Effective: 2019-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: David C Geary, Perla L Myers

Institutions: University of Missouri-Columbia, University of San Diego

The United States has a severe shortage of STEM professionals, and this gap is even more pronounced for underrepresented learners. In 2017, the average mathematics score on the National Assessment of Educational Progress for 4th-grade English Language Learner (ELL) students was 26 points lower than the average score for their non-ELL peers. The closing of this gap will require interventions that focus on mathematics and on the visuospatial competencies that support mathematics learning....

Effective: 2019-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: ChangChia J Liu

Institution: New York Hall of Science

Informal learning institutions, such as science centers and museums, are well-positioned to broaden participation in engineering pathways by providing children from underrepresented groups with motivational, self-directed engineering design experiences. Though many informal learning institutions offer opportunities for young visitors to engage in engineering activities, little is known about the specific features of these activities that support children's motivation in engineering design...

Effective: 2019-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Heather Griller Clark, Michael Krezmien

Institutions: Arizona State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The project will investigate the impact of a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) App-based curriculum on STEM career knowledge, interests, competencies, and readiness for incarcerated youth. Integrating STEM into Transition Education for Incarcerated Learners (INSITE) will integrate STEM workforce development activities into Merging Worlds, an empirically supported transition program, and deliver it through a UDL App-based framework to prepare and support STEM career readiness and employment...

Effective: 2019-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Heather Hill

Institution: Harvard University

The long-term goal of this project, funded by EHR's Core Research Program, is to guide and support teacher education programs. Significant research work is currently available about how to best train STEM K-12 teachers. As a result, it is an appropriate time to reflect on what educational researchers have already learned and plan for new research designs and methods that can sustain and extend improvements in STEM teacher education. This project will work with STEM teacher educators to study...

Effective: 2019-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Matthew T Hora

Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Internships and other forms of experiential and work-based learning are increasingly a common feature of STEM education in the United States and are all central to the goal of preparing a STEM workforce for the 21st century. In focusing on access and equity related to internship participation, this study will be one of the first to empirically explore these issues, which are of increasing concern to higher education scholars.The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for College-Workforce...

Effective: 2019-2023

Funding Type: BCSER IID

Principal Investigator: Joshua Rosenberg

Institution: University of Tennessee Knoxville

This project explores STEM interest development at the undergraduate level in computer science. It is a study of national importance that will focus on substantial differences in who pursues an interest, a major, or an occupation in computer science. The pilot study will look at what drives these differences at a level where policymakers and educators seeking to support and sustain a more representative population of computer science experts can most effectively act. To address this problem,...

Effective: 2019-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Olusola O Adesope, Erika Patall

Institutions: Washington State University, University of Southern California

Individuals can develop misconceptions from many sources, ranging from incorrect information in online searches to experiences of everyday life. An example is the persistence of thinking that winter happens because the earth is further away from the sun and summer happens because it is closer. (The earth is about the same distance away in both seasons, but the earth's tilt affects the angle at which the sun's rays hit the surface of the northern versus southern hemispheres.) Misconceptions can...

Effective: 2019-2021

Funding Type: BCSER IID

Principal Investigator: Melo-Jean Yap

Institution: San Diego State University Foundation

This project examines STEM trajectories of women of color who start their STEM education at two-year public institutions. The goal is to use national and social network data: to 1) understand the integration of mobility patterns, student characteristics, college experiences, and institutions to support career persistence in STEM women of color; and 2) identify what influential networks at the student- and institutional-level have affected their scientific thinking, and persistence and success...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: IVORY A TOLDSON

Institution: QUALITY EDUCATION FOR MINORITIES NETWORK

The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network, in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), is studying a model aligned with the successful graduation of undergraduate STEM students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) who go on to earn doctoral degrees. The primary objective of this research is to advance understanding about the characteristics of HBCUs that enable STEM undergraduate students to thrive and prepare them to subsequently pursue and...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Guinevere Eden

Institution: Georgetown University

Math and reading disabilities (MD and RD) are prevalent learning disabilities (LDs) that often interfere with academic, social, and vocational success. Children with these LDs often struggle in STEM related subjects due to the importance of numerical and written materials in these fields. These LDs often co-occur together (MD+RD), and even children with RD-only show impaired performance on some aspects of mathematics. To date, it is unclear how these disorders are related to each other and...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Deborah L Ball

Institution: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The fundamental demand of teaching is to see, hear, interpret, and extend students' current ideas and understanding. Students differ from their teachers--in age and gender identity, as well as racial identity, language, social class, and experience. These differences compound the complexity of communicating because implicit racial and gender biases affect teachers' orientations to seeing students' capabilities. This project will focus on (1) understanding what it is involved in communicating...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A Gunderson

Institution: Temple University

STEM learning is crucial for a well-prepared workforce, yet many students do not reach their potential in STEM. The roots of these individual differences can be traced back to school entry. Spatial skills - mentally representing and manipulating spatial information - strongly predict STEM achievement, course-taking, and careers. By 1st grade, children vary widely in spatial skills, pointing to the home environment's crucial role. The proposed research, led by a team of researchers at Temple...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Claire W Wladis

Institution: CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College

This EHR Core Research Project at Manhattan Community College aims to contribute new knowledge and build new theory about students' understanding of the concepts traditionally learned in a college algebra course. College algebra has consistently been identified as a barrier to student degree progress and completion, particularly for groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields. One part of the barrier to student progress is the lack of validated assessments to measure understanding of...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Yasemin Copur-Gencturk

Institution: University of Southern California

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) plays a vital role in carrying out quality instruction and improving students' learning. Despite the evidence reported in expert-novice teacher literature suggesting that teachers become experts by gaining PCK through on-the-job learning, little is known about what and how teachers learn during their early career. This project addresses the fundamental issue of how and under what conditions beginning Grades 3 to 7 teachers of mathematics improve their PCK,...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Zhe Wang

Institutions: Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University

This project will examine the role that mathematics anxiety plays in impeding the development of mathematical competency. Mathematics anxiety describes the feeling of fear and apprehension experienced prior to or during math related activities. It is a highly prevalent emotion in the student population. Highly math anxious students, compared to their low math anxiety counterparts, exhibit lower math achievement and less interest in math-related career paths. To understand more precisely why and...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Jacquelyn Chini

Institution: The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees

In U.S. colleges and universities about 25% of undergraduate students and 20% of graduate students with a disability enroll in science and engineering fields. Surprisingly, the economic well-being of persons with disabilities has decreased since the passage of anti-discrimination laws such as the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. However, STEM careers offer better financial outcomes for individuals with disabilities. Additionally, economic projections suggest an increasing need to recruit...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Sepehr Vakil

Institutions: Northwestern University, University of Texas at Austin

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project has the goal to investigate how undergraduate learning contexts may constrain or facilitate productive interactions between ethical,...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Natasha J Cabrera, Melissa E Libertus, Catherine S Tamis-LeMonda

Institutions: University of Maryland, College Park, University of Pittsburgh, New York University

The proposed research, led by a team of investigators from New York University, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Maryland, will address the persistent problem of low representation of particular US minorities in STEM fields. Already by school entry, children display striking individual differences in math skills that can set them on a path for high or low math performance and participation in STEM disciplines. Latino children, who are disproportionately from low-SES...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Paul T Cirino

Institution: University of Houston

Many more students are enrolled in community college (CC) than in four-year colleges and universities, and many more students take developmental (remedial) math at CC than at four-year institutions. However, failure rates in these courses are high, and failure of developmental math is a significant barrier to STEM participation. There is surprisingly little data about the specific skill deficits and sociodemographic and personal barriers that contribute to this situation. It is likely that...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Samantha Daley

Institution: University of Rochester

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project will pursue integrated research and education efforts to broaden participation, persistence, and success in advanced science coursework and career progression for students with learning disabilities, the largest disability category in United States' public education. Despite the potential for academic and career success in STEM, students with learning disabilities participate in advanced science courses and pursue STEM careers at much lower...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Donald Peurach, James P Spillane

Institutions: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Northwestern University

To generate foundational knowledge, this project will examine the development of school-level and system-level STEM learning environments that support the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) through high-quality science instruction at the classroom level. This study is significant since the NGSS depend on local discretion in operationalizing foundational ideals in classroom instruction, yet few systems and schools are organized to support teachers in doing so. As...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Jennifer Czocher

Institution: Texas State University - San Marcos

Maintaining an effective pipeline of students into STEM careers depends upon their ability to learn mathematical modeling. Mathematical modeling involves creating a mathematical representation that can describe a nonmathematical problem. This CAREER: Scaffolding Strategies for Undergraduate Mathematics Modeling Skills project is designed to increase understanding about how students learn mathematical modeling, and then to use that information to improve teaching of mathematical modeling....

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Heather L Thiry

Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder

Given their accessibility and affordability, community colleges attract high numbers of minority, low-income, and first-generation students. Despite their potential to diversify the STEM workforce, few studies have sought to capture how community colleges serve underrepresented students in STEM courses and degree programs. Further, there is a limited understanding of what leads underrepresented community college students to transfer to and attain STEM degrees from four-year institutions. Taking...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Dustin B Thoman

Institution: San Diego State University Foundation

This study will investigate the factors that facilitate or hinder STEM undergraduate instructors from implementing strategies that have demonstrably positive impacts on student outcomes. The research will specifically focus on the study of one such intervention called the Utility Value Intervention (UVI), which has been shown to have a positive impact especially on students who are first generation college students or who are from racial and ethnic minority groups that are underrepresented in...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Amy D Robertson Jr

Institution: Seattle Pacific University

This ECR project will explore the extent to which educational strategies, tools, and materials in undergraduate physics classrooms and laboratory sessions center some students and marginalize others. This project will identify teaching strategies, tools, and materials that communicate who is welcome, important, and influential in physics and what characteristics are valued and necessary for success in physics. The ways that undergraduate physics is taught may lead to reduced persistence and...

Effective: 2018-2024

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Paul Morgan

Institution: Pennsylvania State Univ University Park

Oral vocabulary difficulties before or soon after kindergarten are thought to result in reading difficulties during the primary grades, which in turn are thought to result in mathematics and science difficulties during the later elementary grades. To date, however, most empirical studies investigating the theorized inter-relations between oral vocabulary, reading, and mathematics and science difficulties have used small clinical or convenience samples of limited generalizability, included...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: John L Nietfeld

Institution: North Carolina State University

The goal of this Education and Human Resources Core Research project is to better understand how technology-based learning environments impact students' scientific literacy. The project will address the need to equip students with the skills to read and interpret scientific texts in a manner that facilitates solving real-world scientific problems. The learning environment will deliver "missions" related to three essential curricular units pertinent to 5th grade built in a framework potentially...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Steven T Piantadosi

Institutions: University of California-Berkeley, University of Rochester

Award AbstractThe goal of this project, led by a team of researchers at the University of Rochester, is to answer important questions about fundamental cognitive capacities underlying number learning. The team will examine abilities assumed by prevailing theories to be universal by studying mathematical learning in the Tsimane', a unique population of farming-foragers. The extreme variability in their exposure to formal education will provide the researchers with an opportunity to evaluate the...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Vincent Aleven, Martha W Alibali

Institutions: Carnegie-Mellon University, University of Wisconsin-Madison

This Education and Human Resources Core Research project addresses a persistent challenge in designing effective mathematics instruction: how to foster deep learning of concepts and skills, with strong connections among them. This challenge arises especially in middle school and high school algebra; far too often, students in algebra courses come away with only a moderate level of skill at procedures (e.g., equation solving) with almost no conceptual understanding of why these procedures work....

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Krystal Hinerman, Eric M Riggs, Julie M Sexton

Institutions: Lamar University, Texas A&M University, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Northern Colorado

The representation of women in the earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences workforce is significantly lower than that of female undergraduate students majoring in these disciplines. This underrepresentation limits the available role models for female undergraduate and graduate students, and female scientists working in industry. It is critical to understand the factors that may influence why male or female undergraduate students pursue the STEM workforce or not. Advancing a diverse and...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: CAREER

Principal Investigator: Gavin R Price

Institution: Vanderbilt University

Approximately 6% of Americans suffer from the mathematical learning disability developmental dyscalculia (DD), facing academic difficulties, reduced employment, increased mental and physical illness, and higher rates of arrest and incarceration. Despite the potential consequences, no consensus currently exists regarding the brain and behavioral causes of DD. The project team will attempt to characterize the development of and interaction between brain mechanisms responsible for processing...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Elizabeth M Brannon

Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Early mathematics learning for children provides the foundation for multiple Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) interests and careers. However, early math experiences in school and at home differ dramatically among children. This project explores whether the numerical intuition that children possess before they learn formal mathematics can be harnessed to improve math performance. Two studies will examine the connections between children's informal numerical intuition and...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: James Minogue

Institution: North Carolina State University

The need to prepare a skilled and motivated STEM workforce who can meet the demands of a dynamic and complex global economy is a widely recognized national challenge. This project, a cross-institutional collaboration among North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Davidson College, capitalizes on advances in technology to respond to that challenge. It aims to provide empirical evidence on the enhancement of foundational physics concepts of pre-service...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigators: Joshua A Danish, Ravit Golan Duncan

Institutions: Indiana University, Rutgers University New Brunswick

The goal of this project is to help students learn to use different kinds of evidence in thinking about and creating models of complex systems. Thinking about systems is increasingly important for students to understand complex topics in science and engineering. Building models based on evidence is important for helping students think critically in general, and about complex systems ideas in particular. To support students in these efforts, the project develops an easy-to-use software modeling...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: James C Lester

Institution: North Carolina State University

This project is supported by the Education and Human Resources Core Research (ECR) program, which supports fundamental research in STEM learning and learning environments. Self-regulated learning requires learners to set learning goals, plan how to achieve them, monitor the success of their plans, and make needed changes. Critical gaps exist in our understanding of how and to what extent middle school students can engage in self-regulated learning during science inquiry activities. Analogous...

Effective: 2018-2023

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Martha W Alibali

Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison

Biological variation is among the most important ideas in modern science. Variability among members of a species provides the foundation for theories of genetics, natural selection, and evolution. However, people typically underestimate the amount of variability that occurs within a species over the life span of animals and from one generation to the next. Children especially seem to have cognitive biases that members of a species are largely identical. To improve children's learning about...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Kelley Durkin

Institution: Vanderbilt University

This study continues a longitudinal study that began with students in preschool and will follow them into high school in a large, urban school district including a large number of African-American students and low-income students. The study is a unique opportunity to learn about how the students go through school from preschool through the end of high school. This opportunity will examine how their readiness for STEM careers and their beliefs about STEM. Their path through school will...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Tama Leventhal

Institution: Tufts University

This project seeks to broaden the participation of an important underrepresented group in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Mexican-origin children, one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population, often come from disadvantaged circumstances that increase their need to use public education for social mobility while also posing challenges to navigating the public education system. Yet, Mexican-origin families are rich in social resources that can be leveraged to...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Thomas Cook

Institution: George Washington University

This proposal was submitted in response to EHR Core Research (ECR) program announcement NSF 15-509. The ECR program of fundamental research in STEM education provides funding in critical research areas that are essential, broad and enduring. EHR seeks proposals that will help synthesize, build and/or expand research foundations in the following focal areas: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, STEM workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. The ECR program is...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Sandra Simpkins

Institution: University of California-Irvine

High school is a critical turning point in many students' STEM coursework and career trajectories. For example, students' math motivation peaks in high school yet 45% of 10th graders who express interest in pursuing a STEM career lose that interest by the end of high school. Adolescents with minimal math and science high school coursework are extremely unlikely to either try or be able to enter STEM college majors and careers. To change these trends, it is necessary to understand how best to...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Lois Joy

Institution: Jobs for the Future, Inc.

Jobs for the Future is conducting a research project in collaboration with Wested that will examine the impact of STEM work-based-learning (WBL) in community colleges. The researchers will use social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as a framework and mixed-methods design to investigate research questions regarding (1) differences in student participants and motivation to participate in community college STEM work-based-learning, (2) structures of community college STEM WBL opportunities and...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: David S Yeager

Institution: University of Texas at Austin

The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. This study will add to foundational knowledge by building theory about broadening participation of underrepresented minority groups (students of color, young women, students from low SES families, students with disabilities, English language learners), and intersections among them, in STEM education. The study will use data from the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM),...

Effective: 2018-2022

Funding Type: Conference

Principal Investigator: Sarah J Fick

Institutions: Washington State University, University of Virginia Main Campus

This project will convene a group of scholars in K-12 science education for a workshop that will lay fundamental conceptual groundwork for research on how crosscutting concepts (CCCs) can inform science teaching and learning. CCCs, along with disciplinary core ideas and scientific practices, reflect a new vision of science proficiency expressed in recent national and state science education frameworks and standards. This vision integrates the "knowing" and "doing" of authentic science and...

Effective: 2018-2021

Funding Type: RAPID/EAGER

Principal Investigator: Odis D Johnson Jr

Institutions: Washington University, Johns Hopkins University

The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. This project will conduct an early stage exploratory study of an untested idea that will address the nation's STEM workforce needs. It will use a radically different approach to uncover barriers that impede broader participation by specific race-gender groups in STEM fields. The study will investigate whether school policies and practices regarding safety, discipline, school...

Effective: 2018-2021

Funding Type: RAPID/EAGER

Principal Investigator: Kathryn H Shows

Institution: Virginia State University

The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. This project will explore an early-stage, untested intervention aimed at promoting ways to help underrepresented minority students succeed in introductory biology courses and persist in STEM careers. The project will study whether combining team-based geocaching gameplay with near-peer mentoring will help students master content and skills in biology. It will also examine...

Effective: 2018-2020

Funding Type: Conference

Principal Investigator: William R Penuel

Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder

The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field. This conference will provide a venue for state science coordinators from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and US territories and their teams to learn about tools and practices that will help them identify, analyze, and adapt resources that shape educational opportunities in science co-designed through the Advancing Coherent and Equitable Systems of Science Education...

Effective: 2018-2019

Funding Type: ECR:Core

Principal Investigator: Daniel Kuehn

Institution: Urban Institute

The Urban Institute will conduct an exploratory mixed method study of STEM apprenticeship programs to provide a foundational understanding of the characteristics and performance of STEM apprentices, including the experiences of underrepresented minorities in STEM apprenticeship programs. The proposed research also will investigate the program-level determinants of success, including program design elements that lead to higher completion rates and wage growth for apprentices. Elements of...

Effective: 2018-2019

Funding Type: Conference

Principal Investigator: Mary Helen Immordino-Yang

Institution: University of Southern California

This award to the University of Southern California will provide partial support for the International, Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES) conference to be held in Los Angeles in September 2018. It is a unique opportunity for a broad range of researchers and educators with interest in educational neuroscience to engage with other communities, affording researchers the opportunity to learn nuances of translating their work for other researchers and practitioners, and for educational...

Effective: 2018-2019

Funding Type: Conference

Principal Investigator: Julie A Luft

Institution: University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc

This two-day conference addresses a thorny issue in K-12 education, out-of-field science teaching, or the reality that science teachers regularly find themselves responsible for teaching content or in contexts that are outside their area of expertise. For example, teachers who have expertise working with students in the upper elementary grades might find themselves responsible for teaching first grade or kindergarten. Or, teachers with expertise in one area of science might find themselves...

Effective: 2018-2019

Funding Type: Conference

Principal Investigator: David J Kraemer

Institution: Dartmouth College

Creativity in STEM is the difference between basic competency and innovative advancement. To foster continued innovation, it is essential that we develop new methods to foster students' creative thinking skills in STEM. However, many issues regarding creativity remain unresolved. For example, we know little about how creativity develops, how the brain gives rise to creativity, and what sorts of educational experiences can make a student more creative over time. Indeed, even determining how to...