Projects

This project is developing software and curriculum materials in which data generated by students playing computer games form the raw material for mathematics classroom activities. Students play a short video game, analyze the game data, conjecture improved strategies, and test their strategies in another round of the game.

This project will develop an integrated, justice-oriented curriculum and a digital platform for teaching secondary students about data science in science and social studies classrooms. The platform will help students learn about data science using real-world data sets and problems. This interdisciplinary project will also help students meaningfully analyze real-world data sets, interpret social phenomena, and engage in social change.

This project will design and develop a new K-12 classroom observation protocol for integrated STEM instruction (STEM-OP). The STEM-OP will inform the instruction of integrated STEM in many contexts with the goal of improving integrated STEM education.

This project will design and develop a new K-12 classroom observation protocol for integrated STEM instruction (STEM-OP). The STEM-OP will inform the instruction of integrated STEM in many contexts with the goal of improving integrated STEM education.

This project will design and develop a new K-12 classroom observation protocol for integrated STEM instruction (STEM-OP). The STEM-OP will inform the instruction of integrated STEM in many contexts with the goal of improving integrated STEM education.

Elementary school students' prolonged experiences with positive numbers and operations often lead to their overgeneralizations of rules (e.g., adding always makes larger numbers, subtracting always makes smaller numbers). These overgeneralizations can make learning algebra more difficult later, particularly when students must simultaneously learn algebra, negative numbers, and operations with negative numbers. The purpose of this project is to design and develop educational games centered on negative number concepts that target students before they learn algebra in middle school. Earlier exposure to and learning about negative numbers could increase students' motivation, understanding of connections between positive and negative numbers, and preparation for algebra.

Elementary school students' prolonged experiences with positive numbers and operations often lead to their overgeneralizations of rules (e.g., adding always makes larger numbers, subtracting always makes smaller numbers). These overgeneralizations can make learning algebra more difficult later, particularly when students must simultaneously learn algebra, negative numbers, and operations with negative numbers. The purpose of this project is to design and develop educational games centered on negative number concepts that target students before they learn algebra in middle school. Earlier exposure to and learning about negative numbers could increase students' motivation, understanding of connections between positive and negative numbers, and preparation for algebra.

Elementary school students' prolonged experiences with positive numbers and operations often lead to their overgeneralizations of rules (e.g., adding always makes larger numbers, subtracting always makes smaller numbers). These overgeneralizations can make learning algebra more difficult later, particularly when students must simultaneously learn algebra, negative numbers, and operations with negative numbers. The purpose of this project is to design and develop educational games centered on negative number concepts that target students before they learn algebra in middle school. Earlier exposure to and learning about negative numbers could increase students' motivation, understanding of connections between positive and negative numbers, and preparation for algebra.

This project will address the need for engineering resources by applying an innovative pedagogy called Imaginative Education (IE) to create middle school engineering curricula. In IE, developmentally appropriate narratives are used to design learning environments that help learners engage with content and organize their knowledge productively. This project will combine IE with transmedia storytelling.

This project will address the need for engineering resources by applying an innovative pedagogy called Imaginative Education (IE) to create middle school engineering curricula. In IE, developmentally appropriate narratives are used to design learning environments that help learners engage with content and organize their knowledge productively. This project will combine IE with transmedia storytelling.

Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) are a structure for redefining the relationship between education research and development and practice so as to more effectively address real problems in order to produce knowledge that can meaningfully contribute to improvement. This project provides an opportunity to learn how best to implement NIC principles so as to realize their potential to support STEM initiatives.

This project will address the potential positive and negative impacts of using 360-degree video for bridging the gap between theory and practice in mathematics instruction by investigating how preservice teachers' tacit and explicit professional knowledge are facilitated using immersive video technology and annotations.

This project investigates how vignette illustrations minimize the impact of limited English proficiency on student performance in science tests. Different analyses will determine whether and how ELL and non-ELL students differ significantly on the ways they use vignettes to make sense of items; whether the use of vignettes reduces test-score differences due to language factors between ELL and non-ELL students; and whether the level of distance of the items moderates the effectiveness of vignette-illustrated items.

The project will establish a sustained community of practice for high school teachers skilled in the VisChem Approach and a group of new teaching and research scholars with expertise in building conceptual understanding through the effective use of visualization. The project will help students move from describing phenomena to explaining their causes from a molecular-level perspectives (e.g., carbon dioxide in climate change, DNA changes in genetically modified organisms).

This project explores how classroom conversations can engage children in making sense of the problems that they are addressing and foregrounding ethics while making design decisions. To provide children with opportunities to engage in rich classroom conversations, the project team uses a community-based engineering curricular approach, where students address problems that affect their local school communities.

This project explores how classroom conversations can engage children in making sense of the problems that they are addressing and foregrounding ethics while making design decisions. To provide children with opportunities to engage in rich classroom conversations, the project team uses a community-based engineering curricular approach, where students address problems that affect their local school communities.

One significant challenge facing elementary STEM education is the varied preparation of English-language learners. The project addresses this with an innovative use of engineering curriculum to build on the English-language learners' prior experiences. The project will support teachers' learning about strategies for teaching English-language learners and using engineering design tasks as learning opportunities for mathematics, science and communication skills. 

This project will create a portable training system that can be easily deployed in middle grades (5th-7th grade) as a prototype for increasing students' spatial reasoning skills. The project will study gender differences in spatial reasoning and examine how learning experiences can be designed to develop spatial skills using Minecraft as a platform.

The goal of this project is to build teacher capacity for integrating computational thinking (CT) into grades 6–8 science classrooms. The project will support teacher professional vision and adaptive expertise for CT-infused instruction through instructional coaching, professional development workshops, and an online professional learning community. These efforts aim to empower teachers to design, enact, and adapt CT-integrated lessons that foster students’ positive attitudes toward science and enhance their knowledge of science and CT.

The goal of this project is to build teacher capacity for integrating computational thinking (CT) into grades 6–8 science classrooms. The project will support teacher professional vision and adaptive expertise for CT-infused instruction through instructional coaching, professional development workshops, and an online professional learning community. These efforts aim to empower teachers to design, enact, and adapt CT-integrated lessons that foster students’ positive attitudes toward science and enhance their knowledge of science and CT.

Mathematical Opportunities in Student Thinking (MOSTs) are high-leverage instances of student mathematical thinking that emerge in whole-class discussions. The challenge for teachers is to build on these opportunities to help the whole class understand the mathematics underlying these student contributions. To help teachers learn how to build on MOSTs, there is a need for professional development resources and tools that facilitators can use. There is also a need for research about how teachers use what they learn in professional development in their teaching. This project is developing a teacher learning sequence that will support teachers in learning to productively use student thinking that surfaces in-the-moment during their instruction—that is, in learning to build on MOSTs.

Mathematical Opportunities in Student Thinking (MOSTs) are high-leverage instances of student mathematical thinking that emerge in whole-class discussions. The challenge for teachers is to build on these opportunities to help the whole class understand the mathematics underlying these student contributions. To help teachers learn how to build on MOSTs, there is a need for professional development resources and tools that facilitators can use. There is also a need for research about how teachers use what they learn in professional development in their teaching. This project is developing a teacher learning sequence that will support teachers in learning to productively use student thinking that surfaces in-the-moment during their instruction—that is, in learning to build on MOSTs.

This project is developing a model for integrating best practices in technology-supported instructional design and formative assessment for genetics instruction in upper elementary, middle and high school. Using the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment platform, the project is developing school curriculum that scaffold and model scientific practices, enable students to interface with real-world problems, provide opportunities for students to make connections between visible phenomena and underlying genetic processes, and promote student monitoring and reflection on learning.

This project will study a model of pre-service teacher preparation that is designed to to increase teachers' and students' skills and confidence with computational thinking and develop teachers as designers of inclusive learning environments to promote computational thinking. The project will engage elementary (grades K-5) pre-service teachers (who are concurrently involved in school-based teacher preparation programs) as facilitators in an existing family technology program called Family Creative Learning (FCL).

This is a collaborative project to develop, test, and analyze sets of technology-supported diagnostic classroom assessments for middle school (grades 6-8) physical science. Assessments are aligned with the performance assessment and evidence-centered design methodologies suggested in the Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012).