December 2025 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

This month, CADRE’s newsletter features our annual review of the past year’s most popular content. We hope you enjoy this look back.

As we reflect on the year, we also note a significant development: the closing of the DRK–12 program. In past years, November marked the deadline for DRK–12 proposal submissions; instead, the program has now been discontinued. To honor and better understand its impact, we’ve taken a retrospective look at what was the largest federal funding mechanism for applied preK–12 STEM education research. We invite you to read our retrospective of the DRK–12 program.

We also invite you to share your thoughts about the role of the DRK–12 program:

  • How has DRK–12 influenced your own work or trajectory?
  • What has been the impact of the program on the communities you serve?
  • In what ways has DRK–12 shaped the broader preK–12 STEM education field?

Please add your reflections about the DRK–12 program to this Padlet. You can contribute in whatever format is easiest—short text, an image or graphic, or a brief video.

Although the DRK–12 solicitation has been archived, many resources on CADREK12.org remain relevant for those proposing and implementing NSF STEM PreK–12 projects. While CADRE will archive our website starting in February, the Proposal Toolkit and other key resources will continue to be accessible. Because we will no longer make changes to the website once it is archived, we encourage you to send any updates you would like us to make to your project page by January 31. We will send our final newsletter in January.

Even as CADRE comes to a close, we are excited to be organizing a session on early learning and mathematics for AERA’s annual meeting that features DRK–12 projects. We hope you’ll watch for the AERA meeting program and join us there.

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

Warm regards,
The CADRE Team

A Review of Popular DRK–12 News and Resources from 2025

We're looking back on DRK–12 work in 2025 and sharing some of the most popular content.

Most Visited 2025 Spotlights


Artificial Intelligence in STEM Education Research
DRK-12 Partnership Development Projects
Early STEM Learning
Several of our older Spotlights continue to receive high traffic, including Modeling in Science & Mathematics Education (2020), Family Engagement to Support STEM Learning (2024), and Teacher Content Knowledge (2020).
 

Most Clicked 2025 Newsbites

  1. “Adapting for a Local Space Can be Tricky”: Designing Units for Teachers to Localize Through Phenomenon Adaptation | Science Education | Authors: Emily M. Harris, Lindsey Mohan, Adrienne A. Hanson, Katahdin A. Cook Whitt, Candice Guy-Gaytán (2015-16 CADRE Fellow), and Lisa O. Kenyon
  2. Exploring Middle School Science Teachers’ Curriculum Sensemaking | Journal of Science Teacher Education | Authors: Gary Wright, Laura Zangori, Suzanne Otto, Rebekah Snyder, and Laura Cole
  3. Beyond Implementation: How Teachers Reflect, Adapt, and Grow with an Innovative Science Curriculum | Journal of Science Teacher Education | Authors: Rebecca R. Lesnefsky, Troy D. Sadler, and David Fortus

Popular 2025 Social Media Posts

Most Engagement on X:

New award logoA few new DRK–12 awards have been announced! Read this and more in our latest newsletter: https://cadrek12.org/newsletters/july-2025-newsletter#awards #EdResearch
 

Career and Professional Development logoIf you are in search of STEM #EdResearch opportunities, explore our updated list of career, conference, publication, and funding opportunities: https://cadrek12.org/upcoming-stem-education-opportunities.
 

Most Engagement on Facebook:
 

NSF logoNew information (FAQs) has been added to NSF's page on its implementation of recent executive orders: https://new.nsf.gov/executive-orders

 

NSF logoNew Solicitation from NSF for K-12 STEM Education research! Many of the former NSF #STEMEd solicitations (DRK–12, AISL, CSforAll) are now archived. https://www.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/stem-k-12-nsf-stem-k-12/nsf25-545/solicitationNew information (FAQs) has been added to NSF's page on its implementation of recent executive orders: https://new.nsf.gov/executive-orders New information (FAQs) has been added to NSF's page on its implementation of recent executive orders: https://new.nsf.gov/executive-orders

 
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Most Viewed 2025 DRK–12 Community Voices Blog Posts

Beyond Academia: How CADRE Fellows Are Leading, Innovating, and Driving Change in K–12 STEM Education

by The CADRE Team

Telling Your DRK–12 Impact Story: How Projects Can Contribute to NSF’s Broader Narrative

by The CADRE Team

Assessment as a Critical Element in Advancing STEM Education: Expanding the R&D Knowledge Base?

by James Pellegrino

Several of our older blog posts continue to receive high traffic, including Subject Matter Knowledge Is Important! (2020) by Julie Luft; What Is The Most Important Thing To Teach Toddlers About Mathematics and How Can This Best Be Achieved? (2020) by Arthur Baroody; and Using AI to Connect Game-based and Narrative-Centered Learning (2024) by Jeremy Roschelle, Gautam Biswas, Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, and James Lester.

Most Viewed DRK–12 Project Resources in 2025

  1. Energy 3D | Product for Educators
  2. Supporting Sense-making with Mathematical Bet Lines | Article
  3. Tectonic Explorer | Product for Educators

Find a compilation of 2025 DRK–12 publications in our Reading List.

Most Viewed DRK–12 Project Pages* in 2025

  1. Tools for Teaching and Learning Engineering Practices: Pathways Towards Productive Identity Work in Engineering (PI: Angela Calabrese Barton)
  2. Building High School Students' Understanding of Evolution Through Collection and Analysis of Data, Evidence-based Arguments, and an Understanding of Heredity (PI: Louisa Stark)
  3. Leveraging Exit Tickets to Enhance Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Mathematics Knowledge (PI: Kelley Durkin)

*Not including the DRK–12 resource networks Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education and Evidence Quality and Reach Hub for the DRK-12 Community's project pages.

Most Viewed CADRE Resources in 2025

  1. Front cover of the Generative AI in STEM Teaching: Opportunities and Tradeoffs brief. Includes a stylized CADRE logo.Generative AI in STEM Teaching: Opportunities and Tradeoffs
  2. CADRE Learning Series
  3. NSF Proposal Toolkit
  4. Toward Ethical and Just AI in Education Research
  5. Classroom-Based STEM Assessment: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives
  6. The Potential of Using AI to Improve Student Learning in STEM: Now and in the Future

 

tips

Most Clicked Project Tip of 2025

Project Tip: Telling Your DRK–12 Impact Story: How Projects Can Contribute to NSF’s Broader Narrative

As part of NSF’s DRK–12 program, your project is not only advancing knowledge in STEM education; it’s also helping shape a national story of innovation and impact. How can your team best document and communicate this contribution? Here are ways DRK–12 projects can frame their outcomes to amplify the broader NSF impact narrative across sectors:

  • Highlight improved teaching and learning
  • Showcase strategic curricula and professional development design
  • Tell a story of collaboration and capacity-building
  • Connect to policy and systems change
  • Document innovation and dissemination
  • Lift student and community voices

Find tips in this blog post.

Visit CADRE’s Dissemination Toolkit to access tools to help you tell your story. When your story is ready, send it to CADRE. We’ll help broadcast it.

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

News from DRK–12 Projects and Awardees

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

In Case You Missed It

Highlights from recent newsletters and announcements:

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

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