Participants are invited to play online games embedded in a data-analysis environment, analyzing their game data to improve their strategy. The structure follows an abbreviated version of classroom activities that presenters are now field testing. Product release is scheduled to begin in fall 2012. (Participants should bring a laptop computer that can connect with conference wifi.) With each game-based activity, subsequent discussion focuses on different issues about which presenters would like feedback.

The purpose of this session is to engage participants in discussing and sharing strategies for designing classroom uses of data sets and visualization technologies, including large archives and portals of geospatial data sets, data from field sites, Web-based graphing and data analysis tools, and technologies that simulate a field environment. Each of these technologies and data sets is tied to curriculum and instructional resources.

There is much support for embedding teachers’ professional learning in the analysis of practice. This approach can engage teachers in deepening both their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in more meaningful contexts than typical courses or professional development workshops. The purposes of this session are (1) to examine four different approaches to analysis of practice in professional development work with mathematics and science teachers and (2) to consider the affordances and constraints of different strategies for assessing the impact of these approaches.

This panel presentation showcases various NSF DR K–12 projects (Data Games, Evidence Game, MathSnacks, PhET, and TESLA) and the role of the classroom teacher in these project-related online, game-, and simulation-based learning environments. The session presenters highlight the envisioned role teachers play when implementing each game or simulation project. Presenters also discuss how the vision of the teacher’s role has evolved during the life of some of the projects.

In this presentation, Wilson will describe the process of writing the NRC’s letter report, Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

Work is progressing to develop the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). With private funding from the Carnegie Corporation and support from National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the National Research Council (NRC) and Achieve, Inc., have embarked on a two-step cooperative process to develop the NGSS. The first step was to develop a conceptual framework that is grounded in current research on science and science learning and identifies the science all K–12 students should know.

The goal of the session is to share challenges found in implementing longitudinal studies. The PIs of five projects, particularly focused on science and math, discuss challenges and responses to these challenges. Additionally, they share benefits of conducting such longitudinal research in STEM in schools.

The session brings together seven DR K–12 projects focused on game-based STEM learning and assessments of science content and inquiry. The panel provides an overview of what they know about how learning takes place in games and how each of these projects is crafting assessments in virtual and game-based environments. They focus on strategies for leveraging popular game mechanics with research from the learning sciences, psychology, science education, and computer science to support and assess players as they develop robust understandings of core scientific concepts and practices.

In this session, presenters describe a systematic review of research on the achievement outcomes of all types of approaches to teaching science in elementary schools. Presenters discuss the need for the review and will detail the research design. Study inclusion criteria included use of randomized or matched control groups, study duration of at least four weeks, and use of achievement measures independent of the experimental treatment. A total of 17 studies met these criteria.