What's New on CADREK12.org

Poster | Internet of Things Pedagogical Ecosystem for Integrated Computer Science and Software Engineering Education for Grades 9-12
This project is developing the first Internet of Things based pedagogical ecosystem for 9-12 CS and STEM classes. This project has focused on identifying critical elements for effective instructional design for CS and SE education by understanding student and teacher motivation. A key innovation of this effort has been the low-cost, IoT-hardware kits for project-based learning to create a hands-…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Incorporating Professional Science Writing into High School STEM Research Projects
The Journal of Emerging Investigators provides middle and high school students an opportunity to participate in a peer review and publication of their original manuscript.
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Improving the Teaching of Genetics in High School to Avoid Instilling Misconceptions About Gender Differences (Collaborative Research: Donovan)
This project will study the aspects of genetics instruction that affect students' beliefs in gender essentialism, which is implicated in lowering girls' sense of STEM abilities, feeling of belonging in STEM classes, and interest in pursuing further education in STEM fields. The goal of the project is to answer important questions about how to teach genetics at the high school level in a manner…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Improving the Implementation of Rigorous Instructional Materials in Middle-Grades Mathematics: Developing a System of Practical Measures and Routines (Collaborative Research: Jackson, Ing)
This project developed a system of practical measures, and associated routines and data visualizations, to support the implementation of instructional improvement strategies (e.g., coaching) in middle-grades mathematics teaching. Classroom and professional learning measures assess students’ and teachers’ perspectives of key aspects of the learning environment, respectively. We will highlight the…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Improving Grades 6-8 Students' Mathematics Achievement in Modeling and Problem Solving Through Effective Sequencing of Instructional Practices
The Researching Order of Teaching project provides structured scaffolds for teachers to implement two sets of research-based teaching strategies hypothesized to positively impact mathematics achievement in mathematical modeling and problem solving. The poster summarizes the teaching strategies and associated research.
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Implementation and Efficacy Study of Preschool Math Activities for Numeracy
The aim of this project is to develop and test the efficacy of a play-based numeracy intervention for preschool classrooms. Classrooms were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions (representing different pedagogical guidance approaches) and a business-as-usual control condition. Teachers in experimental classrooms were trained to incorporate a set of numeracy games. The intervention was…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | How Deep Structural Modeling Supports Learning with Big Ideas in Biology
The Deep Structure Modeling (DSM) project addresses the pressing need to more effectively organize science teaching and learning around “big ideas” that run through disciplines. The project focus on developing knowledge around how centering science instruction on big ideas can position students in epistemically meaningful scientific evaluation, through synthesizing big ideas from phenomena and…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | GeoHazard: Modeling Natural Hazards and Assessing Risks
The rock cycle is rarely taught in conjunction with plate tectonics. The method of studying images of rock outcrops is not enough to explain how rocks are formed and transformed over time. This project has developed a simulation for students to investigate the formation and evolution of rock sequences created under specific tectonic conditions. By bridging the tectonic system and the rock genesis…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Fostering Computational Thinking Through Neural Engineering Activities in High School Biology Classes
Computational thinking (CT) is critical in all STEM fields, but it is typically not integrated in STEM courses beyond computer science. To address this gap, our project team is developing a month-long CT-intensive biology unit, where students learn to program a robotic gripper to respond to changes in their electrical muscle activity. This provides a novel, interdisciplinary, and real-world…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Facilitating Teacher Learning with Video Clips of Instruction in Science
The project aims to build foundational knowledge about teacher learning to notice teaching and student thinking in new ways by using video clips of science instruction within a professional development context. Professional development is centered around the analysis of video clips depicting the implementation of three-dimensional performance assessments in science classrooms, and draws on…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Extending and Investigating the Impact of the High School Model-based Educational Resource (Collaborative Research: Wilson)
This project examines the efficacy of the Model-Based Educational Resource (MBER) for high-school biology teachers and students. Previous work on MBER has found that the materials support teachers in providing opportunities for engaging student sensemaking and modeling, are feasible to implement in diverse classroom contexts, and show promise of efficacy in increasing student achievement. With…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Extending and Investigating the Impact of the High School Model-based Educational Resource (Collaborative Research: Passmore)
This project examines the efficacy of the Model-Based Educational Resource (MBER) for high-school biology teachers and students. Previous work on MBER has found that the materials support teachers in providing opportunities for engaging student sensemaking and modeling, are feasible to implement in diverse classroom contexts, and show promise of efficacy in increasing student achievement. With…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Exploring K-2 Children Understandings of Visual Representations in Algebraic Reasoning
This project explores how children in grades K-2 understand visual representations of algebraic concepts. For instance, children create tables or graphs to organize information about the relationship between two quantities. They might use graphs and diagrams to explain their mathematical thinking and develop their understanding of relationships in numbers and operations. The project uses data…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Exploring Early Childhood Teachers’ Abilities to Identify Computational Thinking Precursors to Strengthen Computer Science in Classrooms
EPK-2 is designing and testing a model of PreK-2nd grade teacher professional learning to address computational thinking. The focus is teachers’ generative development in CT as informed by collaborative, inquiry-based learning. The goal is to help teachers and schools build computational thinking pathways beginning with students’ earliest years. Research questions explore factors mediating PreK-…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Exploring Changes in Teachers' Engineering Design Self-efficacy and Practice Through Collaborative and Culturally Relevant Professional Development
Project ExCEED is a three-year project to help upper elementary and middle school teachers create and implement engineering design tasks in their classrooms that are relevant to the cultures and communities of their Native American and rural student populations. The interdisciplinary research team is studying the effectiveness of the professional development program at increasing teachers’…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Examining an On-line, International Exchange Professional Development Program for High School Teachers
This project explores the potential of lesson-centered collaboration on lessons for supporting teachers’ professional growth. Specifically, the project examines how the exchange between both domestic and international teams of teachers centered on teacher-generated lesson artifacts—in the form of storyboarded lessons and annotations of those lessons—can serve as a powerful tool for supporting…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Evaluating Effects of Automatic Feedback Aligned to a Learning Progression to Promote Knowledge-In-Use
This project builds on existing work on three-dimensional learning progressions in high school physical sciences to develop an artificial intelligence supported scoring system for student text and models. These tools will be used to support learning of electrical forces in an integrated curriculum with real-time feedback on formative assessment items. We report on early attempts to design coding…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Enhancing the Teacher-Curriculum Relationship in Problem-based Mathematics Classrooms by Connecting Teacher and Student Digital Collaborative Environments
The project is extending a digital collaborative platform for networks of teachers to create, use, and share resources for planning, teaching, and reflecting. The resources online include problem-based curriculum, classroom artifacts from students, and resources created by teachers. We report on how teachers use the resources, collaborate with each other, and make instructional decisions. With…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Engineering for Students with Extensive Support Needs
This project involves four strands of work: (a) investigating teachers’ engineering instruction, (b) developing a framework of conceptual understanding of engineering education for students with ESN, (c) conducting research to support universally designed engineering instruction and materials, and (d) producing and disseminating the instructional support framework and materials. Insights from…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Empowering Teachers to See and Support Student Use of Crosscutting Concepts in the Life Sciences
In this project, we are developing strengths-based formative assessment tools to support students’ use of the crosscutting concepts (CCCs) in phenomenon-based science learning. We have used the practice of Developing and Using Models as a window into student use of the CCCs, co-developing instructional supports with participating teachers. We are now connecting these supports to aspects of the…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Empowering Students with Choice Through Equitable and Interactive Mathematical Modeling (EIM2)
In this session, we share our conceptualization of an Equitable and Interactive Mathematical Modeling (EIM2) program that positions students as decision-makers in their own learning. Students engage in equitable mathematical modeling, a process of using mathematics to analyze and quantify scenarios through a lens of equity. The program involves collaborations with middle school students, a…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Empowering Educators to Create Customized, Culturally Responsive Instructional Materials from Scratch Encore Harmonized with the Interest of Students (Collaborative Research: Weintrop)
This poster will present the NSF funded project entitled CAREER: Situating Computational Learning Opportunities in the Digital Lives of High School Students. This project explores ways to use the data that high school students create and consume daily to situate foundational data science ideas.
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Doing the Math with Paraeducators: Enhancing and Expanding and Sustaining a Professional Development Model in PreK to Grade 3 Math Classrooms
Working in two high-needs urban school districts, Doing the Math refines and researches a mathematics professional development model for paraeducators in grades PK-3 through ongoing PD designed to enhance pedagogical content knowledge and mathematics teaching self-efficacy. This work also provides opportunities to support pathways to teaching, address the critical teacher shortage and diversify…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Dimensions of Success: Transforming Quality Assessment in Middle School Science and Engineering
“Dimensions of Success: Transforming Quality Assessment in Middle School Science and Engineering” aims to update and expand the Dimensions of Success (DoS) quality observation tool (created for informal science learning settings under NSF Award #1008591) to middle school science and engineering classrooms. This project will create a sustainable and scalable system of support for teachers as they…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Developing the Science Comprehensive Online Learning Platform for Rural School Science Teacher Development
The goal of this project is to develop and test an online professional development (PD) platform, Science Comprehensive Online Learning Platform (SCOLP), against traditional face-to-face (F2F) PD to build the capacity of rural teachers to collaborate and support the successful implementation of Toward High School Biology (THSB) in their own settings through online job-embedded professional…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Developing the Pedagogical Skills and Science Expertise of Teachers in Underserved Rural Settings
We are utilizing a novel form of professional learning--Technology-Mediated Lesson Study--to support rural science teachers' professional networks and capacity for 3D science teaching. We are studying changes in teacher practice, and changes in their professional social networks. The teachers are producing 3D lesson plans responsive to rural students' cultures, interests, and needs.
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Developing Teachers' Epistemic Cognition and Teaching Practices for Supporting Students' Epistemic Practices with Scientific Systems
Developing Teachers' Epistemic Cognition and Teaching Practices for Supporting Students' Epistemic Practices with Scientific Systems.
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Developing Science Assessments for Language Diversity in Early Elementary Classrooms
Developing Science Assessments for Language Diversity in Early Elementary Classrooms (SALDEE) is developing Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) aligned formative assessments for first grade. The assessments will be small group checks and individual checks to explore types of design features, implementation practices, and affordances of each assessment format for first grade learners. SALDEE…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Developing Learning Environments that Support Molecular-Level Sensemaking
Most STEM education reforms aim to prepare learners to use science in their post-school daily lives. This goal is not about content – reproducing correct science facts is not sufficient to solve practical problems of real people. However, even in classes structured by reformed curricula, students are often permitted to construct knowledge only insofar as it aligns with canon. Here, we argue that…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25
Poster | Developing and Validating Assessments to Measure and Build Elementary Teachers' Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions Within Teacher Education Settings (Collaborative Research: Mikeska)
The goals of the project include foundational research and development work related to the assessment of content knowledge for teaching (CKT) about matter and its interactions, as well as supporting the development of this CKT in teacher education settings. The project has four major goals including: Goal 1: Conduct foundational research to build theories and hypotheses about the nature and…
Posted: Tuesday, July 25