December 2024 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

2024 has been an eventful year. Alongside other national and global influences on education, artificial intelligence (AI) has become a widely adopted tool. We encourage you to explore CADRE’s brief Toward Ethical and Just AI in Education Research and join us on January 24th for a Learning Series webinar, Generative AI in STEM Teaching and Learning, which will offer discussion from the authors of two soon-to-be-released briefs on this topic.

NSF’s DRK-12 program achieved several milestones this year:

CADRE also released two insightful videos addressing project management challenges—Managing Your NSF Project and Developing and Managing a Budget—as part of the Uncovering the Hidden Curriculum of DRK-12 video series. We gathered an outstanding group of early career scholars and updated the CADRE website and Pinterest page with more than 100 DRK-12-developed curricula and resources for educators. We highlighted community partner voices in the brief, Strategies for Fostering Authentic Community Partnerships in STEM Education Research. Additionally, we addressed a persistent challenge in STEM education research by sharing insights from our DRK-12 colleagues in Recruiting and Retaining Participants for Your Education Research.

We invite you to explore more highlights from this productive year in this newsletter issue.

As we look toward 2025, we’re eager to welcome the 2025 CADRE Fellows, a network of preK-12 STEM education researchers and professionals in EPSCoR jurisdictions and rural areas. We also look forward to connecting with many of you at the PI meeting. If you haven’t yet shared your input on the meeting’s design, please email us—we value your insights! The meeting will feature NSF priorities and initiatives, opportunities to network, updates on DRK-12 research, and discussions on addressing current challenges while exploring future innovations. Registration opens early next year.

As we transition into the new year, some of you may carry concerns alongside your hopes. Janet Whitla, former president of EDC (CADRE’s home institution), aptly said in a 2018 speech, “The courage that the world requires of us is that we walk into the unknown.” At times, it takes even greater courage to step into the known. The work we do in the DRK-12 community is rooted in possibility, partnership, innovation, and, notably, science. We hope these characteristics and the tools of our profession inspire you to approach challenges with humanity and creativity and to continue fostering resiliency, adaptability, and flexibility in preK-12 STEM education.

Finally, we hope you find time to relax and recharge during the winter break.

Warm regards,
The CADRE Team

Generative AI in STEM Teaching and Learning: Now and in the Future | CADRE Learning Series

Headshots of panelists

Friday, January 24, 2025, 1–2:30 PM ET

Join us in January to engage in a discussion with the authors of two upcoming briefs on artificial intelligence (AI) in STEM teaching and learning. They will talk about the current state of AI in STEM education as well as AI's profound potential for supporting STEM teaching and improving STEM learning on a large scale.

Moderated by Ilana Horn (Vanderbilt University), panelists include Shuchi Grover (Looking Glass Ventures), Kevin Haudek (Michigan State University), Joseph Krajcik, (Michigan State University), Jeremy Price (Indiana University Indianapolis), and Namsoo Shin (Michigan State University).

A Review of Popular DRK-12 News and Resources from 2024

We're looking back on DRK-12 work in 2024 and sharing some of the most popular content.

Most Visited 2024 Spotlights


Family Engagement to Support STEM Learning
Social Studies and STEM Integration
Coaching and Mentoring STEM Educators
Several of our older Spotlights continue to receive high traffic, including Culturally Responsive STEM Education (2022), Visual Representations in Mathematics (2018), and Modeling in Science & Mathematics Education (2020).
 

Most Clicked 2024 Newsbites

  1. Dynamics of Productive Confirmation Framing in an Introductory Lab | Physical Review Physics Education Research | Authors: Ian Descamps, Sophia Jeon, N. G. Holmes, Rachel E. Scherr, and David Hammer
  2. An Asset-based Approach for ELLs in Mathematics | Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12 | Authors: Pelin Jackson and Leslie Dietiker
  3. STEM for All: Promoting Inclusive STEM in Early Childhood | Young Children | Authors: Douglas H. Clements, Elica B. Sharifnia, Chih-Ing Lim, Julie Sarama, Megan Vinh, and Natalie Schock

Popular 2024 Social Media Posts
 

Snapshot of Fellows in front of NSF HeadquartersMost Reach on Facebook and Engagement on X:
The 2024 #CADREFellows are at @NSF today and tomorrow to meet with program officers and engage in a mock review of NSF #EdResearch proposals. Learn more about the Fellows program at https://cadrek12.org/about-cadre-fellows-program! #NSFfunded #NSFSTEM

Image of eclipse.Most Impressions on X:
Did you know that @NSF offers educational resources for the April 8 solar eclipse, including a livestream option with scientists? This and more in our latest STEM Smart newsletter for #STEMEd educators: http://r.news.successfulstemeducation.org/ah4todpjlxpfe.html #Edchat #NSFSTEM #NSFfunded #Eclipse2024

 
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | LINKEDIN | YOUTUBE

Most Viewed 2024 DRK-12 Community Voices Blog Posts

The Role of Family Engagement in Promoting STE(A)M Learning

by Cory Buxton and Diana Crespo Camacho

Disseminating DRK-12 Work: Extending Engagement

by The CADRE Team

Using AI to Connect Game-based and Narrative-Centered Learning

by Jeremy Roschelle, Gautam Biswas, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, and James Lester

Several of our older blog posts continue to receive high traffic, including Subject Matter Knowledge Is Important! (2020) by Julie Luft; What Is Environmental Literacy? (2021) by Karen Hollweg; and Learning Trajectories and Equity: Making a Strong Link Stronger (2023) by Jere Confrey and Alan Maloney.

Most Viewed DRK-12 Project Resources in 2024

  1. Energy 3D | Product for Educators
  2. CRIS 7e Lesson Plan Template | Product for Educators
  3. Common Misconceptions About Heat and Insulation | Tool

Find a compilation of 2024 DRK-12 publications in our Reading List.

tips

Most Clicked Project Tips of 2024: A Tie!

Project Tip: Helping New Partners Prepare Biosketches for NSF Proposals

Many experienced DRK-12 proposal submitters are familiar with the requirement to include specific documents for all senior personnel involved in their project. However, the exact requirements change periodically, so it’s important to keep up to date by reviewing the current proposal preparation guide. As DRK-12 projects increasingly involve partners less familiar with NSF processes, meeting these requirements may be more complex and time-consuming than anticipated. For proposed senior personnel without a CV, their relevant professional experience may be more appropriately highlighted in the Synergistic Activities document. Be sure to allot time to assist your new partners in completing these documents.

Project Tip: Take Advantage of NSF Resource Network Proposal Development Resources

While this newsletter primarily focuses on insights, advice, and lessons learned from your peers, CADRE and our fellow NSF Resource Networks offer full suites of resources designed to support you and your team throughout the proposal development process. We highlight a few key offerings here:

December Newsbites

Read this month's roundup of news from NSF, NSF networks, and DRK-12 projects and awardees.

News from NSF

News from NSF Networks

  • CIRCLS, the resource center for NSF-funded work on emerging technologies for teaching and learning, is wrapping up its work at the end of this year. Read the announcement. CIRCLS shares stories from their community and offers opportunities to stay connected.
  • This CIRCLS blog post, Engaging Educators in Emerging Technology Research, shares takeaways from an educator CIRCLS workshop that disseminated computer science education research findings to practitioners and discussed AI in classrooms.

News from DRK-12 Projects and Awardees

Awards & Recognition

Publications

Do you have news to share? Email cadre@edc.org.

Upcoming Opportunities

The following funding and publication opportunities, listed by deadline, may be of interest to you and your DRK-12 project members.

Funding

For more NSF funding opportunities, see CADRE's list of Upcoming NSF DRL EHR Solicitation Deadlines.
 

Publications

For other publication opportunities, including those with ongoing submissions, see CADRE's list of Publications for STEM Educators, Policymakers, and Researchers.
 
Conferences
For more conference information, see CADRE's list of Conferences for STEM Educators, Policymakers, and Researchers.
 

Career & Professional Development

A complete archive of our newsletters and announcements is available on cadrek12.org.

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