Math and Science Partnership : A Research and Development Program at the NSF

1. Math and Science Partnership: A Research and Development Program at the NSF James Hamos Division of Undergraduate Education Directorate for Education and Human Resources

2. Disclaimer • The instructional practices and assessments discussed or shown in these presentations are not intended as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.

3. NSF’s Math and Science Partnership • Launched in FY 2002 as a key facet of the No Child Left Behind vision for K-12 education and funded through robust legislative interest via the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 • Strongly reauthorized as part of the America COMPETES Act of 2007 and provided with additional appropriation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Actof 2009 and the FY 2009 federal budget

4. 152 Funded MSP Projects 12 ComprehensivePartnerships (FY 2002, FY 2003) 44 TargetedPartnerships (FY 2002, FY 2003, FY 2004, FY 2008, FY2009) 23 Institute Partnerships (Prototype Award in FY 2003, FY 2004, FY 2006, FY 2008, FY 2009) 19 MSP-StartPartnerships (FY 2008, FY2009) 7Phase IIPartnerships (FY 2008, FY 2009) 47 RETAprojects (Design Awards in FY 2002, FY 2003, FY 2004, FY 2006, FY 2008, FY 2009)

5. Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program National Distribution of Partnership Activity

6. What are we learning? MSP projects are making new contributions to the STEM education literature related to teacher content knowledge and teacher leadership • Integrating findings from the MSP program into the larger knowledge base is an important contribution to the improvement of STEM education so that others can benefit from MSP projects' research and development efforts. The MSP Knowledge Management and Dissemination (KMD) Project (www.mspkmd.net), has primary responsibility for synthesizing findings in the K–12 arena in several areas, articulating the contribution of the MSP program to the knowledge base and identifying "gaps" and promising practices/strategies for further investigation. The KMD project is conducting its work in the following areas of mathematics and science education research and practice. • deepening teachers' mathematics/science content knowledge, • preparing and supporting teacher leaders in mathematics and • science, and • supporting beginning teachers of mathematics and science • The KMD website also has a searchable instrument database.

7. What are we learning? • Providing a rationale for Mathematics Specialists • Eleven states have moved down a path to offer professional designations for Elementary Mathematics Specialists, that allow: • transitioning elementary-certified teachers to middle school mathematics teaching assignments; • broadening the mathematical knowledge of elementary teachers; • offering the option for elementary teachers to focus on mathematics teaching as a special area of interest; or • preparing teachers for leadership or coaching responsibilities in schools and districts. • (see Elementary Mathematics Specialists & Teacher Leaders (EMS&TL) Project – http://www.mathspecialists.org/) • Virginia has been a vanguard state in training Mathematics Specialists, studying their impact on student learning, and addressing related policy – see http://www.vamsc.org/index2.html. A randomized control trial, involving 24,749 student test scores (drawn from Grades 3, 4, and 5 in 36 schools over a 3-year period), revealed that students enrolled in schools with an Elementary Mathematics Specialist had significantly higher scores than did students in control schools.

8. What are we learning? Including the “T” and the “E” in STEM The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering is partnering with the Austin Independent School District in UTeachEngineering (http://www.uteachengineering.org/) which focuses on enabling university students and in-service teachers to teach innovative and exciting curricula that will allow their students to discover what engineering is, what engineers do, and the role that engineering plays in shaping their world. Also watch for new engineering-focused MSP projects at Purdue University and Stevens Institute of Technology. • MOBILIZE (Mobilizing for Innovative Computer Science Teaching and Learning; http://www.exploringcs.org/about/related-grants/mobilize) promotes computational thinking, with an overarching goal of fostering inventiveness and innovation among students and teachers through increasing the computer science instructional capacity of high schools. UCLA’s Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS; in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Sciences) and Center X (in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies) are working with the LAUSD to deploy challenging and engaging hands-on computer science projects and curricula using new participatory sensing technologies in high school mathematics and science courses.

9. What are we learning? • Supporting the cutting edge of STEM education, e.g., learning progressions/learning trajectories – underpinnings of ‘Common Core’ standards in mathematics and science • Taking Science to School (NRC, 2007) and Ready, Set, SCIENCE!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classroom (NRC, 2007) • Learning Progressions in Science (LeaPS) Conference –http://www.education.msu.edu/projects/leaps/ • Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) Report: Learning Progressions in Science: An Evidence-Based Approach to Reform –http://www.cpre.org/images/stories/cpre_pdfs/lp_science_rr63.pdf • Recently started MSP projects led by Colorado State University and Pennsylvania State University are building on these foundations in their work on learning progressions for environmental science literacy and on the big ideas of the earth and space sciences, respectively.

10. What are we learning? • Preservice education for future teachers – answering the President’s call to prepare 100,000 STEM teachers in the next 10 years • Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative (Association of Public and Land-grant Universities) – http://www.aplu.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=584 • The Analytic Framework: A Tool for Advancing Change & Innovation in Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation and Development – http://hatterasdesigns.net/SMTI/AF/index.html • UTeach and its replication – • http://uteachweb.cns.utexas.edu/ • http://www.uteach-institute.org/ • The FY2012 Presidential budget request includes support for new efforts at NSF and the US Department of Education

11. What are we learning? • Understanding motivation’s role in STEM teaching and learning • The Math and Science Partnership – Motivation Assessment Program (MSP-MAP; http://mspmap.org/) was established to make available and promote the use of reliable and valid scales for the measurement of motivation-related variables that influence math and science achievement. • The website includes Teacher Motivation and Professional Development: A Guide to Resources which provides information on teacher motivation for those planning, conducting and evaluating professional development in mathematics and science. Identifies and categorizes over 250 resources relevant to teacher motivation and professional development. • Also, Motivation-Related Assessment Tools related to: • Student Perceptions of the Teacher or Class – Scales and Sample Items • Student Personal Beliefs & Behaviors – Scales and Sample Items • Teacher Scales and Sample Items • –

12. What are we learning? • Professional learning communities (PLCs) – setting norms and measuring impacts • Much has been written about PLCs in recent years (e.g., see http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ864611.pdf which draws on findings from science-focused projects in the NSF MSP portfolio) • Important to establish ground rules for PLCs and study them • Project Pathways – • http://mathed.asu.edu/msp/pathwaysplcs.shtml • North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership – • http://www.ncosp.wwu.edu/Tools/index.php?toolID=6

13. Opportunities for Funding Noyce Scholarship Program • Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Track • Scholarships (at least $10,000 per year) for undergraduate STEM majors preparing to become K-12 Teachers • Summer internships for freshmen and sophomores • Stipends (at least $10,000 for 1 year) for STEM professionals seeking to become K-12 teachers • Recipients commit to teaching in a high need school district for 2 years for each year of scholarship/stipend support • NSF Teaching Fellowships & Master Teaching Fellowships (TF/MTF) Track • Fellowships for STEM professionals receiving teacher certification through a master’s degree program • Fellowships for science and math teachers preparing to become Master Teachers

14. Opportunities for Funding • Advanced Technological Education (ATE) • Focuses on the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation's economy in part through programs that are designed to improve existing as well as prospective K-12 teachers' technological understanding; to provide them with experiences to use in engaging students in real world technological problems; and to strengthen their preparation in science and mathematics overall. • Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (TUES) • Supports projects that have the potential to transform undergraduate STEM education, for example, by bringing about widespread adoption of classroom practices that embody understanding of how students learn most effectively; supports efforts to create, adapt, and disseminate new learning materials and teaching strategies to reflect advances both in STEM disciplines and in what is known about teaching and learning.

15. Opportunities for Funding • NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) • Makes grants to institutions of higher education to support scholarships for academically talented, financially needy students, enabling them to enter the workforce following completion of an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level degree in science and engineering disciplines. • Discovery Research K-12 (DRK-12) • Seeks proposals to enable significant advances in preK-12 student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines. Projects funded under this program begin with a research question or hypothesis about how to improve preK-12 STEM learning and teaching and then develop, implement, and study effects of innovative educational resources, models, or technologies. The program especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10-15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to support learning.