(SIG members only)
This group continues their December 2011 discussion of their gaming/virtual environment work. SIG members focus on successful approaches to common challenges, establish priorities for implementing recommendations from their group meeting, and share the current versions of their games/virtual environments.
CADRE invites feedback on a draft paper that describes how evaluation can add value to an R&D project, with special attention to the challenges of making a distinction between evaluation and the project’s research activities.
CADRE is developing a concise "options paper" on project evaluation and invites your feedback in this session. The draft paper, to be distributed to participants, describes challenges in evaluating an R&D project (e.g., how to distinguish between evaluation and the project's research activities). It identifies options for current project leaders, evaluators, and prospective grant applicants to consider. Your feedback in the session will help improve the paper before CADRE revises and distributes it.
(Open to all grantees)
Participants share their experiences transitioning to digital curricula, explore what curricula should look like, and define how digital curricula enhance and deepen science learning.
Since the last SIG meeting, a great deal has happened relating to technology in the classroom. Most notably, the availability and promotion of e-textbooks at the K-12 grade levels have begun to dominate the e-learning landscape. An increased use of a variety of other digital tools designed to enhance learning such as educational games, banks of virtual simulations, and digital assessment features are being developed by major publishers and groups like Apple. A brief overview of the current state of educational technology will be presented.
(Open to all grantees)
This session includes a presentation on English Language Learners and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards, followed by discipline-based discussions.
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics and the forthcoming Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have taken shape during a period of rapidly changing student demographics and continuing science achievement gaps which emphasize issues related to English language learners. In addition to the focus on disciplinary core ideas, the new standards emphasize “practices”— mathematical practices and scientific and engineering practices—which are language intensive.
CADRE invites feedback on a draft paper that identifies alternatives to conventional dissemination in current DR K-12 projects, as well as other creative options worth considering.
CADRE is developing a concise paper, "From Dissemination to Knowledge Use," and invites your feedback in this session. The draft paper, to be distributed to participants, identifies alternatives to conventional dissemination for DR K-12 projects. It briefly describes the relevant research on knowledge use and suggests options for applying this research in ongoing or planned projects. Your feedback in the session will help improve the paper before CADRE revises and distributes it.
(By invitation only – Fellows and nominating PIs)
During this welcome meeting for the 2011-2012 Fellows and their PIs, participants have the opportunity to meet informally with each other, National Science Foundation (NSF) program officers, and CADRE staff.
Meeting rooms available for PO and grantee discussions. (Prior to the meeting, send requests to CADRE@edc.org. During the meeting, sign up at the registration table.)
Professional development frequently doesn’t achieve major increases in effective STEM teaching. Can innovative, technology-based models for professional development help us achieve sustainable, substantial changes in practice?
This collaborative session begins with a dilemma—the realization that professional development often falls short of expectations for improving teacher practice and classroom learning. The presenters realize that teaching is a culturally bound endeavor, and changing classroom culture is extremely complex. Their NSF projects are founded on theories of action grounded in research, that is, theories of what is required for professional development programs to change teacher awareness, motivation, understanding, and actual classroom action in STEM.
Early Literacy Educator of the Year Award submissions are now being accepted. Deadline: June 15, 2012
To view the full announcement, visit http://cadrek12.org/sites/default/files/2012ECEAAwardAnnouncement.pdf
The Congressional Research Service recently released a report, An Analysis of STEM Education Funding at the NSF: Trends and Policy Discussion.
