DRK-12 Research and Products
Product for Educators | Play nine math learning apps and dozens of hands-on activities at home or in the classroom. A digital Teacher's Guide supports use in the classroom, and a digital Family Fun Guide provides activities to do at home.
Publication | The NSF’s Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program is one potential source of funding for the needed research on the educational effectiveness of gaming and simulations. The DR K-12 program seeks to enhance the teaching and learning of STEM in…
Publication | The Award and Administration Guide(AAG) provides information regarding the NSF
award cycle from issuance and administration of an award through closeout.
Publication | Explore disciplinary core ideas with the help of computer simulations that can be projected to promote engagement.
Publication | Impact evaluation plays a critical role in determining whether federally funded research programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are wise investments. This paper develops quantitative methods for program evaluation and…
Publication | We conduct qualitative analyses of one of the lesson sequences, in which a popular simulation was used in eight high school physics class sections, half in whole class discussion and half in small groups.
Tool | This webinar was held 3/24/2014 to orient new DR K-12 awardees to the CADREK12.org
Publication | Dynamic visualisations capture aspects of scientific phenomena that are difficult to communicate in static materials and benefit from well-designed scaffolds to succeed in classrooms. We review research to clarify the impacts of dynamic…
Publication | Terrazas-Arellanes, F., Knox, C., Rivas, C., & Walden, E. (in press). English Language Learners’ Online Science Learning: A Case Study. In J. E. Aitken (Ed.), Cases on communication technology for second language acquisition and cultural…
Publication | In this mixed method study, we examined the use and impact of computer based scaffolding to support middle school students’ creation of evidence-based arguments during a 3-week problem-based learning unit focused on the water quality of a local…
Publication | A paper on the prototype evolution of the ScratchJr programming environment.
Publication | To examine the value of the electronic teacher guide (eTG) as a curriculum planning and teaching tool,
it was important to study it in the contexts of teachers’ actual planning, teaching, and reflecting.
This paper described two descriptive…
Publication | In this paper we use practice theory, with its focus on the interplay of structure and agency, to theorize about teacher engagement in professional learning and teacher enactment of pedagogical practices as an alternative to framing…
Presentation | An effective curriculum helps you support students' science learning, understanding, and achievement. But what does "effective" mean? This video gives you the inside scoop on what makes a curriculum effective and flags some common pitfalls to…
Publication | Lightning strikes, and two people hear thunder simultaneously. Where might the lightning have struck? Now consider a slightly different scenario: Lightning strikes, and three people hear thunder simultaneously. Where might the lightning have…
Publication | A strategy that helps students develop a fuller view of energy's role in a variety of phenomena.
Publication | Information and communication technology (ICT) usage is pervasive among present day youth, with about 95% of youth ages 12-17 years reporting use of the Internet. Due to the proliferation of ICT use among this generation, it is important to…
Tool | "Content coherence"--ideas presented in a connected, sequential way--plays a big role in effective science instruction. Watch this video to find out how it works and how students benefit!
A Blended Professional Development Program to Help a Teacher Learn to Provide One-to-One Scaffolding
Publication | The goal of the Electronic Teacher Guide project was to redesign the print teacher guide for the genetics unit of Foundation Science: Biology as an exemplar of a cybertool that would support the implementation of the curriculum and enhance its…
Publication | To contribute to the growing field of STEM education, we examined the presence of stereotype threat for
female and African American students during a large-scale computing intervention. Namely, this paper
examines whether gender and race have…