This exploratory project examines how teachers of second grade students scaffold the development of student conceptual models and their understanding of the nature of scientific models and modeling processes in physical science conceptual areas associated with the particulate nature of matter. Teachers receive professional development around ways in which they can facilitate productive disciplinary discussions with young children that result in students coming to understand core ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards. The project focuses on the topics of matter and sound based on the FOSS units "Solids and Liquids" and "Water," and the STC unit "Sound". It builds on an earlier project on life science for kindergarten teachers and students to expand the research communities understanding of how young children learn in science. Researchers from Purdue University are working with public schools in Lafayette that have high Hispanic populations and low SES, as well as a private school system with a more affluent population.

This project employs a mixed methodological research design that incorporates rich qualitative data collection and analysis combined with a quasi-experimental design that examines student learning across a treatment and comparison group with the same curricular materials but with differing support for teachers to engage students in disciplinary productive discussions about the science phenomena that they are studying. Research questions are designed to elicit descriptions of the differing aspects of learning that are evidenced by students together with rich descriptions of the teaching strategies that are associated with the classroom environments. Because this is an exploratory study, no causal comparisons between teacher practices and student outcomes are drawn, but the project provides the underpinnings that will support future research that would take a more rigorous approach. The project further develops the methodology of examining disciplinary rich description of student models to advance the understanding of how content and reasoning interact with young children.

Recent research in cognition has demonstrated that young children reason in a more sophisticated manner than previously understood. The Next Generation Science Standards has a strong focus on student reasoning practices, and the development of student explanations of science phenomenon requires that students have the opportunity to experience classrooms in which discussions of scientific ideas are scaffolded. Teachers need examples of how to interact with young children and of how to interpret what students say in ways that move the understanding of scientific concepts forward. This foundational research provides descriptive exemplars that can be shared in both the research literature and in practitioner publications as examples of what cognitively rich pedagogy can achieve.

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.