Greetings from CADRE
Dear Colleagues,
CADRE Advisory Board
We recently met with our national advisory group and as always, found their guidance and counsel to be very practical and wise. Thanks to the following advisors who attended the May 24-25th meeting at EDC: Phyllis Buchanan, Du Pont Corporate Education Program; Chad Dorsey, Concord Consortium; Solomon Friedberg, Boston College; Gary Goldstein, Tufts University; Okhee Lee, University of Miami; Barbara Means, SRI; and Suzanne Wilson, Michigan State. NSF DR K-12 Cluster leader, Elizabeth Vanderputten, also participated in a series of lively and informative discussions about ways to move the CADRE agenda forward. We focused particular attention on CADRE work groups/special interest groups, and strategies for getting out the word about DR K-12 resources, models, and technologies.
CADRE Groups
Each year, more of you have been participating in CADRE groups. We have not found a single model to be “the best”; participating awardees develop specific goals, products, and ways of working based on their professional and project-based needs and interests. A subgroup of the Digital Science Curriculum Group, with Jackie Miller as facilitator, will meet in DC this July with HOSP, the Hands-on Science Partnership, to look at creative partnerships between developers and publishers. The New Measurement Paradigms Group, under leadership of Mike Timms, is preparing a white paper examining various methods of technology-enhanced measurement and writing a session proposal for AERA. Diane Ketelhut and the Gaming Group are convening to define the parameters of a white paper they will co-develop in the fall. CADRE has been collaborating with other NSF resource networks (ARC, CAISE, ITEST, MSPnet) to plan cross-division support activities for awardees focused on engineering. Lastly, a CADRE small group is collaborating to produce and disseminate a guide for partnering with users to develop STEM education materials. If you or a group of DR K-12 colleagues have ideas for a small group, just let us know and we’ll be delighted to follow-up.
CADRE to Join Network Conversation at NSF
Because NSF STEM education programs have become increasingly collaborative and complex, a group of NSF staff has been asked to investigate various models for coordination and networking. In an attempt to learn about the pros and cons of existing approaches, NSF has invited CADRE, PIs of other coordination networks, evaluators, and researchers to meet on July 11 at NSF and share their experiences and views. We will provide a basic overview of: CADRE network features; how we facilitate resource sharing and foster communication; what we find to be challenging, what we are learning about what is working and not; how people and projects use the network; and what value CADRE offers for network members and beyond.
With best wishes for a good summer.
Barbara Berns
CADRE Principal Investigator
Projects & People: Highlights from Featured CADRE Work Groups
It was a busy spring for CADRE's work groups! Here are a few highlights from the work that's happening:
Partnerships with Districts and Schools for Knowledge Use: Currently, this work group is in talks with district and school decision-makers about their perspectives on effective STEM education R&D projects and partnerships. The group plans to develop a useful product for district and school leaders who are considering partnerships on DR K-12 projects. This product will be a spin-off of the group's earlier brief, Fostering Knowledge Use in STEM Education: A Brief on R&D Partnerships with Districts and Schools.
Partnering with Users to Develop STEM Education Materials: A newly formed work group, this team is at the early stages of work that will result in a practical product intended to help DR K-12 developers improve their materials by drawing on the input of end user types. Group members have provided content that is being synthesized into a draft product, which will serve as the organizing focus of a face-to-face meeting in the next several months.
New Measurement Paradigms: This work group is drafting a white paper outlining the current state of measurement using technology-enhanced assessments, which will include exemplars from NSF-funded projects. The paper will address a range diagnostic assessment methodologies (including Item Response Theory, Bayesian Networks, Educational Data Mining, and others), and will also identify and explore tensions within diagnostic assessment methods (e.g., validation, theory of learning vs. data mining, etc.).
If you have questions about these or other CADRE work group activities, please email CADRE@edc.org.
Projects & People: An Inside Look at Math Snacks
Interested in how DR K-12 projects are taking advantage of increasingly ubiquitous mobile technologies? In the current project spotlight, Dr. Karin Wiburg (PI) and Dr. Barbara Chamberlin (Co-PI) of New Mexico State University share how their project is using innovative media to address gaps in mathematics understanding. Don't miss out on the spotlight's collection of mobile-related resources, including top picks from the Math Snacks team and Dr. Chris Dede (Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard Graduate School of Education).
Read the complete Q&A with Math Snacks here. For more information about this grant, including the latest publications and presentations, visit the project page on the CADRE website.
Projects & People: DR K-12 Portfolio Snapshot
CADRE is currently completing our annual analysis of the DR K-12 portfolio of funded projects. Grantees, thank you for making this work possible by responding to our requests for documents! Take a look at how your work fits into the bigger DR K-12 picture by checking out the portfolio snapshot of cohorts 1-4, now available on the CADRE website.
Access the DR K-12 Portfolio Snapshot here. Access the full report on Cohorts 1-3 here.
Events: DR K-12 PI Meeting and Other Dates of Interest
Stay tuned for more information on the following events and deadlines. Note that there will not be a DR K-12 PI Meeting in the Fall of 2011.
- Fall 2011: 2012 DR K-12 PI Meeting Call for Proposals
- Fall 2011: 2011-2012 CADRE Fellows Nominations
- 2012: DR K-12 PI Meeting
Event: Annual Massachusetts STEM Summit
Calling all Massachusetts grantees! On October 18th, the annual MA STEM Summit will be held to bring together: state, district, and school education leaders; policy-makers; and representatives from business, industry, and institutions of higher education. This year, planners will extend an invitation to PIs and co-PIs from the various DRL programs that are housed in Massachusetts. If this is successful, we may adapt the model to other reform-minded states.
If you are interested in helping to think more about the ways this day could be structured, please contact Barbara Berns (bberns@edc.org).
Event: Successful STEM Education Initiative
We are pleased to report that CADRE has been asked to organize a one-day event that will serve as a launch pad for a new NSF-supported report by the National Research Council's (NRC) Board on Science Education and Board on Testing and Assessment: Highly Successful Schools or Programs for K-12 STEM Education. The report presents findings from a May workshop where a committee of experts identified a range of goals for highly successful K-12 STEM education, explored criteria for identifying success relative to those goals, and classified strategies and practices used by K-12 schools and districts to achieve success in STEM. In addition to the launch event, CADRE will design and conduct follow-up activities, including webcasts, webinars, and regional workshops. These activities will be supported by issue briefs on implementation of effective STEM education practices at the state, district, and school levels. Several DR K-12 PIs and co-PIs have served on the steering committee or as authors of commissioned papers.
Keep an eye out for the full NRC report, which will be made publicly available on June 23rd. In the meantime, the workshop agenda, papers, and presentations are available on the initiative's web page.
Resource: Social Media and Technologies Toolkit
It seems like new technology and social media tools are coming out every day. So what's out there? And how can these tools be used to enhance your work? CADRE has compiled a toolkit of potentially useful tools and tips to help you navigate this arena. The CADRE team will keep the toolkit updated with any new tools that come our way, so stay tuned.
Access the toolkit, here. Already have a presence on Twitter or Facebook? Let us know! Email CADRE@edc.org, and we'll be sure to follow (or like) your project so that we can hear and share your DR K-12 related news.
Resource: Updated Lists of Conferences and Publications
For your convenience, CADRE has updated the lists of STEM education conferences and publications, which include up-to-date instructions for presentation and manuscript proposals.
Download:
List of STEM Education Conferences
List of STEM Education Publications
Contact Us
If you want additional information on CADRE or have specific questions, please email CADRE@edc.org.