Transcript MSP

National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
Math and Science
Partnership:
A Research and
Development
Program at the NSF
James Hamos
Division of Undergraduate
Education
Directorate for Education and
Human Resources
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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.
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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
Act of 2009 and the FY 2009 federal
budget
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
152 Funded MSP Projects
12 Comprehensive Partnerships
(FY 2002, FY 2003)
44 Targeted Partnerships
(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-Start Partnerships
(FY 2008, FY2009)
7 Phase II Partnerships
(FY 2008, FY 2009)
47 RETA projects
(Design Awards in FY 2002, FY 2003, FY 2004, FY 2006, FY 2008, FY 2009)
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
Math and Science Partnership (MSP) Program
National Distribution of Partnership Activity
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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.
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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:
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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.
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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.
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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.
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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:
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Student Perceptions of the Teacher or Class – Scales and
Sample Items
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Student Personal Beliefs & Behaviors – Scales and Sample
Items
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Teacher Scales and Sample Items
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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
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Project Pathways –
http://mathed.asu.edu/msp/pathwaysplcs.shtml
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North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership –
http://www.ncosp.wwu.edu/Tools/index.php?toolID=6
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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.
National Science Foundation
Math and Science Partnership
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.