This CAREER awardee at Utah State University is investigating the learning that can take place when elementary school students are directly involved in the collection, sense-making, and analysis of real, personally-meaningful data sets. The project responds to increasing attention to data collection and analysis in elementary grades and aims to make important contributions to the knowledge base on effective approaches to these topics. The hypotheses of this work are that by organizing elementary statistics instruction around the study of physical activities, students will have greater personal engagement in data analysis processes and that students will also develop more robust understandings of statistical ideas. Students and teachers from fifth grade classrooms from several elementary schools from northern Utah, are participating in the project. This work is co-funded by the EPSCoR program.

Statistics topics include measures of center and variation. Students use pedometers, heart rate monitors, other probeware, and the TinkerPlots software. The research team investigates the influence of personal ownership and relationships to data on students' understanding of learning of elementary statistics concepts and their ability to analyze data. The research involves multi-year clinical interviews and video-recorded classroom design experiments.

Research results are expected to be published in appropriate journals and are expected to be presented at professional meetings. Lesson plans and student instructional materials related to physical activity, measures of center, and data distributions are made available for use in partner elementary schools.

With this project, TERC and Vcom3D are using the SigningAvatar® assistive technology to research, develop, and disseminate two illustrated interactive 3D dictionaries. Each dictionary will have an audio mode and will include at least 750 standards-based terms in English and Spanish text that can be signed or listened to on demand. One dictionary will be a Signing Life Science Dictionary (SLSD); one will be a Signing Physical Science Dictionary (SPSD). To begin to establish effectiveness, the partners will investigate two research questions: 1) What kinds of learning gains in life science are possible with use of the SLSD? 2) What kinds of learning gains in physical science are possible with use of the SPSD? Extrapolating from the findings from their Signing Science Dictionary (SSD), the partners’ hypotheses are that with the SLSD and SPSD, students will have assistive tools that help them 1) increase their ability to sign, understand, and use the languages of life and physical science; 2) improve their science content knowledge; 3) increase their ability to study each content area independently. An external evaluator will conduct a formative and summative project evaluation. Dissemination at the end of the 48-month project, together with a Signing Earth Science Dictionary (SESD) under development, will offer students who are deaf or hard of hearing increased access to the same learning opportunities in science that hearing students enjoy—opportunities that they can build on beyond high school and that may lead to careers in STEM. Additionally, new terms in English and Spanish will be added to Vcom3D’s sign lexicon and will be available for development of signed science materials.

There is an increasing gap between the assumptions governing the use of cyber-enabled resources in schools and the realities of their use by students in out of school settings. The potential of information and communications technologies (ICT) as cognitive tools for engaging students in scientific inquiry and enhancing teacher learning is explored. A comprehensive professional development program of over 240 hours, along with follow-up is used to determine how teachers can be supported to use ICT tools effectively in classroom instruction to create meaningful learning experiences for students, reducing the gap between formal and informal learning and improve student learning outcomes. In the first year, six teachers from school districts - two in Utah and one in New York - are educated to become teacher leaders and advisors. Then three cohorts of 30 teachers matched by characteristics are provided professional development and field test units over two years in a delayed-treatment design. Biologists from Utah State University and New York College of Technology develop four modules that meet the science standards for both states - the first being changes in the environment. Teachers are guided to develop additional modules. The key technological resource to be used in the project is the Opensimulator 3D application Server (OpenSim), an open source, modular, expandable platform used to create simulated 3D spaces with customizable terrain, weather and physics. 

The research methodology includes the use of the classroom observations using RTOP and Technology Use in Science Instruction (TUSI), selected interviews of teachers and students and validated assessments of student learning. Evaluation, by an external evaluator, assesses the quality of the professional development and the quality of the cyber-enabled learning resources, as well as reviews the research design and implementation. An Advisory Board will monitor the project. 

The project is to determine the professional development needed to make teachers comfortable teaching with multi-user simulations and communications that students use everyday. The enactment with OpenSim also provides an opportunity to demonstrate the level of planning and preparation that go into fashioning modules with all selected cyber-enabled cognitive tools framed by constructivism, such as GoogleEarth and Biologica.

This is a RAPID award to investigators at the University of California, Irvine, to examine the first-year implementation of a program that will provide low-cost netbook computers and specialized software to fifth and sixth grade students in four schools in Southern California. The PIs collect baseline and early implementation data to determine effects if the intervention on students' academic achievement in science, academic writing in science, and interest in further STEM study. They also examine the extent to which participation in the program improves student access to, use of, and self-perceived proficiency with technology and how these attributes are mediated by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and English learner status. Additionally, they examine the effect of the program on teachers' knowledge of and use of technology for instruction.

Four schools from the same school district with similar demographics serve as comparison schools in the study. Additionally, all fifth and sixth grade teachers participate in the study with four program teachers (two at fifth grade and two at sixth grade) participating more extensively as focus teachers. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to examine the effects of the program. 

The products include analysis of extensive data on implementation, learning and attitudes. A total of 531 students are involved in the study as well as their teachers. The findings are likely to guide subsequent implementation and research on full implementation within the targeted schools.

In this DRK12 project, the PhET Interactive Simulations group at the University of Colorado and the AAALab at Stanford University are working together to produce and study learning from interactive simulations designed for middle school science classrooms. We are developing a suite of 35 high-quality, interactive simulations covering physical science topics. These simulations include innovative technologies that provide teachers with real-time, formative feedback on how their students are using the simulations.  The research investigates how various characteristics of the simulation design influence student engagement and learning, and how this response varies across grade-level and diverse populations. The research also includes an investigation of different ways of using simulations in class, and how these approaches affect student preparation for future learning when they are no longer using a given simulation.

      The original PhET simulations were designed for college use, but overtime, they have migrated to lower grades.  The current suite of free research-based, interactive PhET science simulations are used over 10 million times per year.  To optimize their utility for middle school science, we are conducting interviews with diverse 4-8^th graders using 25 existing PhET simulations to help identify successful design alternatives where needed, and to formulate generalized design guidelines. In parallel, pull-out and classroom-based studies are investigating a variety of lesson plans to identify the most promising approach. These studies include controlled comparisons that collect both qualitative and quantitative data.

      On the basis of our emerging design principles, we are developing 10 new simulations in consultation with teachers, who are helping to identify high need areas for simulations. These new simulations also include a back-end data collection capability that can collect, aggregate, and display student patterns of simulation use for teachers and researchers. The design of the data collection and presentation formats depends on an iterative process done in collaboration with teachers to identify the most useful information and display formats. A final evaluation compares student learning with and without this back-end formative assessment technology.   

This project is working to transform the way science is taught and learned in Grades 4-8 so that it is more effective at promoting scientific thinking and content learning, while also being engaging to diverse populations. The project is expected to impact many, many thousands of teachers and students through its production of a suite of 35 free, interactive science simulations optimized for Grades 4-8 along with “activity templates”, guidance, and real time feedback to teachers to support pedagogically effective integration into classrooms. Finally, the intellectual merit of the project is its significant contributions to understanding when, how, and why interactive simulations can be effective learning and research tools.

The Evidence Games project develops a series of interactive on-line games and investigates the effect these games have on increasing middle school science students' and teachers' knowledge and skills of scientific argumentation. There are four areas of argumentation addressed by the games: (1) understanding a claim, (2) judging the evidence about a claim based on type (fact, opinion, theory, or data) and quality (objectivity, reliability or validity), (3) analyzing the reasoning applied to the claim (authority, analogy, correlation, causation, theory, principle, or generalization), and (4) evaluating the claim (rebuttals, counterarguments, sources of error, and summary). The games increase in complexity, beginning with simple claims and evidence, and advancing to a level of analyzing current scientific claims. The games allow students to engage in discourse in an on-line, virtual environment and encourage face-to-face discourse in classes about the learning activities in the games. A component of the games allows students to enter their own claims and evidence for evaluation by other students in a challenge format. The context for the game development and refinement is middle school science classes in the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools (KCKPS). The participants are teachers and students in those classes, who represent a diverse population. The primary STEM field is that of science, although the ultimate goal is that the games have wide application and usage in final development. The primary organizations on the project team are research groups at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning including ALTEC (Advanced Learning Technologies in Education), the School of Education at the University of Kansas, and the Department of Psychology and Research in Education at the University of Kansas.

The research design involves the iterative development of the games including an analysis of the authentic setting in which the game will be utilized and an iterative development process in which the team, consisting of teachers, students, and development personnel, engages in a repeated process of specifying user requirements, generating an initial conceptual analysis, developing prototypes, analyzing working prototypes, and implementing the games in classrooms. The project targets eight teachers and a broad range of middle school students in KCKPS. During the development in years one and two, four to five teachers and their students act as co-developers in each of the two phases. In the pilot phase, eight teachers with 16-24 classes participate. The researcher team collects data using a variety of established protocols ranging from pre- and post-tests to measures of scientific discussion to subjective assessment.

The products include a series of games, and findings on the usability, feasibility, fidelity, and efficacy of using a series of sub-games to support students' ability to analyze claims. This proof of concept study reaches approximately 500 students in the third year of the study in the classes of the eight participating teachers. The Evidence Games project addresses the National Science Education Standards of inquiry and the nature of science addressed in middle school, which include sophisticated, critical thinking and analysis skills, and prepares students to understand more advanced ideas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

This project conducts interdisciplinary research to advance understanding of embodied learning as it applies to STEM topics across a range of current technology-based learning environments (e.g., desktop simulations, interactive whiteboards, and 3D interactive environments). The project builds on extensive research, including prior work of the PIs, regarding both embodied learning and statistical learning. The PIs describe embodied learning as engaging the neuromuscular systems of learners as they interact with the world around them visually, aurally, and kinesthetically in order to construct new knowledge structures. Statistical learning is described as the ability to learn, often without intent, which sequences of stimuli are consistent with a set of rules. An example of statistical learning is pattern recognition, which is central to mastery of complex topics in many STEM disciplines including physics and mathematics.

The project has two central research questions: How are student knowledge gains impacted by the degree of embodied learning and to what extent do the affordances of different technology-based learning environments constrain or support embodied learning for STEM topics? To investigate these questions, the PIs are conducting three series of experiments in five phases using two physics topics. The first four phases are developmental and the final phase implements and assesses the two modules in schools (20 plus teachers, 700 plus K-12 students) in Arizona and New York (15 total sites, 10 plus public schools, minimum one Title I school).

The aim of this project is to meld these two research trajectories to yield two key outcomes: 1) basic research regarding embodiment and statistical learning that can be applied to create powerful STEM learning experiences, and 2) the realization of exemplary models and principles to aid curriculum and technology designers in creating learning scenarios that take into account the level of embodiment that a given learning environment affords. 

The project designs and implements technologies that combine artificial intelligence in the form of intelligent tutoring systems with multimedia interfaces to support children in grades 4-5 learning science. The students use LEONARDO's intelligent virtual science notebooks to create and experiment with interactive models of physical phenomena. With this technology, students' models 'come alive' as interactive multimedia artifacts that combine animation, sound, and narration. The curricular focus is on physical and earth sciences, and the technology supports multimodal interactive scientific modeling for four curricular units: forces and motion, magnetism and electricity, landforms, and weather and climate. A central feature of this environment is PadMates, which are intelligent virtual tutors that support science learning through interactive scientific modeling.

The PIs investigate the cognitive mechanisms by which learning occurs. Specifically, they study the central issues of problem solving (strategy use, divergent thinking, and collaboration) and engagement (motivation, situational interest, presence) with respect to achievement as measured by both science content knowledge and transfer. With diverse student populations in 60 classrooms drawn from both urban and rural settings, the studies determine precisely which technologies and conditions contribute most effectively to learning processes and outcomes.

The products include technologies and findings that should be the basis of a framework to inform the future development of similar systems. The impact should be substantial on all learners given the potential power of the technology to scaffold learning at an important developmental stage.

Researchers and developers at the University of Chicago are conducting an exploratory project to design, develop, and test a virtual learning community (VLC) to enhance the ability of first- and fourth-grade teachers to provide mathematics education. The project deploys cyberlearning technologies to allow teachers to interact with one another and with experts across the U.S. The goal is to produce a prototype of a VLC for first- and fourth-grade Everyday Mathematics teachers that integrates three primary elements: (a) learning objects rooted in practice, such as lesson video, (b) community-building tools offered by the internet, and (c) focused content that drives teachers' professional learning in mathematics.

This VLC is developed during two engineering cycles in which the project team engages teachers as central partners. The quality and utility of the resultant VLC is tested against the anticipated outcomes of (a) sustained participation by teachers in the VLC and (b) changes in teachers' "professional vision" in mathematics education. Sustained participation is tracked using web analytics and user logs. Changes in professional vision are measured by on-line assessment tools used by approximately 150 teachers.

The VLC develops learning objects; community-building tools; and focused content. The VLC will be launched during the third year of the project by way of the Everyday Mathematics website, which has over 6000 visitors per day, and the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project newsletter, which has a circulation of 40,000. The potential audience is quite large since Everyday Mathematics is used in 185,000 classrooms.