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Creating Inclusive PreK–12 STEM Learning Environments

Brief CoverBroadening participation in PreK–12 STEM provides ALL students with STEM learning experiences that can prepare them for civic life and the workforce.

Author/Presenter

Malcom Butler

Cory Buxton

Odis Johnson Jr.

Leanne Ketterlin-Geller

Catherine McCulloch

Natalie Nielsen

Arthur Powell

Year
2018
Short Description

This brief offers insights from National Science Foundation-supported research for education leaders and policymakers who are broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM). Many of these insights confirm knowledge that has been reported in research literature; however, some offer a different perspective on familiar challenges.

NERIF: GPT-4V for Automatic Scoring of Drawn Models

Engaging students in scientific modeling practice is critical for developing their competence in using scientific knowledge to explain phenomena and design solutions. Student-drawn models are frequently used to investigate students’ proficiency in scientific modeling. However, scoring student-drawn models is time-consuming and requires technical expertise. The recently released GPT-4V(ision) provides a unique opportunity to facilitate the automatic scoring of scientific models with its image classification capability.

Author/Presenter

Gyeonggeon Lee

Xiaoming Zhai

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Engaging students in scientific modeling practice is critical for developing their competence in using scientific knowledge to explain phenomena and design solutions. Student-drawn models are frequently used to investigate students’ proficiency in scientific modeling. However, scoring student-drawn models is time-consuming and requires technical expertise. The recently released GPT-4V(ision) provides a unique opportunity to facilitate the automatic scoring of scientific models with its image classification capability.

Middle School Students’ Meanings of Points from Quantitative and Covariational Reasoning Perspectives

We examine the meanings students give to points when they are graphing relationships between quantities in dynamic, experiential contexts. Using data from teaching experiments with middle-grades students, we illustrate two main categories of meanings: iconic and quantitative.

Author/Presenter

Halil I. Tasova

Kevin C. Moore

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

We examine the meanings students give to points when they are graphing relationships between quantities in dynamic, experiential contexts. Using data from teaching experiments with middle-grades students, we illustrate two main categories of meanings: iconic and quantitative.

Interrogating Whiteness in Mathematics Education Research: A Discourse Analysis of Storylines About Latiné Communities

Society produces storylines about Latiné communities, including their placement in racial and linguistic hierarchies, that permeate the mathematics classroom and research in mathematics education. We conducted a discourse analysis of the enunciations used in top-tier mathematics education journals about these communities. The majority of articles we examined functioned to maintain white supremacy by centering dominant (white) storylines and values to maintain a racial hierarchy, with whites above Latiné and other marginalized groups.

Author/Presenter

Stacy R. Jones

Carlos Nicolas Gómez Marchant

Year
2025
Short Description

Society produces storylines about Latiné communities, including their placement in racial and linguistic hierarchies, that permeate the mathematics classroom and research in mathematics education. We conducted a discourse analysis of the enunciations used in top-tier mathematics education journals about these communities.

Becoming a Responsive Mathematics Teacher: Centering Student Thinking in K–8 Classrooms

This resource presents and describes a model for teaching and learning mathematics responsively in the elementary and middle grades. Developed through the Responsive Math Teaching (RMT) project—a seven-year collaboration between teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators, and researchers from a network of K-8 urban schools—this book equips any mathematics educator with the tools to enhance instruction and increase equitable outcomes for students and communities historically underrepresented in mathematics.

Author/Presenter

Caroline B. Ebby

Brittany Hess

Lindsay Goldsmith-Markey

Lizzy Pecora

Jennifer Valerio

Joy Anderson Davis

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

This resource presents and describes a model for teaching and learning mathematics responsively in the elementary and middle grades. Developed through the Responsive Math Teaching (RMT) project—a seven-year collaboration between teachers, teacher leaders, school and district administrators, and researchers from a network of K-8 urban schools—this book equips any mathematics educator with the tools to enhance instruction and increase equitable outcomes for students and communities historically underrepresented in mathematics.

Hazbot: Next-Generation AI Supports Student Inquiry of Natural Hazards

The Concord Consortium is proud to announce a new grant from the National Science Foundation for our Intelligent Simulation-based Learning About Natural Disasters (ISLAND) project. ISLAND will harness the power of artificial intelligence to help middle school students explore wildfires, floods, and hurricanes through scientific simulations—building critical knowledge and science practices for understanding and responding to natural hazards.

Author/Presenter

Hee-Sun Lee

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

The Concord Consortium is proud to announce a new grant from the National Science Foundation for our Intelligent Simulation-based Learning About Natural Disasters (ISLAND) project. ISLAND will harness the power of artificial intelligence to help middle school students explore wildfires, floods, and hurricanes through scientific simulations—building critical knowledge and science practices for understanding and responding to natural hazards.

Transdisciplinary STEM: Converging Around Inquiry

The disciplines provide a wealth of resources to make sense of complex problems; when taking a transdisciplinary approach, students have the opportunity to engage in inquiry with local issues of meaning that can allow for deeper learning and engagement. Curriculum design experts from the Center for Technology and School Change propose a process for teachers to design STEM curriculum that prioritizes inquiry rooted in the community that empowers students to be active participants in a democratic society.

Author/Presenter

Seth McCall

Karen Kirsch Page

Ellen Meier

Jessica Yusaitis Pike

Caron Mineo

Year
2025
Short Description

Curriculum design experts from the Center for Technology and School Change propose a process for teachers to design STEM curriculum that prioritizes inquiry rooted in the community that empowers students to be active participants in a democratic society.

Teachers' Customizations of Storyline Science Curriculum: Adapting for Their Students and Instructional Contexts

Curriculum materials can play an essential role to help teachers shift their instruction. However, curricular enactment does not look identical in every classroom, because teachers need to be responsive to their students. In this study, we investigated the customizations teachers made while enacting storyline science curriculum. Specifically, we collected two data sources: a teacher survey and interviews. The survey was completed by 169 participants and included 20 follow-up interviews with middle school science teachers enacting the OpenSciEd curriculum across the United States.

Author/Presenter

Katherine L. McNeill

Caitlin G. Fine

Benjamin R. Lowell

Renee Affolter

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Curriculum materials can play an essential role to help teachers shift their instruction. However, curricular enactment does not look identical in every classroom, because teachers need to be responsive to their students. In this study, we investigated the customizations teachers made while enacting storyline science curriculum.

Inquiry-based Science Instruction for Students with Disabilities: A Systematic and Meta-analytic Review

Developing scientific literacy is necessary for students with disabilities (SWD) as it supports the ability to create solutions to real-world problems and understand current events, and it strengthens critical thinking, problem-solving, and complex communication skills. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate extant literature on inquiry-based science interventions for SWD in service of developing scientific practices. We identified 26 studies in 22 articles and 3 dissertations for inclusion in this review.

Author/Presenter

Sarah Emily Wilson

William J. Therrien

Jenna Gersib

Megan Rojo

Victoria J. VanUitert

Gail Lovette

Maria A. Longhi

Sarah Benson

Sarah R. Powell

Christian T. Doabler

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

Developing scientific literacy is necessary for students with disabilities (SWD) as it supports the ability to create solutions to real-world problems and understand current events, and it strengthens critical thinking, problem-solving, and complex communication skills. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate extant literature on inquiry-based science interventions for SWD in service of developing scientific practices.

How Does Modifying a Scratch Game Support Teacher Learning?

There is a compelling need to strengthen professional learning (PL) regarding systems thinking, since it crosses all disciplinary boundaries and is a crosscutting concept in the Next Generation Science Standards. Yet research has shown that effectively deploying systems thinking in the classroom is challenging both for students and for teachers.

Author/Presenter

Gillian Puttick

Debra Bernstein

Michael Cassidy

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2025
Short Description

There is a compelling need to strengthen professional learning (PL) regarding systems thinking, since it crosses all disciplinary boundaries and is a crosscutting concept in the Next Generation Science Standards. Yet research has shown that effectively deploying systems thinking in the classroom is challenging both for students and for teachers. This paper presents a case study of how two middle school science teachers, engaged in systems thinking and a game design task, worked together to modify a Scratch game during a PL workshop.