Spring/Summer 2013 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to wish you a good summer, inform you of new resources, and let you know what we'll be working on in the coming months. We have updated the Student and Teacher Assessment Compendia, which are available on cadrek12.org, to include instruments from the latest cohort of projects. The most recent analysis of the DR K-12 portfolio, as well as updated lists of STEM conferences and publications are also available in this newsletter and on the CADRE website.

In recent evaluations, we heard appreciation for anything that CADRE can do to "proactively" help you identify like projects. With that in mind, we are gathering information on projects in the gaming and engineering portfolios. Likewise, we are updating the ELL report to include references to cohort four and five projects. These targeted studies will all be available this fall.

Strengthening support to new PIs and early career researchers and developers, remains a priority. While we will continue to host the popular “Nuts and Bolts” webinars, this coming year we will also develop more customized outreach approaches.

In early fall, we will recruit a new cohort of CADRE Fellows. In lieu participating in the Annual DR K-12 PI meeting, Fellows participated in a revealing mock proposal review conducted by Elizabeth VanderPutten. A webinar on PIs’ perspectives on proposal development and negotiation was the Fellows’ culminating activity. Thank you to PIs Corey Drake (Michigan State), Gilly Puttick (TERC), Jackie Miller and Sarah Sword (EDC) for your your candor and guidance.

As always, if you want to share information about your projects on the CADRE website, Facebook or Twitter, please contact CADRE@edc.org and we will see what is possible.

Sincerely,

The CADRE Team

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Projects & People: 2012-13 CADRE Fellowship Concludes with a Focus on Grant Development

The CADRE Fellows had a busy spring! Since their webinars on professional writing and publishing, the CADRE Fellows have engaged with each other and experts around a range of topics, including the ins and outs of the NSF as well as the proposal review process. In April, the Fellows travelled to DC where they met with NSF program officers, learned about non-university STEM career pathways, and participated in a mock proposal review panel.

With some Fellows nearing the end of their graduate or post-graduate programs, and hopefully submitting proposals themselves, the final activity for the 2012-2013 cohort dug deeper into proposal development. DR K-12 PIs served as panelists in a two-part webinar where they discussed their experiences with grant development, from inception to fruition, and answered Fellows' questions with insights and examples from first-hand experience.

CADRE would like to thank the following people for sharing their time and expertise during these spring activities: David Campbell, Corey Drake, Richard Duschl, Jackie Miller, Daphne Minner, Jeff Nellhaus, Natalie Nielsen, Maria Oliver-Hoyo, Gilly Puttick, Sarah Sword, Elizabeth VanderPutten, and Bill Watson.

2013-14 Fellowship
The 2012-13 cohort has come to an end, but the 2013-14 CADRE Fellowship program is around the corner! Applications will be available September 5, 2013.

Learn more about the 2012-13 Fellowship program and participants here.
Miss the last newsletter? Find tips from the Fellows' writing and publishing webinars here.

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Projects & People: DR K-12 Product Highlight

This year, CADRE will be working to highlight the products and findings emerging from DR K-12 projects to both raise community awareness of available resources that could be used by other projects, and celebrate the hard work that's happening in the portfolio.

Everyday Mathematics Virtual Learning Community (VLC)
PI: Meg Schleppenbach
The Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education (CEMSE) at the University of Chicago developed the VLC to provide 1st-4th grade teachers a forum for viewing and sharing resources that support mathematics teaching, communicating with other teachers about pedagogy, and reflecting on their own practice. Available resources include lesson videos, planning tools, instructional supports, and other project- and teacher-contributed materials. After going public in June of 2011, the VLC currently has more than 13,000 members.

Learn more or become a member on the VLC website.

If you would like to share a product from your own work, contact CADRE@edc.org.

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Projects & People: Overview of the DR K-12 Portfolio - 2007-2012

The report on the DR K-12 portfolio is an annual review conducted by CADRE to characterize the development and research in STEM education--on resources, models, and technologies--funded by the DR K-12 program. This overview draws on data from 351 projects funded from 2007 to 2012, pulled from proposals as well as other supporting documents submitted by projects to the National Science Foundation. Key findings include:

Grade Level: Which populations are projects targeting?
Projects include elementary (41%), middle (56%) and high school (47%) settings, with 36% involving multiple grade bands.

STEM Discipline: How are projects distributed across disciplines?
More than half of the projects (56%) address science topics, 49% include mathematics, 9% address engineering, and 4% address computer and information science. Among middle and high school projects, science is more prevalent than math, but the opposite is true for elementary school projects. Most of the projects in the portfolio focus on science (39%) or math (34%) exclusively, and the remainder involve multiple disciplines.

Cycle of Innovation: Where are projects located on the cycle of research and development?
While there are DR K-12 projects that address each aspect of the cycle of innovation and learning, the majority (62%) focus on designing, developing, and testing educational materials for students or teachers and associated assessment tools.

Educational Resources: What types of educational resources are projects developing or studying?
Projects in the DR K-12 portfolio are producing and/or researching a wide variety of resources for the educational community. Two-thirds of the project include a focus on teachers or professional development (67%) and more than half are developing or studying resources to be used directly with students (56%). In addition, 40% of the projects address education models. Slightly more than a quarter of the projects are developing or studying student assessments (28%) and 13% of projects are hosting or organizing conferences on educational topics.

Methods: Which research designs and data collection techniques do projects expect to use?
Sixty-six percent of the projects have plans to conduct research using some quantitative methods and 70% are using some qualitative approaches. Of the projects using quantitative methods, 25% are planning to make pre-post comparisons without control groups. Almost as many projects (22%) are planning to use quasi-experimental designs. Less than one-fifth of the projects in the portfolio (18%) are planning to incorporate experimental designs into their research. Interviews (64%) and observations (63%) were the most common techniques, followed by assessments or tests of performance or knowledge (56%) and surveys (52%).

Access the full report to learn more about the DR K-12 Portfolio.
Browse funded DR K-12 projects using Project Smart Search.

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Resource: Updated Instrument and Dissemination Resources on cadrek12.org

Compendia of Research Instruments for STEM Education
The two-part compendia of measures, originally released in fall of 2012, are intended to provide insight into the measurement tools available to generate efficacy and effectiveness evidence, as well as understand processes relevant to teaching and learning. Part I looks at teacher outcome assessments, and Part II looks at student outcome assessments.

The original compendia included instruments identified through a review of the first five cohorts of funded DR K-12 projects. An addendum has been added to Parts I and II that includes instruments identified in the sixth DR K-12 cohort.

Download Parts I and II with the May 2013 addenda:
Part 1 - Teacher Practices, PCK, and Content Knowledge
Part 2 - Measuring Students' Content Knowledge, Reasoning Skills, and Psychological Attributes 

For more information, read the paper presented at NARST 2013 by compendia authors Daphne Minner and Alina Martinez.

Lists of STEM Education Conferences and Publications
CADRE is pleased to share updated lists of STEM education conferences and publications, which now include 2013-2015 information. These lists feature up-to-date instructions (where currently available) for presentation and manuscript proposals. You may also access the event information on the CADRE calendar.

Download:
List of STEM Education Conferences
List of STEM Education Publications

DR K-12 Publications, Presentations, and Project Websites
The latest results from CADRE's survey on recent DR K-12 publications, presentations, and project websites are now available. Thank you for sharing your project's work with us!

See what your colleagues have recently published, find presentations by DR K-12 grantees, and view project web and social media sites here.
Complete the survey for your project.

We also invite you to visit the CADRE Toolkit, which features additional resources produced by CADRE partners and/or DR K-12 PIs with support from CADRE. These resources provide information on the research that is currently funded, the variety of instruments and methodologies in use, and strategies for effective partnering, dissemination, and knowledge use.

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Event: Summer @ CADRE - What's in the Works

CADRE will be working over the next few months on a number of products that continue this year's focus on disseminating work that's been funded in the DR K-12 portfolio.

Project Collections on cadrek12.org
The CADRE website will host a more frequent rotation (and archive) of collections that highlight projects with a common focus, perspective, or approach to issues of STEM teaching and learning. These web "spotlights" will be featured on the cadrek12.org home page and include components such as virtual poster halls, interactive tools for looking across projects, related resources from grantees and the field, and more. The current schedule for project spotlights includes:

  • Engineering - Summer 2013
  • Environmental/Earth Science - Summer 2013
  • Gaming - Fall 2013
  • Early Career Researchers & Developers - Fall 2013

If you would like your project to be included in one of the upcoming web spotlights, or have suggestions for a future topic, email CADRE@edc.org.
Explore existing project collections on cadrek12.org:

Targeted Studies of Funded DR K-12 Projects
In each of these studies, CADRE will explore and characterize the DR K-12 work that's been funded in a particular field or topic area. The goals and guiding questions are informed by expressed interests from DR K-12 grantees in the NSF and as a result, the format and emphasis of each study will vary. Upcoming targeted studies and sample research questions include: 

  • Engineering - What are the content and practices of engineering in these projects and how is engineering defined?
  • Gaming - What constructs are the projects attempting to measure and analyze and what tools and methods are being used in the analysis?
  • ELL (Update to January 2011 report) - How are projects joining expertise in science or mathematics education with expertise in ELL education and what are the contributions of DR K-12 research to the broader field of ELL STEM education?

A Spotlight on DR K-12 Projects Addressing National Priorities
CADRE will identify and briefly describe a selection of DR K-12 projects that address key recommendations or conclusions of major recent national reports on STEM education. Capsule descriptions of projects compiled in this way will provide an accessible and interesting glimpse of DR K-12 work for policymakers, educational leaders at the state and local levels, other funding organizations, and the general public.

If you have questions about these or other CADRE activities, or if you have suggestions for how we might best support your work in the coming months as the DR K-12 resource network, email CADRE@edc.org.

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Event: Upcoming DRL Solicitation Deadlines

EHR Core Research (ECR)
Full Proposal Target Deadline: July 12, 2013
EHR seeks proposals that will help synthesize, build and/or expand research foundations in the core areas of STEM learning, STEM learning environments, workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. NSF invites researchers to identify and conduct research on questions or issues in order to advance the improvement of STEM learning in general, or to address specific challenges of great importance. Two types of proposals are invited: Core Research Proposals (maximum 5 years, $1.5 million) that propose to study a foundational research question/issue designed to inform the transformation of STEM learning and education and Capacity Building Proposals (maximum 3 years, $300,000) intended to support groundwork necessary for advancing research within the four core areas.

Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
Full Proposal Deadline: October 17, 2013
With an emphasis on two-year colleges, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions and employers to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school levels.

Data-Intensive Research to Improve Teaching and Learning - An Ideas Lab to Foster Transformative Approaches to Teaching and Learning
Preliminary Proposal Deadline: August 19, 2013

Required for participation in the Ideas Lab workshop to be held October 7-11, 2013. Selected participants will be notified by September 6, 2013. Not required for full proposals that were not developed through the Ideas Lab. 

Full Proposal Deadline: December 9, 2013
There are two paths towards final submission of proposals to this activity, i.e., through the Ideas Lab or through direct submission of a full proposal. Applicants who did not participate in the Ideas Lab or who did participate but were not invited to submit a full proposal may submit full proposals by the December 9, 2013 deadline. Participation in the Ideas Lab is not required to submit a full proposal. All full proposals, whether or not developed through the Ideas Lab, must be received by the full proposal deadline.

The goal of this activity is to foster novel, transformative, multidisciplinary approaches that address the use of large data sets to create actionable knowledge for improving STEM teaching and learning environments (formal and informal) in the medium term, and to revolutionize learning in the longer term.

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Event: Engineering a STEM Smart Workshop in Atlanta

On Sunday, June 23, a diverse group of leaders in K-12 STEM education from all over the country will convene at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta to take part in the latest installment of the NSF-funded STEM Smart workshops. This STEM Smart workshop, which will have a special focus on K-12 engineering education, features plenary sessions and breakout sessions highlighting ideas, projects, and programs aligned with the recommendations in the National Research Council's reports Successful K-12 STEM Education and Monitoring Progress Toward Successful K-12 STEM Education.

CADRE would also like to acknowledge the DR K-12 projects represented at breakout sessions during the workshop: 

Learn more at the Atlanta workshop event page on the STEM Smart website, where slides, handouts, and other resources will be posted following the event.
Read a brief on K-12 engineering education.
Coming soon! Keep an eye out this summer for a spotlight on DR K-12 engineering projects on cadrek12.org.
The STEM Smart workshop was planned in coordination with the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) to compliment their conference. Visit the ASEE website to learn more.
Read about the STEM Smart initiative in EDC's recent blog post.

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Contact Us

If you want additional information on CADRE or have specific questions, please email cadre@edc.org. Join us on Facebook or Twitter to receive the latest news and information from CADRE.

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