ECR Projects

Explore past and current fundamental STEM education research projects across the three research areas that NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program funds, as well as across ECR funding types. Other search filters draw from both NSF's data and the ECR Hub's hand coding of award abstracts.

Ninth-grade biology students create cell models using clay.

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Institute on Equity-Oriented Mixture Modeling for Discipline-Based Education Research Scholars

Effective Years: 2022-2025

The goal of the Institute on Equity-Oriented Mixture Modeling for Discipline-Based Education Research Scholars is to train Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER) scholars in the use of mixture modeling to address pressing issues around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in STEM education. Mixture modeling is a powerful tool for uncovering heterogeneity in student experiences and providing a richer way of understanding the experiences of students typically underrepresented in STEM fields. Although mixture modeling is not yet common among DBER scholars, it is a well-established tool with great potential to enrich the fields understanding of DEI-related issues in STEM education.

The Institute provides intensive training and mentoring to two cohorts of 10 DBER scholars. The initial training includes 10 days of synchronous and asynchronous online training with materials specifically tailored towards the DBER scholars selected for each cohort. All participants receive ongoing mentoring from the senior project staff the year following the summer training to support them as they apply mixture modeling to their own STEM education research questions and seek to present and publish their work. Throughout all Institute activities, the senior project staff will work to build an enduring learning community of DBER scholars interested in the use of mixture modeling.

The project is supported by NSF’s EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.