EHR Core Research

1. Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR)EHR Core Research Program (ECR)Program Announcement: NSF 13-555

2. EHR Core Research • Website:http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504924 • Full Proposal Target Date: February 3, 2015

3. EHR Core Research • Introduced in 2013 to support foundational research in the following areas: • STEM learning • STEM learning environments • STEM workforce development • Broadening participation in STEM • Encourage integration across the four areas and collaboration among researchers in related disciplines, including social and behavioral sciences.

4. Goals of ECR • Make strategic research investments in potentially transformative areas; • Accelerate development and growth of theory and methodology; • Address challenges of practice; • All in STEM Education, Broadening Participation, and Workforce Development!

5. ECR Projects • ECR projects are: • Theory driven • Theory generating • Theory testing • And predictive • What has been funded (recent awards made through this program, with abstracts)

6. ECR Proposal Types • Core Research Proposals • Maximum budget request: $1.5M • Maximum duration request: 5 years • Capacity Building Proposals • Maximum budget request: $300K • Maximum duration request: 3 years

7. Core Research Proposals • Identify issues and questions critical to the advancement and the improvement of STEM learning and workforce participation. • Propose to address these using a wide range of research methods and data gathering strategies. • May expand knowledge in existing areas or or build the base of research knowledge and evidence in new areas.

8. Capacity Building Proposals • Support the groundwork necessary for advancing research within the four core areas • Some examples: • Workshops • Syntheses • Development of new measures and instruments

9. Contexts for Research • Learners range from pre-K children to older adults and from non-scientists to STEM doctoral students to the STEM workforce • Settings range from formal to informal, from virtual to outdoor field environments, and include institutional research and development

10. EHR Core Research Areas • STEM learning • STEM learning environments • STEM workforce development • Broadening participation in STEM

11. STEM Learning ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of learning issues, including: • Learning of specific STEM disciplinary knowledge and practices • Learning progressions, assessments and development • Learning and engagement within and outside of formal schooling • Dissemination of knowledge and learning in social networks • Integration of research and knowledge across different theoretical perspectives • Impacts of persistence and identity on learning. Such issues may be addressed using: • A range of theoretical and methodological approaches, including the use of “big data” • Theories and methods at the frontiers of STEM disciplines and across disciplines

12. STEM Learning Environments • ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of learning environment issues, including: • Changing and emerging environments across a age groups and formal and informal settings, including cyberspace • Characteristics of learning environments and how they interact with or support multiple aspects of STEM learning • Special focus on emerging learning environments and evidence-based approaches to undergraduate STEM instruction including blended instruction, virtual reality, personalized learning environments • Such issues may be addressed using multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives

13. STEM Workforce Development • ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of workforce development issues, including: • Preparation of a diverse, globally-prepared and highly-skilled STEM workforce - including teachers • Focus on entire STEM workforce continuum, with an emphasis on retention and degree attainment • Emphasis on academic and non-academic STEM career pathways and transitions across changing contexts and climates • Connecting workplace expectations to design of interventions • Special focus on public-private partnerships and working with stakeholders.

14. Broadening Participation in STEM • ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of broadening participation issues, including: • Evidence gathering about practices that broaden participation, retention, and success of individuals underrepresented in STEM   • Emphasis on academic transition points • Study of accessibility and the impacts of technology on diverse populations • Measures, methods and metrics to assess impacts and outcomes of broadening participation and institutional capacity building • Special focus on public-private partnerships and working with stakeholders.

15. Resources • ECR program page on NSF website • ECR Program Announcement (NSF 13-555) • FAQs on ECR (NSF 13-103) • NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) (NSF 13-1) • Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development (NSF 13-126) • FAQs on the Common Guidelines (NSF 13-127)

16. What do we mean by “Common Guidelines”? A cross-agency framework that describes: • Broad types of research and development • The expected purposes, justifications, and contributions of various types of research to knowledge generation about interventions and strategies for improving learning

17. Types of Studies • Foundational research and development studies • Generate fundamental knowledge that may contribute to teaching and/or learning • Early stage/exploratory studies • Examine relationships among constructs to establish logical connections • Design and development studies • Design and iteratively develop particular interventions (programs, policies, practices or technologies); pilot test

18. Types of Studies (continued) IMPACT STUDIES • Efficacy Studies • Estimate the impacts of strategies under optimal conditions of implementation • Effectiveness Studies • Examine implementation and estimate impacts similar to routine practice but still on a limited scale • Scale-up Studies • Explore implementation and estimates impacts under conditions that prevail under wide-scale adoption

19. Foundational Research • Fundamental knowledge that may contribute to improved learning & other education outcomes • Studies of this type: • Test, develop or refine theories of teaching or learning • May develop innovations in methodologies and/or technologies that influence & inform research & development in different contexts

20. Early-Stage or Exploratory Research • Studies of this type: • Examine relationships among important constructs in education and learning • Seek to establish logical connections that may form the basis for future interventions or strategies intended to improve education outcomes • Connections are usually correlational rather than causal

21. Important Features of Each Type of Research How does this type of research contribute to the evidence base? Purpose Justification How should policy and practical significance be demonstrated? What types of theoretical and/or empirical arguments should be made for conducting this study? (continued)

22. Important Features…(continued) Outcomes Generally speaking, what types of outcomes (theory and empirical evidence) should the project produce? What are the key features of a research design for this type of study?

23. Sections of Proposal • Cover Sheet • Project Summary • State which of the four CORE area(s) are targeted • Table of Contents • Project Description • Restate which of the four CORE area(s) are targeted • Include Results from prior NSF Support Follow the NSF Grant Proposal Guide: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/index.jsp

24. Sections of Proposal • References Cited • Biographical Sketch(es) • Budget / Budget Justification • Current and Pending Support • Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources • Supplemental Documents: • Post-doc Mentoring Plan • Data Management Plan

25. Additional Considerations • Research design and methodology • Appropriate and rigorous research methods • Well-documented usable, and replicable models, frameworks, data, literature, and measures • Well-justified methods, consonant with theory, and suited to the stated questions or hypotheses

26. Award and Eligibility Information • Standard or continuing grants • Estimate making 28 awards • Funding amount is $20,000,000 (pending availability of funds) • No PI limit • No limit of number of proposals per organization • No limit on number of proposals per PI

27. NSF Merit Review Principles • NSF projects should be of the highest quality and have the potential to advance, if not transform, the frontiers of knowledge • NSF projects, in the aggregate, should contribute more broadly to achieving societal goals • Meaningful assessment and evaluation of NSF funded projects should be based on appropriate metrics, and include both the broader impacts and intellectual merit of the project.

28. NSF Merit Review Criteria • Intellectual Merit – the potential to advance knowledge. • Broader Impacts – the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes. Both criteria, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact, will be given full consideration during the review and decision-making processes. Proposers must fully address both criteria.

29. Merit Review Considerations • What is the potential for the proposed activity to: • Advance knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields (Intellectual Merit);and • Benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes (Broader Impacts)? • To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative, original or potentially transformative concepts? • Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success?

30. Merit Review Considerations • How well qualified is the individual, team, or organization to conduct the proposed activities? • Are there adequate resources available to the PI (either at the home institution or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities? Please Note: Reviewers are also asked to review Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources, Data Management Plan, and Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan

31. IMPORTANT: Human Subjects - IRB • IRB exemption/approval documentation is requiredat the time of the award - in order to receive funding • Please plan for the timing necessary to obtain institutional IRB approval

32. Address questions to the program via:ECR@nsf.gov Program Contacts

33. Website:http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504924Website:http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504924 Full Proposal Target Date: February 3, 2015 Questions?