CADRE

Planning to submit an NSF proposal this year? This toolkit is a compilation of helpful resources.

STEM education-related publications that may be of interest to DR K-12 grantees.

“For effective K–12 STEM instruction to become the norm, schools and districts must be transformed.” Read this brief to learn more about curriculum and instructional methods that engage students in the learning process.

“When students from non-mainstream backgrounds receive equitable learning opportunities, they are capable of attaining science outcomes comparable to their mainstream peers. The same is true for mathematics and, presumably, for other STEM subjects, as well.” Read this brief...

This brief gives an overview—and by no means a comprehensive one—of several NGSS-aligned projects in the areas of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development.

“Providing a richness of resources unavailable in any classroom, informal science institutions across the country have developed exemplary partnerships with public schools—and have room for more.” Read this brief to explore how out-of-school learning can complement and...

“Recent research emphasizes that teacher quality alone cannot improve student achievement at scale. School leadership, staff collaboration, and a positive climate are among essential organizational elements that contribute to meaningful change.” Read this brief to learn...

Whether engaging students in place-based learning, designing/implementing more inclusive curricula or pedagogy, or helping teachers develop their capacity to teach increasingly diverse groups of learners, many DR K-12 projects seek to broaden participation within STEM...

A Landscape Analysis of K–12 Engineering Education in the Greater Boston Region

How do we measure knowledge in use? In this paper we describe how we use principles of evidence-centered design to develop classroom-based science assessments that integrate three dimensions of science proficiency—disciplinary core ideas, science practices, and crosscutting...

This brief examines the continued underrepresentation of African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and women of all racial and ethnic backgrounds in STEM fields; explains the benefits of collaboration around broadening participation; and offers guidance on building...

The American Museum of Natural History is offering a master's degree in teaching, part of a broad national campaign to add 100,000 science, technology and math teachers by 2021

To contribute to the growing field of STEM education, we examined the presence of stereotype threat for female and African American students during a large-scale computing intervention. Namely, this paper examines whether gender and race have an effect on students’ self-...

While Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields have increased in importance over the past decade, minorities have remained traditionally underrepresented in these fields. In this study we seek to better understand some of the factors that might contribute to...

The importance of valuing student ideas in science education stands on firm empirical, theoretical, and moral grounds. However, the reasons for which one might value student ideas are often not explicitly distinguished, even if implicit distinctions are made in the...

This study examines the relationship between internal barriers, professional development, and computer integration outcomes among a sample of fourth- and fifth-grade teachers in an urban, low-income school district in the Southeastern United States. Specifically, we examine...

To contribute to understanding how teachers can develop geometrical understanding, we report on the discursive development of teachers’ geometrical reasoning through instrument appropriation while collaborating in an online dynamic geometry environment (DGE). Using the...

We report on a case study that seeks to understand how teachers’ pedagogical interventions influence students’ instrumentation and mathematical reasoning in a collaborative, dynamic geometry environment. A high school teacher engaged a class of students in the Virtual Math...

This qualitative study examined how and why research experiences for teachers (RETs) influenced middle and high school science teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and values about teaching science as inquiry. Changes teachers reported after participating in the RET ranged from...

The goal of the Electronic Teacher Guide project was to redesign the print teacher guide for the genetics unit of Foundation Science: Biology as an exemplar of a cybertool that would support the implementation of the curriculum and enhance its educative impact. The...

The 2016 NSF CAREER Program Informational Webinar was held Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at 3:00 PM EST. The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support...

The state of Florida has taken an unprecedented approach to teacher professional development in its Race to the Top (RTTT) Program application by proposing to promote an international innovation that originates in Japan, “lesson study,” as a statewide teacher professional...

CADRE has compiled sortable Excel lists of DR K-12 projects that work in a particular topic area (e.g., algebra, earth science) or with a particular target audience. These lists can be useful tools in writing proposals for conferences or future projects, identifying...

"Content coherence"--ideas presented in a connected, sequential way--plays a big role in effective science instruction. Watch this video to find out how it works and how students benefit!

An effective curriculum helps you support students' science learning, understanding, and achievement. But what does "effective" mean? This video gives you the inside scoop on what makes a curriculum effective and flags some common pitfalls to avoid.

The Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) 16-1 is comprised of documents relating to the Foundation's proposal and award process. It consists of two parts: the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG)and the NSF Award and Administration Guide(AAG). This...

This list provides the names and locations of HACUs, along with links to STEM-related programs within these institutions.

CADRE Tips for Mentoring Early Career STEM Education Researchers and Developers provides guidelines that may help new mentors and mentees establish an effective and productive relationship.

Three example mentoring plans from DR K-12 projects plus a mentee's feedback and evaluation of one mentorship. These resources are also featured in the Spotlight on Mentoring.

DIA2 is a new visualization tool to search the NSF award database.

Equity in mathematics education should be one of the most important concerns of teachers, administrators, policy makers, mathematicians, and mathematics educators. In fact, the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educator (AMTE), the National Council of Supervisors of...

The second law of thermodynamics is typically not a central focus either in introductory university physics textbooks or in national standards for secondary education. However, the second law is a key part of a strong conceptual model of energy, especially for connecting...

The nature of energy is not typically an explicit topic of physics instruction. Nonetheless, verbal and graphical representations of energy articulate models in which energy is conceptualized as a quasimaterial substance, a stimulus, or a vertical location. We argue that a...

This article presents our plans and initial work to explore how mathematics teacher education programs can prepare teachers for diverse middle grades classrooms. It describes the start-up of a five-year National Science Foundation project to design, develop, and test...

Developed by Bank Street College of Education and the Education Development Center, this comprehensive professional development resource contains all the materials you need to conduct workshops that will show general and special education teachers how to collaborate to...

Redistricting can provide a real-world application for use in a wide range of mathematics classrooms.

Thermotropic liquid crystal phases are ordered fluids found, for some molecules, at intermediate temperatures between the crystal and liquid states. Although technologically important, these materials typically receive little attention in the undergraduate curriculum. Here...

This study explores what students understand about enzyme–substrate interactions, using multiple representations of the phenomenon. In this paper we describe our use of the 3 Phase-Single Interview Technique with multiple representations to generate cognitive dissonance...

The central goal of this study was to create a new diagnostic tool to identify organic chemistry students’ alternative conceptions related to acid strength. Twenty years of research on secondary and college students’ conceptions about acids and bases has shown that these...

This volume reflects upon how learners engage in the processes of problem solving and critical thinking by exploring the critical theories that undergird these processes; and this chapter introduces practitioners of educational technology to the contents of the book. The...

Introductory biology courses form a cornerstone of undergraduate instruction. However, the predominantly used lecture approach fails to produce higher-order biology learning. Research shows that active learning strategies can increase student learning, yet few biology...

Problem solving is an important skill in the knowledge economy. Research indicates that the development of problem solving skills works better in the context of instructional approaches centered on real-world problems. But students need scaffolding to be successful in such...

Enzyme function is central to student understanding of multiple topics within the biochemistry curriculum. In particular, students must understand how enzymes and substrates interact with one another. This manuscript describes the development of a 15-item Enzyme–Substrate...

This intermediate session demonstrated how we conducted an a priori power analysis for a longitudinal,multisite cluster randomized trial of an early childhood science education program, then later revised it to accommodate budget changes suggested by the funder without...

During the Nuts & Bolts webinar, an NSF program officer guided participants through the logistics of managing an NSF-funded project, clarifying potentially confusing processes and rules.

The group will discuss current research and practice in educational social networks and questions in this area that still need to be answered.

The Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) project is a videobased analysis-of-practice PD program aimed at improving teacher and student learning at the upper elementary level. The PD program developed and utilized two “lenses,” a Science Content Storyline...

This session presents strategies for delivering professional development via interactive television and using videos collected remotely as a data source.

Guidelines for creating NSF Project Highlights.

Thinking with Data (TWD) is an Instructional Materials Design (IMD) project which developed and tested a cross-curricular unit designed to cultivate middle school students’ deep understanding of data literacy. The TWD unit consists of four, 2-week replacement modules for...

Today's math curriculum is teaching students to expect -- and excel at -- paint-by-numbers classwork, robbing kids of a skill more important than solving problems: formulating them. At TEDxNYED, Dan Meyer shows classroom-tested math exercises that prompt students to...

Poster presented at the DRK-12 Principal Investigators Meeting in Washington, DC.

Many assume that better-quality teachers will lead to improvements in the quality of teaching and,thus, student outcomes. Over the past decade, a program has been developed of research around measuring key components of mathematical teacher quality and the mathematical...

This session considers teachers’ transitions from teacher-centered mathematics to student-centered mathematics, including issues of meaning, coherence, and learnability, as well as the importance of working with colleagues.

In this session, the presenters discuss findings and experiences regarding technology-embedded assessment and how to support teachers in using it effectively.

Cullen, C. J., & Barrett, J. E., (2010) Strategy use indicative of an understanding of units of length. In M. Pinto & T. Kawasaki (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2, pp....

Join the panelists from the plenary presentation to continue conversations about common standards in each of the STEM disciplines.

In this session, the presenters discuss findings and experiences regarding technology-embedded assessment and how to support teachers in using it effectively.

The goal of this study is to assess the educational, career, and social impacts of disseminating an innovative technology, the XO laptop computer, to minority 4th and 5th grade students in Birmingham City Schools (BCS) in Alabama. This is the largest XO dissemination in the...

In this poster, we describe the goals of our research, our proposed model for professional development, our framing of design-based approaches to learning, and our framing of computational thinking.

The third print edition from summer 2009 of the student science news publication, in pdf format.

The first print edition from academic year 2010-11 of our student written science news publication, in pdf format. This is meant to be printed on large format paper, and folded, but it can be viewed online.

Join the panelists from the plenary presentation to continue conversations about common standards in each of the STEM disciplines.

This article provides a cultural-historical (CHAT) analysis of the practices used by an effective teacher of Latino/a children previously classified as “underachieving” and “beginning/novice” English Language Learners. Although the teacher would not describe her practices...

Many of us learned about dominant and recessive genes in a humdrum high school biology class. Some of us may still recognize the terms and symbols twenty or thirty years later—are your eyes bb or Bb? But, as it turns out, a very small number of traits in humans and other...

One of the most rewarding accomplishments of working with preservice secondary school mathematics teachers is helping them develop conceptually connected knowledge and see mathematics as an integrated whole rather than isolated pieces. The NCTM Connections Standard (2000)...

Due to the rapid advancements of information and communication technologies (ICTs), educational researchers argue that multimodal and new literacies should become common practices in schools. As new ICTs emerge and evolve, students need the new literacies skills and...

This article describes an online climate change curriculum that incorporates dynamic computer models that enable students to visualize the complex interactions related to climate change science. Students learn how adjusting variables in a dynamic model affects the entire...

Like citizen journalists, your students can get to the heart of science literacy—and challenging questions like these—with the “learn by doing” methodology in this innovative book. Front-Page Science uses science journalism techniques to help students become better...

In this study, we examine how a professional science news editor and high school teachers respond to student writing in order to understand the values and priorities each bring to bear on student work. These questions guided our work: • How do teachers respond to...

This short text explains the reasoning for the sequencing of the content in Foundation Science: Biology. Specifically, it describes the content sequence for the full year curriculum, for the Genetics Unit, for a Learning Experience, and provides examples.

In this short text, the power of formative assessment as a teaching tool is detailed, and examples of opportunities for formative assessment within Foundation Science Biology proposed, for Learning Experiences (LE) 2, 3 and 4.

A table of different verbal and non-verbal tools that help students participate in science discourse. Contains examples of productive talk moves.

An essay detailing the purposes, functions and benefits of academically productive talk including the Talk Goals and Moves chart.

Once the students understand the biology of genetically modified organisms, the teacher helps students deepen their learning by assigning further reading and asking students to imagine possible applications of GMO technology.

As the students grapple with the question of whether to serve genetically modified potatoes in the school cafeteria, the teacher uses strategies that encourage all students to voice their ideas and questions, to distinguish scientific evidence from opinion, and to critique...

Learn more about the Plan, Teach and Reflect features of the electronic teacher guide.

What else is happening in STEM education? Explore funding, dissemination, and networking opportunities outside of DR K-12 through other organizations devoted to advancing research, development, evaluation, or practice in K-12 STEM education.

“The majority of U.S. students, particularly low-income and minority youth, lacks foundational skills and knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” Read this brief to find out more about the efforts that are making change across the nation.

This overview is intended to describe the scope and depth of research and development DR K-12 has funded and to identify areas that could be advanced by further investigations by CADRE. The overview summarizes the 351 projects that met the criteria for inclusion and...

What does the United States need to do to build future generations’ knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and what kinds of research and innovation can enable the needed changes in teaching and learning? This brief describes...

Slides and recordings from the NSF DR K-12 Program and Solicitation webinars are now available. See below.

Printable NSF Grant Proposal Guide(Part I: Proposal Preparation & Submission Guidelines)and Award & Administration Guide(Part II: Award & Administration Guidelines)

The following citations were compiled by the Northeast & Islands Regional Educational Laboratory Program for a workshop on An Overview of Implementation Research and Planning.

The NSF Nuts & Bolts webinar, hosted by CADRE and led by NSF Program Officer David Campbell on December 16 from 2:00-3:00PM EST, was designed to introduce DR K-12 awardees to the ins and outs of project management—including information on evaluation and reporting,...

Current science assessments typically present a series of isolated fact-based questions, poorly representing the complexity of how real-world science is constructed. The National Research Council asserts that this needs to change to reflect a more authentic model of science...

This webinar was held 3/24/2014 to orient new DR K-12 awardees to the CADREK12.org

This paper summarizes how Collaborative Online Projects (COPs) are used to facilitate science content-area learning for English Learners of Hispanic origin. This is a Mexico-USA partnership project funded by the National Science Foundation. A COP is a 10-week thematic...

In this 2-webinar series hosted by CADRE, NSF provides an overview of the DR K-12 funding program and reviews this year's DR K-12 solicitation.

This brief provides guidance for how to design a research plan using DBIR. It can also serve as a resource for preparing a research proposal to a federal agency or foundation that employs a DBIR approach. This guidance is informed by the development of the approach in a...

This webinar, led by Edith Gummer (formerly of NSF), discusses the guidelines outlined in the report co-authored by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

The NSF Nuts & Bolts webinar, hosted by CADRE and led by NSF Program Officer David Campbell on November 20, 2014 at 3:30PM EST, was designed to introduce DR K-12 awardees to the ins and outs of project management—including information on evaluation and reporting,...

Impact evaluation plays a critical role in determining whether federally funded research programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are wise investments. This paper develops quantitative methods for program evaluation and applies this approach to a...

Exploring students' problem solving within an integrated engineering and literacy activity

Understanding how games create a sense of flow and engagement can help teachers make better choices about their instructional use of games.

The Next Generation Science Standards can transform how teaching and learning unfold in the classroom. Here's what they look like —and how you can get started.

Using Google Earth, Cyber Databases, and Geotagged Photos to Enhance Students’ Scientific Practices and Understanding of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

This study examines the design and implementation of a simulated teaching environment in Second Life for prospective teachers.

Lightning strikes, and two people hear thunder simultaneously. Where might the lightning have struck? Now consider a slightly different scenario: Lightning strikes, and three people hear thunder simultaneously. Where might the lightning have struck? These scenarios set the...

This paper explores how robotics can be used as a new educational tool in a Montessori early education classroom.

In this session, participants discuss knowledge synthesis in process regarding STEM teachers’ participation in professional learning communities: What have we learned and what are the implications for other NSF projects?

Cahill discusses the Carnegie-Institute for Advanced Study Commission on Mathematics and Science Education’s recent report in which they challenge the nation to mobilize for coordinated action so that all students—not just a select few, or those fortunate enough to attend...

PhDs.org was originally created with the help of a number of students while I was an assistant professor in the Math Department at Dartmouth College. The site was made possible by the generous support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and a Burke Research Initiation Award...

A website collection of resources and findings generated through educational research and development projects funded in part by the National Science Foundation can help inform states and school systems that are developing strategies for improving K-12 STEM (science,...

This interactive session examines the different data sources for evidence of PCK in biology teachers involved in professional development experiences linked to educative curriculum materials.

Curriculum SIG Meeting from June 29 & 30, 2010 in Newton, MA: Meeting Take Aways and Next Steps.

Measurement is a critical component of mathematics education, but research on the learning and teaching of measurement is limited, especially compared to topics such as number and operations. To contribute to the establishment of a research base for instruction in...

The minus sign is a mathematical symbol that is multi-functional. Yet, how often is its use explicit to the non-mathematician, or more importantly the learner, who is expected to interpret the symbolism appropriately, when often the "meaning" stems from context of...

The proposal for the Geniverse project. This project was proposed as NextBio; the name was subsequently changed to Geniverse.

This tool (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/faqs11_1.pdf?WT.mc_id=USNSF_80) answers FAQs on NSF Proposal Preparation and Award Administration.

The document lists and describes DR K-12 projects that have a focus or element of project work that falls into one or more of the following categories: earth science, environmental science, climate change, life science, ecology, or geology.

The following list of projects and accompanying descriptions was compiled for CADRE’s Engineering SIG to provide members with an overview of their fellow SIG members’ work. CADRE staff will update this list as we learn of additional work in this field and as SIG membership...

The following list of projects and accompanying descriptions was compiled for CADRE’s ELL Working Group to provide members with an overview of their fellow group members’ work.

This document includes ELL science and math education-related presentations at popular education conferences taking place between March and December 2010. This document will be periodically updated by CADRE staff.

Barbara Chamberlin, with the NMSU Learning Games Lab, shares the Educational Game Design model developed at NMSU. The educational development studio involves content experts and game developers in their game design process, also employing a rigorous user testing process...

This report is an overview of the projects in the DR K-12 portfolio.

This is a 3-year project designed to build the preliminary components for investigating the impacts of early algebra education on students’ algebra readiness in middle grades.

Professional development environments that include digital video allow for the examination of children at work, opportunities to look at students over time, and analysis of the teacher’s decision making. This observation begs the question of how best to shape mathematics...

This paper presents a novel application of the soft cardinality text analytics method to support assessment of text.

Loving, C. C., Schroeder, C., Kang, R., Shimek, C., & Herbert, B. (2007). Blogs: Enhancing links in a professional learning community of science and mathematics teachers. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education [Online serial], 7(3). Available: http://...

This document provides a summary of the assessment-related projects that were funded in the first two cohorts under the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Discovery Research K-12 (DR-K12) program. It describes the assessment projects that have been funded as well as...

Following a hands-on experience in mechanism design, participants discuss the knowledge of content, pedagogy, and student thinking needed to support similar experiences for children.

Join the panelists from the plenary presentation to continue conversations about common standards in each of the STEM disciplines.

This overview is intended to describe the scope and depth of research and development DR K-12 has funded and to identify areas that could be advanced by further investigations by CADRE. The overview summarizes the 248 projects that met the criteria for inclusion and...

This brief suggests practical ways of engaging teachers and other “end-users” in projects that develop materials for education in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Projects described in this brief have benefited from school, district, and state...

In this series of webinars hosted by CADRE, NSF provides an overview of the DR K-12 funding program and reviews this year's DR K-12 solicitation.

A paper on the prototype evolution of the ScratchJr programming environment.

A strategy that helps students develop a fuller view of energy's role in a variety of phenomena.