Shelley Goldman - US grants

The Middle School Mathematics through Applications Project is designed to create a community of math teachers, educators, and math-using professionals to work together in ongoing seminars and summer institutes to design, develop and test math materials and activities based on real, everyday science and engineering problems. The most advanced computer simulation technology will be used in the materials. New assessment practices will be established. The project has four major foci: i. the creation of a new community of mathematics practices, ii. the creation of new learning materials and collaborative activity structures iii. the gradual design of new teaching and assessment practices, and iv. the development of cognitive and ethnographic research in teaching and learning practices. This project will concentrate on middle school mathematics. It is a joint effort of the Institute for Research in Learning, the Stamford University College of Education, and Sandia Laboratories.

Goldman 9452864 Gateways 111 is a conference to be held in San Francisco, CA on October 6-8, 1994 to bring curriculum developers from all of the National Science Foundation funded elementary, middle, and high school comprehensive mathematics curriculum projects. They share information, experiences, and address common problems that have arisen as materials have been developed, tested, and implemented. This conference will feature increased interaction with teachers and educators who are involved in classroom implementation of mathematics education reform. The conference schedule include visits to classrooms, project poster sessions, break-out sessions, and panel discussions. Implementation will be a major theme of the conference. ***

9452771 Goldman This project, Middle- school Mathematics through Applications Project 11 (MMAP 11), builds on and is a continuation of the original MMAP. This project will result in a comprehensive, three-year mathematics program for grades 6-8. The goals of MMAP 11 include: (1) The development of materials to create a complete mathematics program that could serve all 6th through 8th graders regardless of prior skills or ability levels. (2) The provision of resources, materials, and guidance to mathematics educators to help them assemble MMAP materials into a coherent, customized, and affordable curriculum to meet local needs. (3) The creation and compilation of guidelines and activities to help teachers identify and systematically evaluate mathematical competencies and mathematics embedded in students' work. and (4) The galvanization of a community of mathematics educators, researchers, and mathematics-using professionals to collaborate in identifying the needs and means necessary for developing additional MMAP materials. These goals will be achieved by using an interactive, cyclical research and development process created and piloted in the previous project. This project creates innovative software and investigations to simulate real world problems that rely on mathematical concepts and skills to solve. ***

9705397 Goldman The Institute for Research on Learning is undertaking a multifaceted effort to help parents become more involved in the mathematics education of their children. This project establishes a Design Consortium; develops new materials and collaborative activity structures; provides outreach, training, and technical assistance to communities; and disseminates these products to the educational community. The design consortium creates contexts for raising parent participation in communities where it is most needed and uses these contexts to plan and construct mathematics materials based on issues parents face in everyday life. The outreach activities include planning support and workshops for schools, community organizations, and parent groups. Dissemination is done through presentations and talks and through research articles.

The Design Loft STEM Learning Program is introducing 400 underserved middle school students in California to engineering careers. The goal of the program is to develop students' ability to define and create solutions for real world problems by using "design thinking." The program's learning activities expose students to design thinking tasks that produce low-cost engineering solutions to improve the lives of poor people around the world. Students are designing cost-effective ways of increasing impoverished people's access to water, shelter, and energy.

The project's objectives are to (1) develop design-based intersession career camps, (2) create a professional community institute and web site for camp educators and teachers from partner schools, (3) develop a participant-mentoring course for STEM college students, and (4) assess the effectiveness of the design-based STEM career camp model. Anticipated outcomes include exposure of middle school students to design thinking and engineering careers, development of instructional resources for teachers, creation of a scalable model program for teaching and learning about design thinking and engineering careers, and collection of project effectiveness data.

This project's interdisciplinary team will carry out research and training that will identify ways for professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to engage with public audiences that currently lack the community connections, resources, time, or know-how to gain access to science education and to scientists. The project will create real and on-line materials for scientists to convey the excitement, content, and relevance of their own research to public groups whose values, professions, or aesthetic and cultural backgrounds are connected to that research topic. The project will also foster ways for scientists to understand that members of the public can provide valuable input to science. Research and evaluation on the development of this innovative public engagement model "the STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP)" will be conducted to provide insights into the effectiveness and extensibility of the STEMAP model. This approach integrates three existing elements of science engagement that have previously not been linked: design thinking, informal science education communication skills from museum work, and connecting scientists' research with the existing values of particular community groups. Robust evaluation will enhance effectiveness of in-person and online trainings; research will provide understanding of how different science learning models can be integrated and enhanced for public audiences and for scientists. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.

Science and society need innovative and transformative ways to interact synergistically. Given the deep knowledge and contagious passion for their research, STEM professionals can bring unique assets to directly engage public audiences, especially important the traditionally underserved public groups. Members of the public in turn have the potential to provide novel ideas, data, and insights to support researchers. The project's exploratory research will help understand how STEM professionals can broaden participation by themselves engaging unengaged publics with the excitement of science and science knowledge in ways that are congruent with academic rewards. The project team will integrate three existing NSF-funded models: a) Research Ambassador Program, b) Portal to the Public, and c) Design Thinking. A cadre of faculty and graduate students will be trained in "STEM Ambassadors" workshops, in which social scientists and community group representatives will help STEM Ambassadors identify public groups with interests that connect to the scientist's research. Engagement events will occur in community venues, e.g., churches, factories, and day care centers, etc. Case studies and evaluation instruments answer research questions about: the role of empathy in the formation and change of identity; relationships between public audiences, mode of engagement, and identity shifts; and motivational drivers for STEM Ambassadors and public audiences. The intellectual merit is the training and evaluating of 50 STEM Ambassadors (via 100 outreach events involving approximately 5000 individuals from community groups); strategies that encourage STEM professionals to engage with underrepresented publics; and insights on how to integrate multiple education models. STEMAP will disseminate its findings and new resources through the STEMAP website. In addition, the dissemination efforts will be extended through: collaboration with the NSF-funded PoPNet Expansion Project and the Centers for Science and Mathematics Education (CSMEs); presentations at national science professional organizations, such as the AAAS, as well as through the CAISE Wiki and the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI). STEMAP will create a process for other NSF PIs to generate, evaluate, and articulate their research and its applications to public groups that lie far outside academia.