June 2020 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

The recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbert, and Rayshard Brooks, as well as countless others, have shone a spotlight on the systemic racism that exists in our country. As a field, this is a time to think about the roles that research and education can play in dismantling systemic racism and supporting the foundations of a just society. As a team, we at CADRE, much like many of you, are taking time to reflect, learn from the past, and commit to continuing to educate ourselves about these issues. But how can CADRE, a resource network, best contribute to the conversation and actions? We invite your input. In the meantime, we want to highlight a few related perspectives and points:

In this newsletter we feature a Spotlight on problem solving, resources from recent webinars, and an update on CADRE’s early career programs which seek to support researchers committed to broadening participation in STEM education.

The CADRE Fellows and Postdocs encountered a different program than expected with the cancellation of two trips to DC to meet with awardees and program officers. Thanks to a number of NSF program officers, we were still able to engage the early career researchers in a mock proposal review and conversations about STEM education research and funding. Thank you to this year’s contributors who shared their experience and expertise on topics ranging from career pathways, community building, research dissemination, proposal writing, and funding with the Fellows and Postdocs during each of the webinars.

Sincerely,
The CADRE Team

Spotlight on Problem Solving in STEM Education

Problem solving provides a powerful context for teaching and learning STEM+C concepts and practices and draws on skills, approaches, and ways of thinking that can be applied across disciplines.

This Spotlight showcases thirteen projects that are researching and developing innovations that support and leverage problem solving in computer science, engineering, mathematics, and science.

If your project has a significant focus on this topic and you would like to be added as a featured project, email cadre@edc.org. We will expand and continue to promote this Spotlight in the coming months.

In this Spotlight...

Early Career Update

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CADRE has adapted our early career programs. Current Fellows, Fellows alumni, and Postdocs met online to discuss the impact of the pandemic on their work and career plans and share valuable tips and resources with each other. The topics discussed included data collection challenges, delaying the tenure clock, opportunities to teach differently in the changing education landscape, and maintaining a professional profile in the absence of conferences.

Current Fellows and Postdocs reviewed two CAREER proposals in a virtual mock review panel led by DRK-12 program lead, Robert Ochsendorf. They also had the opportunity to discuss elements of a competitive NSF proposal, current funding trends, and advice for getting funded with DRK-12 Program Directors Monica Cardella, Michael Ford, Beth Herbel-Eisenmann, Finbarr (Barry) Sloane, Michael Steele, and Amy Wilson-Lopez. The mock proposal review and meetings with NSF program directors continue to be highlights of the early career programs, so we’re grateful to the program directors who generously joined the conversations.

While we were not able to meet the 2020 CADRE Postdoc cohort in person at the PI meeting, they have been eager to make the most of this professional growth opportunity at a distance. In addition to joining the Fellows for grant funding and proposal development webinars and activities, Postdocs opted for an additional webinar to discuss different career pathways and opportunities. They appreciated discussing options with more senior researchers at a time when there is a lot of uncertainty in the job market, as well as topics such as navigating your career as women or women of color. The Postdocs are also extending their experience by engaging in a writing groups over the summer.

We’d like to thank those in the CADRE network who have contributed to the Fellows and Postdoc programs this year by serving as webinar panelists and offering advice: Carrie Allen, Bronwyn Bevan, Shondricka Burrell, Jinfa Cai, Sylvia Celedón-Pattichis, Jennifer Chiu, Suzanne Donovan, Leanne Ketterlin Geller, Maisie Gholson, Zahra Hazari, Hosun Kang, Susan Kowalski, June Mark, Barbara Means, Bill Penuel, Jay Plasman, Julie Riordan, Kathleen Roth, Katie Schenkel, Alejandra Sorto, Ivory Toldson, Mavreen Rose Tuvilla, Megan Wongkamalasai, Steven Zuiker.

In other early career news, we are pleased to share that four CADRE Fellows alumni were awarded NSF grants this most recent cycle: Carlos Gomez (2014-15), María González-Howard (2015-16), Joel Mejia (2013-14), and Jamie Mikeska (2010-11).

Webinar Recordings and Resources

This month, CADRE hosted two webinars led by DRK-12 awardees.

Strengthening Educators’ Practices for Engaging and Empowering Students with Disabilities and Difficulties as Mathematics Learners
In an engaging presentation, Amy Brodesky, Jessica Hunt, Karen Mutch-Jones, and Judy Storeygard shared key components, successes, and challenges of asset-based professional development in mathematics, giving examples from their work.
Recording | Slides

Analyzing Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice Centered on Video Cases of Mathematics Teaching
Joseph DiNapoli, Eileen Murray, Doug O'Roark, and John Russell shared an analytic method developed by their project, Building a Teacher Knowledge Base for the Implementation of High-Quality Instructional Resources Through the Collaborative Investigation of Video Cases. This interactive webinar gave participants the chance to learn about the analytic method and provide feedback to the project team.
Recording | Slides & Session Resources

In addition, you can view recordings and resources from last month's series of webinars:

If you are interested in sharing your approaches or findings, or seek feedback on work in progress through a webinar, please contact CADRE.

New DRK-12 Awards

NSF continues to announce recent DRK-12 awards. Congratulations to the newest awardees! We look forward to getting to know you and hearing about your work as it progresses. Welcome to our community! This list includes all 2019-20 awards; the projects marked as new denote awards made since our May newsletter.

 
You can also sort new projects by their start date on cadrek12.org. We will continue to add projects to the website as they are announced.

tipsProject Tip: Research and COVID-19

You may be busier than ever moving your teaching online, developing contingency plans based on when and if schools reopen; reading your way through that file of accumulated articles or writing another article (or perhaps an op-ed or a TED-style video talk for a public audience); choosing an appropriate survey tool or interview approach; revising your IRB for a newly remote methodology; adding cancelled presentations to your CV and noting them with an asterisk; or figuring out how to support the grad students or postdocs on your project. Maybe you’re fitting this all in between the math lessons with your kids and figuring out how to respond to the latest national news. NSF knows it. If you need to make changes to your project, contact your program officer and don’t forget to report changes in your annual and final report. For other reporting tips, watch the Managing your NSF Grant webinar.

In addition to the many ways that our community has supported those on the frontlines of education during the pandemic and the quick turn to online and remote learning, there is still room for more. For example, CCSSO plans to release a teaching and learning resource by the end of June 2020 and seeks feedback and input throughout the development of the considerations. “The resources will be offered to state and local education leaders to support their planning for the start of the next academic year. In addition, curriculum publishers and technical assistance providers will have access to this guidance with the expectation that they will use it to support implementation.”

Newsbites from NSF, DRK-12, and NSF Networks

News from NSF 

News from NSF Networks

See our CADRE & NSF Network Events page for ATECentral, CIRCL, CAISE, CS for All Teachers, EvaluATE, NSF INCLUDES, or STELAR events that may be of interest to you.

News from DRK–12 Projects & Awardees

Email cadre@edc.org to share news from your project.


Upcoming Opportunities

The following funding and publication opportunities, listed by deadline, may be of interest to you and your DRK-12 project members. 

Funding
For more NSF funding opportunities, see CADRE's list of Upcoming NSF DRL Solicitation Deadlines.

Publications
For other publication opportunities, including those with ongoing submissions, see CADRE's list of Publications for STEM Educators, Policymakers, and Researchers.
 
Conference Proposals
For more conference information, see CADRE's list of Conferences for STEM Educators, Policymakers, and Researchers.
 

Other Opportunities

For job, funding, and capacity-building opportunities for doctoral students, postdocs, and other early career scholars, visit our Early Career News & Opportunities page.

A complete archive of our newsletters and announcements is available on cadrek12.org.

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