rural school districts in California with high populations of traditionally underserved students. 39 teachers each received 110 hours of professional development. Project data indicate that the project met its goals by increasing teacher content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, abilities to integrate science and literacy and to use research-based instructional strategies. K-2 STARTS also improved the capacity of teachers to use science resources and to network with teachers from their own and other rural districts.

This project is doing a longitudinal research study by extending data collection for 35 teachers for two years after the end of K-2 STARTS. It is using the measures from the original evaluation, which include teacher surveys and interviews, classroom observations, surveys for school administrators, teacher-developed unit artifacts, and student science notebooks, and adding two more measures, administrative interviews and school/district documents. In the final year, the project is doing data analysis and dissemination. The project is exploring the persistence of the knowledge and skills of the teachers over time, as well as their continued use of science instructional practices. It will also study the persistence of school/district support for science education.

External evaluation is being conducted by Dr. Loretta Kelley of Kelley, Peterson, and Associates, Inc. It focuses on project progress through formative and summative components.

Longitudinal studies of the effects of teacher professional development are rare. The increased knowledge concerning the persistence of the new knowledge and skills obtained through K-2 STARTS professional development, and why and to what extent they decay over time, is a significant goal.

Morehouse College proposes a research and development project to recruit high school African American males to begin preparation for secondary school science, technology, engineering and mathematics(STEM) teaching as a career. The major goal of the program is to recruit and prepare students for careers in secondary mathematics and science teaching thus increasing the number of African Americans students in STEM. The research will explore possible reasons why the program is or is not successful for recruiting and retaining students in STEM Teacher Education programs including: (a) How do students who remain in STEM education differ from those who leave and how do these individual factors (e.g. student preparation, self efficacies, course work outcomes, attitudes toward STEM/STEM education, connectivity to STEM/STEM education communities, learning styles, etc) enhance or inhibit interest in STEM teaching among African American males? (b) What organizational and programmatic factors (e.g. high school summer program, Saturday Academy, pre-freshman program, summer research experience, courses, enhanced mentoring, cyber-infrastructure, college admissions guidance, leadership training, instructional laboratory, program management, faculty/staff engagement and availability, Atlanta Public Schools and Morehouse College articulation and partnership) affect (enhance or inhibit) interest in STEM teaching among African American males?

Two cohorts of 40 students will spend six weeks in an intensive summer program with a follow-up Saturday Academy during their senior year before formally beginning their academic careers at Morehouse College. The program will integrate STEM education with teacher preparation and mentoring in order to develop secondary teachers who have mastery in both a STEM discipline as well as educational theory.

This pre-service program for future teachers will recruit 80 promising eleventh grade African American male students from the Atlanta Public School District to participate in a four-year program that will track them into the Teacher Preparation program at Morehouse College. The research will focus on the utility and efficacy of early recruitment of African American male students to STEM teaching careers as a mechanism to increase the number of African American males in STEM teaching careers.