Elementary

NGSS-Aligned Assessment Tasks for Grades 3–5

This web-based portal offers free, technology-enhanced science assessment tasks for Grades 3-5. Designed for use by educators, researchers, and the public, the tasks are aligned to the NGSS performance expectations and have been developed with elementary teachers.

Development of these tasks and associated resources will be ongoing, throughout the duration of the project period. These updates may include new and revised tasks, tasks for additional performance expectations, task rubrics, and other teacher materials and guides to support classroom assessment.

Author/Presenter

Improving Multi-Dimensional Assessment and Instruction Project Team

Year
2021
Short Description

This web-based portal offers free, technology-enhanced science assessment tasks for Grades 3-5. Designed for use by educators, researchers, and the public, the tasks are aligned to the NGSS performance expectations and have been developed with elementary teachers.

NGSS-Aligned Assessment Tasks for Grades 3–5

This web-based portal offers free, technology-enhanced science assessment tasks for Grades 3-5. Designed for use by educators, researchers, and the public, the tasks are aligned to the NGSS performance expectations and have been developed with elementary teachers.

Development of these tasks and associated resources will be ongoing, throughout the duration of the project period. These updates may include new and revised tasks, tasks for additional performance expectations, task rubrics, and other teacher materials and guides to support classroom assessment.

Author/Presenter

Improving Multi-Dimensional Assessment and Instruction Project Team

Year
2021
Short Description

This web-based portal offers free, technology-enhanced science assessment tasks for Grades 3-5. Designed for use by educators, researchers, and the public, the tasks are aligned to the NGSS performance expectations and have been developed with elementary teachers.

Talk is the Ticket to Teaching Math to English Learners

This article describes one mathematics professional development program designed to support all K-5 students' engagement in productive mathematical discussions, in particular emergent multilingual learners.

Malzahn, K., Sztajn, P., & Heck, D. (October, 2019). Talk is the ticket to teaching math to English learners. The Learning Professional, 40(5).

Author/Presenter

Kristen Malzahn

Paola Sztajn

Daniel Heck

Year
2019
Short Description

This article describes one mathematics professional development program designed to support all K-5 students' engagement in productive mathematical discussions, in particular emergent multilingual learners.

Decomposing Practice in Teacher Professional Development: Examining Sequences of Learning Activities

In this paper, we analyze a PD design, examining its activities and the sequencing of professional learning tasks. We use a theoretical framework typically used in pre-service teacher education to understand the design of one PD program. Our overarching goal is to theorize about how to design PD and sequence professional learning tasks for practicing teachers.

Author/Presenter

Paola Sztajn

Daniel J. Heck

Kristen A. Malzahn

Lara K. Dick

Year
2020
Short Description

In this paper, authors analyze a PD design, examining its activities and the sequencing of professional learning tasks.

Controlled Implementations: Teaching Practice to Practicing Mathematics Teachers

In this chapter, we use the Framework for Teaching Practice (Grossman, et al., 2009) as a conceptual tool for analzying the design of professional development. Although initially developed to examine the education of prospective teachers, we contend that this framework is appropriate for analyzing and supporting the design of professional development. The framework consists of three elements: decompositions, representations, and approximations of practice.

Author/Presenter

Paola Sztajn

Lara Dick

Reema Alnizami

Dan Heck

Kristen Malzahn

Year
2020
Short Description

In this chapter, authors use the Framework for Teaching Practice (Grossman, et al., 2009) as a conceptual tool for analzying the design of professional development.

Out-of-Field Teaching in Science

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Luft, J. A., Hobbs. L., & Hanuscin, D. (Eds.) (2020). Special issue: Out-of-field teaching in science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 31(7), 719-820.

Author/Presenter

Julie A. Luft

Linda Hobbs

Deborah Hanuscin

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2020
Short Description

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Out-of-Field Teaching in Science

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Luft, J. A., Hobbs. L., & Hanuscin, D. (Eds.) (2020). Special issue: Out-of-field teaching in science. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 31(7), 719-820.

Author/Presenter

Julie A. Luft

Linda Hobbs

Deborah Hanuscin

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2020
Short Description

Special issue of the Journal of Science Teacher Education focused on out-of-field teaching in science.

Activating Math Talk: 11 Purposeful Techniques for Your Elementary Students

Many mathematics teachers agree that engaging students in high quality discourse is important for their conceptual learning, but successfully promoting such discourse in elementary classrooms—with attention to the needs of every learner—can be a challenge. Activating Math Talk tackles this challenge by bringing practical, math-specific, productive discourse techniques that are applicable to any lesson or curriculum.

Author/Presenter

Paola Sztajn

Daniel Heck

Kristen Malzahn

Year
2021
Short Description

Activating Math Talk is a resource for promoting high-quality math discourse in grades K-5. The content of the chapters and discussion questions within are meant to spark conversations among teachers, teacher leaders, administrators, and education faculty about how to get all students, in particular emergent multilingual learners, talking about math in productive ways. It presents both a theoretical and practical lens and offers useful frameworks, techniques, and other supports for mathematics instruction.

Cognitive Instructional Principles in Elementary Mathematics Classrooms: A Case of Teaching Inverse Relations

Instructional principles gleaned from cognitive science play a critical role in improving classroom teaching. This study examines how three cognitive instructional principles including worked examples, representations, and deep questions are used in eight experienced elementary teachers’ early algebra lessons in the U.S. Based on the analysis of 32 videotaped lessons of inverse relations, we found that most teachers spent sufficient class time on worked examples; however, some lessons included repetitive examples that also included irrelevant practice problems.

Author/Presenter

Meixia Ding

Ryan Hassler

Xiaobao Li

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2020
Short Description

This study examines how three cognitive instructional principles including worked examples, representations, and deep questions are used in eight experienced elementary teachers’ early algebra lessons in the U.S.

Understanding of the Properties of Operations: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

This study examines how sampled Chinese and U.S. third and fourth grade students (NChina=167,NUS=97) understand the commutative, associative, and distributive properties. These students took both pre- and post-tests conducted at the beginning and end of a school year. Comparisons between students’ pre- and post-tests within and across countries indicate different learning patterns. Overall, Chinese students demonstrate a much better understanding than their U.S. counterparts.
Author/Presenter

Meixia Ding

Xiaobao Li

Ryan Hassler

Eli Barnett

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

This study examines how sampled Chinese and U.S. third and fourth grade students (NChina=167,NUS=97) understand the commutative, associative, and distributive properties.