Transforming STEM Education Through Research and Development

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Transforming STEM Education Through Research and
Development

• Joan Ferrini-Mundy
• Director, Division of Research on Learning in
  Formal and Informal Settings
• National Science Foundation
• Presentation at Discovery Research K-12 Principal
  Investigator Meeting
• Wednesday, November 12, 2008
• Washington, DC

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The Discovery Research K-12 Program

• Impressive foundation
• Daunting challenges
• Unprecedented opportunity

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impressive foundation
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• 1956 Physical Science Study Committee
• 1958 School Mathematics Study Group
• 1958 Biological Science Curriculum Study
• 1966 National Longitudinal Study of
  Mathematics Abilities

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More recently

• Centers for Learning and Teaching
• Teacher Professional Continuum Program
• Instructional Materials Development Program

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(No Transcript)
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• Our portfolio is continually evolving as we
  identify and pursue new research at the frontiers
  of knowledge. An essential part of our mission is
  to constantly re-think old categories and
  traditional perspectives. This ability is more
  important than ever, as conventional boundaries
  constantly shift and disappear boundaries
  between nations, between disciplines, between
  science and engineering, and between what is
  basic and what is applied. NSF, with its mandate
  to support all fields of science and engineering,
  is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of
  researchers exploring human knowledge at these
  interfaces, whether were organizing
  interdisciplinary conferences, enabling
  cyber-sharing of data and information, or
  encouraging new collaborations and partnerships
  across disciplinary and national borders.

Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., Director, National
Science Foundation Testimony Before the Research
and Science Education Subcommittee House
Committee on Science and Technology, February 26,
2008
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DRK-12, Two Years Old
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daunting challenges
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• One striking fact is that the complex world of
  education unlike defense, health care, or
  industrial production does not rest on a strong
  research base. In no other field are personal
  experience and ideology so frequently relied on
  to make policy choices, and in no other field is
  the research base so inadequate and so little
  used.
• National Research Council (1999). Improving
  student learning
• A strategic plan for education research and its
  utilization.

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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CYCLE
evaluate and generalize
synthesize and theorize
implement, study, and improve
hypothesize and clarify
design, develop, and test
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Challenges presented by the cycle

• Using findings, methods, and perspectives from
  one part of the cycle as the foundation for work
  in another part
• Refining what types of claims can be made and
  what warrant is appropriate for work at each part
  of the cycle
• Being explicit about method and evidence at each
  part of the cycle
• Considering what the downstream implications of
  work will be and designing accordingly
• Using a research perspective in development, and
  an applications perspective in research

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Sample outcome measure for DRK-12

• Percentage of development-intensive projects in
  the DRK-12 program that employ appropriate
  methods, applied rigorously, to evaluate efficacy.

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Promoting Learning Through Research and
Evaluation Trade-offs

• reaching large numbers designing and testing
  models
• catalyzing innovation sustaining programs
• building capacity emphasizing track record
• funding across the cycle emphasizing some areas
  intentionally
• sharing formative findings -- waiting for
  effectiveness results
• identifying best practices and replicating --
  continuing to seek new models and taking risks

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unprecedented opportunity
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Change NSF Intellectual Merit Criterion

• What is the intellectual merit of the proposed
  activity?
• How important is the proposed activity to
  advancing knowledge and understanding within its
  own field or across different fields? How well
  qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to
  conduct the project? (If appropriate, the
  reviewer will comment on the quality of prior
  work.) To what extent does the proposed activity
  suggest and explore creative, original, or
  potentially transformative concepts? How well
  conceived and organized is the proposed activity?
  Is there sufficient access to resources?

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Transformative ResearchWorking Definition

• Transformative research involves ideas,
  discoveries, or tools that radically change our
  understanding of an important existing scientific
  or engineering concept or educational practice or
  leads to the creation of a new paradigm or field
  of science, engineering, or education. Such
  research challenges current understanding or
  provides pathways to new frontiers.

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Transformative ResearchWorking Definition
(contd.)

• Transformative research results often do not fit
  within established models or theories and may
  initially be unexpected or difficult to
  interpret their transformative nature and
  utility might not be recognized until years
  later.

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Transformative ResearchWorking Definition
(contd.)

• Characteristics of transformative research are
  that it
• Challenges conventional wisdom,
• Leads to unexpected insights that enable new
  techniques or methodologies, and/or
• Redefines the boundaries of science, engineering,
  or education.

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potentially transformative research
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• Note that the definition does not restrict PTR to
  only those truly paradigm-changing breakthroughs
  often mentioned in this context (relativity,
  plate tectonics, etc.). Some examples
• Using magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain
  function, which greatly expanded the limits of
  behavioral research
• Using polar ice sheets as neutrino detectors,
  originally tested in Greenland through an NSF
  SGER award
• Research into large-scale, hypertext web searches
  that eventually led to current state-of-the-art
  search engines.
• Research in AI that led to widely used learning
  tools such as the Cognitive Tutor
• Universal Design principles that have led to
  learning resources accessible for all
• Further illustrative examples will be available
  on the NSF web pages, along with a list of FAQs

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Transforming

• STEM teaching practice
• STEM curricular content
• STEM teacher education
• Development of resources, models, and tools
• Research methods

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EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory
Research(EAGER)

• Exploratory work in its early stages on untested,
  but potentially transformative, research ideas or
  approaches 
• Replace part of SGER
• High Risk-High Payoff"
• Radically different approaches, new expertise, or
  novel disciplinary or interdisciplinary
  perspectives
• Budget consistent with project scope and existing
  programmatic activities (up to 300K for 2 years)

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Grants for Rapid Response Research(RAPID)

• Rapid release of funds and expedited merit review
• Replace part of SGER
• having a severe urgency with regard to
  availability of, or access to data, facilities or
  specialized equipment, including quick-response
  research on natural or anthropogenic disasters
  and similar unanticipated events

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More RAPID

• Budget consistent with project scope and existing
  programmatic activities (up to 200K for 1 year)
• Require internal review/with optional external
  input
• 2-5 page project description
• No cost extensions/supplements -- existing NSF
  policies

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• Sustained exploration of a focused set of core
  ideas in a discipline is a promising direction
  for organizing science instruction a research
  and development program is needed to identify and
  elaborate the progressions of learning and
  instruction.

NRC, Taking Science to School, p. 341
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• More research is needed that identifies
• Effective instructional practices, materials, and
  principles of instructional design
• Mechanisms of learning
• Ways to enhance teachers effectiveness,
  including teacher education, that are directly
  tied to objective measures of student achievement
• Item and test features that improve the
  assessment of mathematical knowledge

Foundations for Success, NMP, p. xxvi
National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008
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• Increase the quantity and quality of PreK-12 Math
  and Science Teachers
• Invest in a Technology Investment Fund
• Leverage National Efforts and Encourage State
  Collaboration to Improve Implementation
• Improve Measures of STEM Learning
• Inspire Americans to Excel in, and Embrace,
  Science and Engineering
• From Investing in Americas Future Barack
  Obama and Joe Bidens Plan for Science and
  Innovation

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What kind of research and development might help?

• Design research to build, test, and revise
  approaches, models, and proofs of concept for
  learning
• Research about effectiveness of instructional
  materials, including implementation studies and
  measures of implementation
• Research about impact of teacher education or
  teacher professional development on student
  learning and about innovation in teacher
  development models
• Research to improve assessment instruments for
  students and teachers
• Research about STEM learning in the cyber
  infrastructure
• Research about features of resources, models, and
  tools that relate to learning

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To do this, we need

• More disciplinary STEM education researchers
• Disciplinary scientists, mathematicians,
  engineers, cognitive scientists, policy scholars,
  disciplinary educational researchers, measurement
  experts, and methodologists to collaborate to
  solve the problems of education, in partnership
  with K-12 practitioners
• Models of innovation and transformation in K-12
  STEM education that can be, and are, studied,
  adapted, improved, and scaled up when appropriate

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DRK-12 Resource Network