Mathematics

Navigating to NGSS Success: Identifying a Research Agenda

Day
Wed

Leaders of three DR K-12 projects identify successful instructional strategies for using technology-enhanced curriculum materials, games, and models to achieve the NGSS practices.

Date/Time
-
2014 Session Types
Collaborative Panel Session

The media, the public, and, indeed, many teachers have significantly criticized the introduction of the Common Core, citing concerns such as that it overcomplicates simple topics, diminishes innovation, and ignores equity issues. Following the recent introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), we need compelling examples and powerful research to prevent premature criticism and ensure successful implementation.

Perspectives on Mathematics Classroom Discourse

Day
Wed

In this session, presenters describe three different approaches to studying mathematics classroom discourse. Participants analyze discourse and discuss benefits and potential drawbacks of various approaches to analysis.

Date/Time
-
2014 Session Types
Collaborative Panel Session

In the past 20 years, mathematics education research has seen a turn toward the social and, consequently, discursive aspects of learning (Kieran, Forman, & Sfard, 2001; Ryve, 2011). A heightened attention to discursive features of instruction is seen in the recent publication Principles to Actions (NCTM, 2014), which describes an ambitious image of mathematics teaching and learning for the 21st century.

Four Perspectives on the Nature and Effectiveness of STEM-focused High Schools

Day
Wed

Four projects investigating the characteristics and effectiveness of STEM-focused high schools present their contrasting methods and early findings.

Date/Time
-
2014 Session Types
Collaborative Panel Session

This session focuses on methods and results from four current NSF-funded studies (three of which are funded under DR K–12). Two studies are attempting to capture the essential features of inclusive STEM-focused high schools and are developing data-based conceptual frameworks. One of these is conducting rich case studies of eight high-functioning, inclusive STEM high schools (ISHSs), drawn from seven different states, to build a common model for designing such schools.

Challenges Aligning Existing Measures with Professional Development Learning Goals to Evaluate Program Effectiveness

Day
Wed

This session provides a forum for discussing the challenges of evaluating program effectiveness by using existing measures that vary in their alignment with program learning goals.

Date/Time
-
2014 Session Types
Collaborative Panel Session

This session provides a forum for discussion around issues of alignment between programs, their learning goals, and the measures for assessing program effectiveness. The session seeks to offer ideas and strategies on how to tackle these kinds of issues.

The session addresses a common challenge in research—the tension between the need for using existing measures to ensure that research results can be compared across studies and the need for using measures that are well-aligned with a program’s learning goals to assess treatment effects.