The "Center for the Study of Mathematics Curriculum (CSMC)" will advance the research base and leadership capacity supporting K-12 mathematics curriculum design, analysis, implementation and evaluation. It will serve the K-12 educational community by focusing scholarly inquiry and professional development around the issues of mathematics curriculum, examining and characterizing their role and influence on both teaching and student learning. The Center partners are: Michigan State University; University of Missouri; Western Michigan University; Battle Creek Public Schools; Columbia Public Schools; Kalamazoo Public Schools; Novi Public Schools; the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project Group; and Horizon Research, Inc.

The Center will test strategies and produce new knowledge about the impact of curriculum materials on student and teacher learning. The Center will examine the potential of curriculum materials as tools for teacher learning. The work of the center will contribute to teacher knowledge through the professional development activities while at the same time creating opportunities for research on these issues. The diversity that exists in the school partners will also provide opportunities to gain better understandings of ways instructional materials can be designed to improve learning among underserved groups.

The University of Utah will develop a plan for a model curriculum and associated assessments project that integrates science practices, crosscutting concepts, and core disciplinary ideas through the integration of mathematics and science and the application of appropriate educational technologies. The unit plan and prototype lessons will model ways in which quantitative literacy and the Common Core Standards of Mathematics can be addressed in the biology curriculum. This two-year exploratory research project will take place in the general biology classrooms of teachers in Utah, Maryland and Washington, DC.

The project will develop the following: a detailed plan for a new, 5-week curriculum replacement unit for high school biology that helps students build a coherent understanding of evolution; a valid and reliable set of test items to assess students' understanding of the unit's learning goals using Project 2061 and to refine these measures using an iterative process of development, testing, expert review and revision; prototypes of five evolution lessons from the planned unit. In addition a the researchers will conduct a small-scale pilot test of the prototype lessons with diverse student populations.

The unit plan and prototype lessons will be developed using a learning-goals-driven design model that includes iterative rounds of development, analysis for content coherence using American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Project 2061's valid and reliable analysis procedure, reviews by scientists and teachers, and revision.

This workshop, hosted by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts and the Social Sciences (I-CHASS), convenes leading practitioners and scholars of innovation to collectively consider how education in the US might be reconfigured to both support and teach innovation as a core curriculum mission, with a focus on STEM education. Workshop participants identify and articulate strategies for creating and sustaining learning environments that promise the development of innovative thinking skills, behaviors and dispositions and that reward students, faculty and administrator for practicing and tuning these skills. A wiki or other private online space will be created where participants will be encouraged to continue discussions or comment further on ideas generated over the course of the workshop. Mapping social networks of and among participants provides insights into how innovation practices are shared and spread across relationships and networks. Findings from the workshop will be made available to others through a public web site.

This project is developing principles for supporting middle school mathematics teachers' capacity to use curriculum resources to design instruction that addresses the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). These principles are intended for: (1) curriculum developers to help in the design of curriculum materials; (2) professional development designers and local instructional leaders, to help teachers understand and better utilize curriculum materials with respect to the CCSSM; and (3) teachers, so that they can use curriculum resources to design instruction that addresses the CCSSM. The study addresses the following research questions:

1. What design features of materials support effective instructional design?

2. What teacher and district characteristics support effective instructional design?

3. How do teachers use materials to design instruction that addresses the new CCSSM?

4. What design practices lead to instruction that addresses the progressions and practices in the CCSSM?

A sample of teachers across grades 6 - 8 and their instructional leaders will be selected, up to a maximum of 72 teachers. The sample of teachers is purposefully diverse in terms of demographic, geographic, and curriculum contexts. The curricula include NSF-funded programs as well as commercially-developed programs. The ways teachers understand and access curriculum resources in fully digital environments as well as more conventional media will be studied. Partnering institutions include the University of Rochester, Michigan State University, Western Michigan University, and Washington State University Tri-Cities.

The data collection includes surveys, assessments of teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching, observations of teachers' use and enactment of curriculum materials, analyses of student text and associated teacher resource materials, and teacher logs. These data are used to test conjectures about: (1) how curriculum materials, particularly the teacher resources, can be better designed to help teachers productively design instruction, especially with regard to incorporating the mathematical practices in the CCSSM; and (2) how teachers can be better supported to understand and use curriculum resources. The project evaluation includes formative and summative components, providing information and assistance to ensure that the project addresses its stated goals and employs rigorous methodology. Multiple methods are being used to collect evaluation data, including observations, interviews, and document review.

The deliverables are aimed at audiences who can impact large numbers of teachers and students, such as curriculum developers, designers of professional development, and researchers. The deliverables include: (1) guidelines for curriculum developers that are intended to make curriculum resources more transparent and accessible; (2) guidelines for instructional leaders to support teachers to use curriculum materials to design instruction that addresses the rigorous features of the CCSSM, and (3) refined instruments for studying teachers' curricular practices.

The Modeling Hydrologic Systems in Elementary Science (MoHSES) project involves research and development to investigate 3rd-grade students' model-based reasoning about hydrologic systems and how teachers scaffold students' engagement in modeling practices. The research builds upon existing modeling frameworks to guide the development and integration of a long-term conceptual modeling task into the Full Option Science System (FOSS) Water module. The participants in the study include ten 3rd-grade elementary teachers recruited from diverse settings. The team utilizes an extensive classroom observation system, in-depth interviews with students and teachers, and student artifacts to investigate the following research questions: (1) How do 3rd-grade students construct, use, evaluate, and revise conceptual models of groundwater systems to reason about geospheric components of the water cycle? (2) Are 3rd-grade students able to construct more scientifically-accurate models of groundwater cycling over time? (3) What instructional strategies do 3rd-grade teachers use to support students' model-based reasoning about groundwater systems?

This research can help build a foundation in model-based reasoning about complex global environmental and scientific phenomena in early learners. Investigations of elementary students' model-based reasoning about the water cycle, are largely absent from the literature. The data collected from this project can help inform science curriculum materials development and elementary teacher preparation efforts designed to foster reform-oriented, model-centered elementary science learning environments. This research also informs the development of learning progressions that account for elementary students' learning within a core component of the Earth Sciences.

This project is developing evidence about the efficacy of the Engineering is Elementary curriculum under ideal conditions by studying the student and teacher-level effects of implementation. The rigorous level of evidence that is developed in this study has significant utility as a support for the kinds of elementary engineering curricula that are needed as the Next Generation Science Standards come online and emphasize engineering design. The study is a randomized control trial where the assignment of teachers will be to the EiE curricular materials or to a counterfactual condition, the use of more standard design engineering curricular materials. The project studies the impact of the use of the curriculum on student learning and on teachers' use of the curriculum in a fidelity of implementation study to determine the core elements of the curriculum that support successful use. The study examines the implementation of the curricular materials in a number of contexts to more fully understand the conditions under which they work best and to explicate what aspects of such project-based inquiry materials most support student learning.

This study uses a randomized cluster trial to examine the efficacy of the EiE curriculum across 75 schools in the treatment and 75 schools in the control group samples. Two teachers per school are included in one treatment/control condition per school. Outcome measures for students include performances on project-specific measures that have been examined for technical quality of validity and reliability. A set of additional research-based survey instruments validated for use in the EiE context are also used to collect data about students' attitudes, perceptions, interest and motivation toward science and engineering. A robust fidelity of implementation research plan is being implemented that will include teachers surveys, pre and post assessments, teacher logs, as well as student engineering journals and student work from classroom implementation. The fidelity of implementation is further studied with forty treatment and ten control teachers through classroom observations and interviews.

The findings from this study have broad implications for how engineering design curricular can be developed and implemented at the elementary level. Engineering design has not been emphasized in the elementary classroom, lagging behind instruction in science with which teachers are more familiar. The results of this study inform practitioners and policy makers about what works, for whom and under what conditions. Information about the different contexts in which the curriculum has been implemented supports the dissemination of evidence-based research and development practices to strengthen STEM learning for all students.

Developers and researchers from the Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications (COMAP) and Teachers College are developing a Mathematical Modeling Handbook to assist high school mathematics teachers as they try to integrate mathematical modeling into their curricula. The handbook is available in both an electronic and paper format.

Researchers at COMAP, working with advisors from Teachers College, are creating 25 fully developed modeling lessons that can be used and adapted by high school mathematics teachers. Teachers have contributed to the lessons and will pilot the lessons containing mathematical content, strategies for building and adapting mathematical models, pedagogical ideas and mathematical applications, The development team is also investigating how the lessons are used and working with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and the Association of State Supervisors to ensure a broad dissemination.

The Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) call for the practice of mathematical modeling to be taught in mathematics classes and this project provides a valuable resource that is not currently available for high school teachers. The team-developed materials and associated research on their use are examples of strategies to assist teachers in implementing the practice standards of the CCSSM.

In this full research and development project, a team of learning scientists and media researchers at Education Development Center and SRI International will collaborate with educational media producers at WGBH to develop, test, and refine a curriculum supplement (a hands-on technology) that (1) promotes childrens' understanding of number (counting, comparing, and ordering) and fair sharing (equipartitioning); (2) uses interactive media on an emerging handheld platform (touch screen tablets), integrating new multi-touch activities with existing hands-on activities; (3) enhances opportunities for learning with interactive media through shared use with adult guides and peers; and (4) provides professional and technical support materials for preschool educators. The project investigates if and how engagement with activities in a media-rich curriculum supplement improves low-income young childrens' early learning of number and equipartitioning.

The project builds on sound research about learning trajectories to develop materials for fostering young childrens' learning. In addition, this project will generate new research findings about how engagement with activities in a media-rich curriculum supplement can improve low-income childrens' learning. The project uses use mixed methods (ethnographic observations and interviews and HLM analyses) to answer the research questions.

This project addresses a critical need to develop quality early childhood mathematics curriculum, particularly that aimed at low-income students. This project involves two important content areas. Both the content and the mode of delivery make major contributions to curriculum development and research. This project can provide much needed insights about how to effectively use technology for improving student learning.

It's About Time publishers in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder develop and test a cyberlearning professional-development model that builds on the successful Curriculum Customization Service model implemented in Denver with EarthComm. The cyberlearning system is tested with the Project Based Inquiry Science (PBIS) curriculum - a proven comprehensive middle school science curriculum. In the first two years, six unit-specific materials, curriculum implementation webinars, electronic teacher editions, and teacher planning guide software are developed with teacher input and tested. In the third year, forty middle school teachers nationwide use the cyberlearning system. The learning of their students is compared to students of teachers who had other professional development. The cyberlearning system is evaluated for scalability, affordability, flexibility, and effectiveness for changing teacher practice and student learning.

In the first two years ethnographic studies done by WestEd inform the project about how teachers use the cyberlearning system and which parts are most efficacious. At the same time WestEd collects data of student learning and classroom practice from teachers who have had traditional professional development offered by the publishers. At the same time, data are gathered about student learning in classes whose teachers receive traditional professional development. These teachers form a matched control group for the teachers engaged in cyberlearning professional development in the third year. Their student learning data are compared to the learning of students whose teachers are engaged in the cyberlearning professional development. The research is evaluated by three members of the Advisory Board who have credentials in research methodology, content and broadening participation.

Effective implementation of reform-based STEM curricula depends upon curriculum-based, consistent and well developed professional development. Scaling-up to a broad-based national market is logistically constrained by traditional face-to-face professional development. The project will lead to a tested, useful, affordable, and effective system on-line system to support teacher implementation of reform science curricula that will be used by It's About Time publishers and will be available to others. The results disseminated in the research and practitioner literature can transform the professional development provided by publishers of reform science materials.

It's About Time publishers in collaboration with the University of Colorado at Boulder develop and test a cyberlearning professional-development model that builds on the successful Curriculum Customization Service model implemented in Denver with EarthComm. The cyberlearning system is tested with the Project Based Inquiry Science (PBIS) curriculum - a proven comprehensive middle school science curriculum. In the first two years, six unit-specific materials, curriculum implementation webinars, electronic teacher editions, and teacher planning guide software are developed with teacher input and tested. In the third year, forty middle school teachers nationwide use the cyberlearning system. The learning of their students is compared to students of teachers who had other professional development. The cyberlearning system is evaluated for scalability, affordability, flexibility, and effectiveness for changing teacher practice and student learning.

In the first two years ethnographic studies done by WestEd inform the project about how teachers use the cyberlearning system and which parts are most efficacious. At the same time WestEd collects data of student learning and classroom practice from teachers who have had traditional professional development offered by the publishers. At the same time, data are gathered about student learning in classes whose teachers receive traditional professional development. These teachers form a matched control group for the teachers engaged in cyberlearning professional development in the third year. Their student learning data are compared to the learning of students whose teachers are engaged in the cyberlearning professional development. The research is evaluated by three members of the Advisory Board who have credentials in research methodology, content and broadening participation.

Effective implementation of reform-based STEM curricula depends upon curriculum-based, consistent and well developed professional development. Scaling-up to a broad-based national market is logistically constrained by traditional face-to-face professional development. The project will lead to a tested, useful, affordable, and effective system on-line system to support teacher implementation of reform science curricula that will be used by It's About Time publishers and will be available to others. The results disseminated in the research and practitioner literature can transform the professional development provided by publishers of reform science materials.