January 2025 Newsletter

Happy 2025 DRK-12 PI Community!

Letter from NSF Program Directors

NSF logoIt is hard to believe we are already three weeks into 2025! In this new year, we want to take a moment to thank you for all the work you are doing to advance preK-12 STEM education with innovative programs, projects, and research. Every day, you are learning more about new ways to enhance the teaching and learning of STEM, including exploring questions in disciplines and topics that are still new and emerging, like artificial intelligence (AI), data science, and microelectronics. We are encouraged by your enthusiasm and commitment to STEM education in preK-12 classrooms, and we are inspired by the good work that is happening across the DRK-12 community.

In 2024, we continued to see new initiatives at NSF, the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU), and the Division of Research on Learning (DRL) in Formal and Informal Learning Settings. Of recent note, and of interest to the DRK-12 community, EDU published two Dear Colleague Letters, both of which highlight new opportunities and areas of interest for submitting proposals across STEM EDU programs, including the DRK-12 program. One letter highlights developing research about STEM education in and with rural and remote areas and communities. The other letter highlights work in EPSCoR jurisdictions.

Also of note, two consensus reports were recently published by the National Academies of Sciences that have implications for the preK-12 STEM education community. The first report is on innovation and implementation in preK-12 STEM education. It describes factors that affect the extent to which promising innovations are implemented broadly, identifies gaps in the research, and provides guidance on how to address barriers to implementation. The second report focuses on advancing STEM education in rural communities. The report includes recommendations to federal, state, and local educational agencies, programs, and other relevant stakeholders to advance STEM education and workforce development for rural America. Both reports touch on the need to connect to the communities, school districts, schools, and organizations involved in STEM education. As you think about your current and future DRK-12 projects, it is worth taking a look at these two reports.

To further the connections between research and practice, a new solicitation focused on issues of translation and diffusion in preK-12 STEM education has been released that seeks studies about how research can be better translated into practice. This new program supports projects that identify and address issues involved in translating research into preK-12 STEM classroom practices, as well as projects that leverage insights from educational practice to drive fundamental research. We are excited about receiving proposals for this new program. The deadline for full proposals is April 1, 2025.

As always, NSF’s DRK-12 program team is here to serve you! Program directors are always happy to hear about your accomplishments, publications, presentations, and the new ways you might be sharing your work with different groups, through different mediums, and in different contexts. We encourage you to reach out to program directors with questions about existing awards as well as ideas for new proposals.

Thank you again for all you do for teachers and learners in preK-12 STEM education contexts. We wish you all a wonderful and productive 2025, and we look forward to seeing many of you at the DRK-12 PI meeting in June.

Margret Hjalmarson & Melissa Luna
Program Leads, Discovery Research PreK-12, National Science Foundation

Dear Colleagues,

CADRE logoThank you Drs. Luna and Hjalmarson for your message to the DRK-12 community.

CADRE is excited to introduce the 2025 CADRE Fellows! As we mark the program's 15th anniversary, we are proud to welcome our first cohort of early career scholars from EPSCoR jurisdictions and rural areas. We encourage you to get to know these scholars and their research—perhaps even ahead of meeting them at the 2025 DRK-12 PI Meeting.

The 2025 DRK-12 PI Meeting is approaching, and registration is now open! NSF, the PI meeting planning committee, and CADRE invite proposals for sessions that showcase your DRK-12 research, share insights, and facilitate collaboration with fellow researchers.

This month, we highlight AI in STEM education and research. CADRE is adding two new briefs to our ongoing series on AI in STEM. These briefs were featured in a recent Learning Series webinar titled Generative AI in STEM Teaching and Learning. If you missed it, you can watch the recording or join us at the upcoming AERA session, where the authors will discuss key issues in AI for preK-12 STEM teaching and learning. Additionally, our Spotlight on AI in STEM Education Research features DRK-12 projects that are advancing innovative AI tools and strategies to enhance education.

If you have recent products or upcoming presentations you would like to promote, we invite you to complete our annual Websites, Publications, and Presentations survey to share details about your project-related dissemination efforts. We’d love to hear from you! The information you provide will help us enrich your project page on cadrek12.org and feature your work in future newsletters.

Best,

The CADRE Team

Meet the 2025 CADRE Fellows | Announcement

Collage of Fellows headshots

We are excited to announce the newest cohort of CADRE Fellows. This year, Fellows are representing a variety of institutions in EPSCoR jurisdictions and rural areas. Congratulations to this talented group of early career scholars! View their bios to learn more about their work and research interests.

  • Margaret Ann Bolick, Clemson University
  • Yin Hong Cheah, University of Idaho
  • Heidi Cian, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
  • Nicollette Frank, Broader Impacts Group, University of Montana
  • Min Jung Lee, University of North Dakota
  • Chris Pavlovich, Montana Technological University
  • Kenley Ritter, University of Idaho
  • Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, University of North Dakota
  • Yao Yao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Visit CADRE's Early Career page for more information about the Fellows program, early career resources, and early career news.

View Bios

Generative AI in STEM Teaching and Learning: Now and in the Future | New CADRE Brief & Webinar Recording

f, The cover of the brief, Generative AI in STEM Teaching: Opportunities and TradeoffsCADRE is excited to share a new brief, Generative AI in STEM Teaching: Opportunities and Tradeoffs, which explores the exciting possibilities and critical challenges of generative AI (GenAI) for STEM teaching. The authors reaffirm the essential role of teachers and emphasize the need to include teachers in the design, development, and study of GenAI tools that are intended to benefit STEM education.

This authors of this brief on AI in STEM teaching joined authors of an upcoming brief, The Potential of Using AI to Improve Student Learning in STEM: Now and in the Future, in a CADRE Learning Series webinar on January 24 to discuss 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. View the recording and slides.

Read the Brief

Artificial Intelligence in STEM Education Research | Spotlight

Headshots of panelists

In this month’s Spotlight, we are excited to highlight CADRE briefs and Learning Series recordings focused on aspects of AI in STEM education and feature XX projects that are leveraging AI to improve teaching, learning, and research. The Spotlight also includes two blogs on the potential for AI to transform game-based learning, AI-related publications from DRK-12 products, and a list of additional projects working in this area.

In This Spotlight:

  • Artificial Intelligence in STEM Education: Briefs & Webinar Recordings
  • Featured Projects
    •  
  • Additional Projects
  • Related Resources

Share Your DRK-12 Project Work | Survey

CADRE logoEach year, CADRE collects recent project work through our Websites, Publications, and Presentations survey. We encourage awardees to complete the survey to share your DRK-12 conference presentations, recent publications, new products, and project websites.

In addition to sharing your work in newsletters, CADRE uses this information to update project pages, the event calendar, and the resource library on cadrek12.org.

Take Survey

Newsbites

News from NSF

News from NSF Networks

  • STELAR recently released a new ITEST Data Dashboard. Explore NSF ITEST-funded projects, focus areas, partnerships, and data on youth participants.
  • The EQR Hub just published a brief and video for the project Demystifying How to Participate in NSF Funding: Lessons Learned from NSF-Funded Resource Centers.

News from DRK-12 Projects and Awardees

Awards and 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

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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