NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources Research across EHR

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NSF Directorate for Education and Human
Resources Research across EHR
Barbara M. Olds Division of Research, Evaluation
and Communication National Science Foundation

• 2004 NSF K-12 Math, Science, and Technology
• Curriculum Developers Conference
• May 10, 2004

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Re-examining Education Research across EHR

• Context
• New division directors
• Research mindset and cycle of innovation from
  Judith Ramaley
• Increased interest across the Directorate
• Responses
• Math portfolio review
• REC workshop series
• Lectures, seminars, IRG
• Hoped-for results and products

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Cycle of Discovery, Innovation and Application1
Design, implement, and document interventions
Design and develop tools, materials and methods
Synthesize and interpret results and identify new
insights and questions
Research on problems of learning, teaching,
implementation, and policy
Develop and test theory and knowledge about
teaching and learning

1 Adapted from RAND Mathematics Study Panel
(Mathematical Proficiency for All Students
Toward a Strategic Research and Development
Program in Mathematics Education (p. 6) OERI, US
Department of Education), 2003.
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Mathematics Portfolio ReviewKey Questions

• What is EHRs investment in mathematics
  education?
• What has been the impact of EHRs investment in
  mathematics education?

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Sine Qua Non for all EHR Mathematics Education
Projects

• Mathematical Integrity and Quality
• Warranted Foundation and Knowledge Generation

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Highlights related to Research

• Several current programs have a research
  emphasis REC, CLT, Large-scale Reform,
  Instructional Materials, and Teacher Professional
  Continuum
• No current clusters have a focus on synthesizing
  and interpreting results as a means of
  identifying new questions and/or developing new
  insights

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Highlights related to Research, continued

• Proposers generally build on their own previous
  research, and/or their own practice and
  experience, but projects generally do not build
  well on relevant research knowledge bases beyond
  those of the PIs
• Outside of REC panelists identified a key issue
  as the strength of the research design within
  REC key issues were connections with the content
  and insufficient expectation that the research
  should influence practice

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Highlights related to Research, continued

• Tools and experiences built within individual
  projects do not accumulate, and the portfolio
  isnt designed in a way that facilitates that
  accumulation
• Multidisciplinary expertise is needed within
  individual projects to address the complex
  problems of educational improvement

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Workshop Questions

• What are the recent trends or directions (whether
  these be domain or topic specific or
  methodological in nature) in the STEM education
  field (as you define or understand it) and where
  do you think the field is headed in the next 5
  years?
• In what areas (domains, topics, methods) is the
  most creative STEM education research/evaluation/
  communication being done in your opinion, and
  where do you see opportunities for creativity
  that are being missed?

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Workshop Questions

• What are three or four questions of national
  importance in educational research/evaluation/
  communication where there has been little
  progress and three or four questions where we
  seem to have a reasonable accumulation of
  knowledge? How do we, as a field, effectively
  capitalize on both strengths and weaknesses?
• 4. What are the major obstacles or threats to
  progress and the accumulation of knowledge in the
  field? Why do you think these are impediments
  and what, if anything, do you think can be done
  about them?

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Common Issues (7 Cs)

• Capacity building (people and tools)
• Cumulativity
• Collaboration
• Context
• Conditional (beta) studies
• Communication
• Cyberinifrastructure

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The Lecture Series on Scientific Research in
Education

• Should questions or methods drive the enterprise?
  (Shavelson)
• How can we identify 'what's happening' in a given
  intervention? (Eisenhart)
• How can we identify if there's a "systematic
  effect" in a given intervention? (Reichardt)
• What are the causal mechanisms that can be
  identified in a given intervention and how do
  they work? (Raudenbusch)
• Research, Program Evaluation, Assessment, and
  Accountability (Shepard)

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The Seminar Series

• Four sessions
• Overview and issues
• The research mindset through projects
• The research mindset through solicitations
• Next steps
• Facilitated by Alan Schoenfeld, consultant from
  UC-Berkeley

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The Internal Resource Group (IRG)

• Composed of people from every division in EHR
• The think tank for the process
• Developers of products and proposers of next
  steps

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Well know weve succeeded when

• Education research informs EHR programs and is
  reflected in solicitations
• All funded projects contribute to the research
  base in some way
• The field and program officers understand how
  research plays a role in programs across EHR
• We have a true portfolio (around the cycle)
• We are able to accumulate knowledge across
  programs