The ubiquitous use of the term “authenticity” makes it difficult to not only operationalize the term for the development of learning environments, but also for empirical research into the effectiveness or role of different dimensions and different constructs of context and authenticity. Research on STEM education and underrepresented minorities and women may serve as an example for the significance and impact of authentic learning experiences and the need for more reflection: Data show that STEM fields are not as attractive to underrepresented minorities and girls.

This session focuses on two professional development projects, both aimed at increasing geometric content knowledge of middle school mathematics teachers and their students. The goal is to engage grantees in considering what the presenters are learning about the impact of these projects and to consider next steps in advancing the field. The two participating projects are:

This panel addresses the need for professional development in light of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Composed of researchers and practitioners, participants in the panel will share what research has to say about the need for offering teachers quality professional development at scale, as well as what practitioners have to say about current efforts to support and prepare teachers who are ready for the implementation of the new standards.

The objectives of this session are for the group to map DR K–12 projects onto the Climate Literacy Essential Principles (CLEP) and Environmental Literacy Competencies (ELC) and to use that map to explore how to leverage all of the projects’ efforts both within the DR K–12 projects and in the larger community of climate and environmental education efforts. The session sets the stage for thinking about how DR K–12 projects address the CLEP and ELC with two brief presentations of these initiatives and examples of how specific projects align to them.

A recent focus of mathematics education researchers has been on the development of learning trajectories (LTs) or learning progressions (LPs) that characterize the learning of a mathematical topic. LTs include (a) a mathematical goal, (b) a developmental path, and (c) instructional activities or tasks fitting each level of thinking along the developmental path. In this session, members of five research teams describe various methodologies they have used to develop, refine, and validate LTs and describe challenges they encountered.

This session presents the development and use of observational protocols. The collaborative team elicits feedback from the participants to enhance the protocols.

For a description of the Crossroads session structure, please see the initial Crossroads session.

Advancing understanding of how early learning of mathematics progress is dependent on the development of good measures. Presenters of this session produced the “Research-based Early Mathematics Assessment” (REMA), and now better understand its limitations. They are now creating and evaluating a substantial revision of the REMA using emerging multidimensional theoretical models, both cognitive and psychometric. The development of this instrument will lead to substantive advances in the fields of mathematics education research, cognitive psychology, and psychometric theory.