How can digital games support conceptual learning? And how can games be made accessible and useful for teachers? Those are the questions addressed by Possible Worlds, a five-year research and development effort led by EDC.
Using electronic games, Portable Word Play addresses the need for more innovative approaches to teaching and learning with games. The goal is to combine engaging, creative forms of play with instructional impact that teachers will recognize and value.
The project is designing, developing, and field-testing two video games for the handheld Nintendo DSi. The goal is to improve the general literacy and reading comprehension skills of struggling middle-grade students.
The Lesson Study Communities project provides two years of professional development and support to teams of middle and high school mathematics teachers who are involved in the lesson study model of professional development. The project operates in the Greater Boston area.
Enhancing knowledge of mathematics and pedagogy
Introducing teachers to lesson study
Building a community of teachers interested in lesson study
Learning how the Japanese lesson study model can be adapted to become a successful professional development model for U.S.
Funded by the National Science Foundation, Mathematics for Teaching is a joint project of EDC, the Park City Mathematics Institute (PCMI) of the Institute for Advanced Study, and the PROMYS for Teachers program of the Mathematics Department of Boston University.
Mathematics for Teachers provides specialized mathematics curriculum materials for in-service mathematics teachers. Courses are designed by EDC and PROMYS and delivered to the PCMI participants by specially trained secondary teacher-leaders.
The Enhanced Assessment project is a federally funded 18-month project that supports New England states in their development of large-scale assessments that address the needs of students with disabilities and English-language learners.
This project established a model program for developing and supporting middle-grades science mentor-teachers. The project team worked closely with a group of experienced science teachers to improve their skills, knowledge, and confidence so they can effectively support novice science teachers from 10 to 12 demographically diverse school districts. Based on this model, CSE is developing a Facilitator’s Guide and accompanying videotapes. The model has been adapted in Cleveland, Ohio, Orlando, Florida (through the University of Central Florida) and Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
ScienceQuest was a unique after-school program that supported community-based organizations who wanted to increase staff and organizational capacity; assisted youth (ages 10–14) in learning science, technology, and literacy; and increased the youths’ positive experiences with learning. Through training in I-Search methods and ongoing in-person and electronic support, coaches lead small groups in personally relevant explorations documented through youth-designed Web sites.
In collaboration with EDC’s Division of Mathematics Learning and Teaching, this project is producing a research-based professional development curriculum focused on geometric thinking in the middle grades. It also creates a framework designed to help teachers better understand geometric thinking and how it develops in learners, a curriculum for professional development in geometry based on this framework, quantitative and qualitative studies of the curriculum’s impact, and research reports disseminating the results of this work.
EDC is collaborating with three universities to study how classroom teachers in grades four through eight can provide access to a rigorous, standards-based curriculum to students with disabilities. Over five years, REACH is developing and studying instructional approaches that support all students as they engage in challenging content learning in language arts (EDC), mathematics (University of Puget Sound), science (University of Michigan), and social studies (University of Delaware). The project has a special focus on the discourse practices that students use in learning rigorous content.
EDC developed Impact Mathematics, a middle school mathematics curriculum that includes a full year of algebra by the end of grade 8. Based on Access to Algebra, materials developed in Australia, the curriculum is rooted in principles of active learning and includes geometry, statistics, probability, and algebra. A teacher’s guide provides classroom strategies and information about the historical background of the mathematics.
EDC and the Concord Consortium collaborated to develop “web-labs”: online genetics applications designed for middle and high school students. The project supports teachers’ use of the software by customizing it to teach specific genetics concepts and content. Project staff also developed teachers guides and other support materials.
NEIR*TEC helps state and local educational leaders address the many challenges involved in using technology effectively, emphasizing the needs of schools in underserved urban and rural communities. NEIR*TEC, one of 10 regional technology-in-education consortia, serves the six New England states, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Building on the work of EDC’s Addressing Accessibility in Middle School Mathematics, this project designs and implements a professional development model and materials that enable mathematics and special education teachers to successfully support students with disabilities in regular mathematics classrooms. The model includes workshops, example lesson adaptations, and school-based study groups. Project staff work with schools that use standards-based middle school mathematics curricula.
dot-EDU was an information and communication technology (ICT) intervention mechanism for USAID Missions seeking to improve education systems in their respective countries. dot-EDU sought to assist developing countries in strengthening learning systems that improve quality, expand access, and enhance equity through carefully planned applications of digital and broadcast technologies. The dot-EDU mission had two foci. First, dot-EDU provided training and technical assistance to support USAID Missions in developing and implementing technology-assisted applications.
The project will create instructional materials, for use in seminar settings with teams of school and district leaders from middle and high schools, to support school and district leaders who are experiencing increasing pressure to improve the mathematics performance of students in their schools–at a time of raised expectations for all students’ enrollment in algebra and more participation in higher-level mathematics courses in high school.
The MathScape: Seeing and Thinking Mathematically Curriculum Center provides support to school districts using the MathScape curriculum. The center offers training institutes and workshops, hosts a Web site offering online support, develops implementation materials, and disseminates information about the curriculum’s effectiveness.
The FunWorks is a digital library of career exploration resources for youth ages 11 to 15. The FunWorks provides “real world” experiences and uses children’s current interests and passions, such as music and sports, to help them explore exciting future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The site was designed for and by children—over 300 young people have participated in the design and launch of this one-of-a-kind collection from the initial concept to design, usability testing, and launch.
This project is producing, piloting, and disseminating the Seeing the Connections curriculum modules. The curriculum helps preservice teachers develop important mathematical knowledge and skills required in their future careers—designing effective lessons, emphasizing certain ideas over others, connecting ideas across the grades, understanding germs of insight in students’ questions, and placing topics in the precollege curriculum in the broader mathematical landscape.
This three-year research project, funded through the NSF’s Evaluation Capacity Building program, is developing and rigorously testing the Inquiring into Science Instruction Observation Protocol (ISIOP), which helps evaluators determine the nature of inquiry science instruction and the extent to which elements of it are present in middle school classroom teaching. The protocol relies on work from two other projects at EDC—Inquiry Synthesis and the Middle-Grades Science Mentoring Program—in addition to existing instruments from other researchers.
This project addressed gaps in the current state assessment system and explored the following questions: Where are the gaps in the assessment system? Who are the students affected by these gaps? What are the appropriate assessment systems for students in the gaps? After answering these questions, the project developed and piloted an assessment prototype to address the problem and meet student needs. Completed research studies are available on the project Web site.
The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is an online portal for education and research on learning in
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The NSDL Youth Resources project (NYR) is designed to increase utilization of the NSDL by middle school students and their teachers by adding relevant, high-quality and engaging content. The project focuses on the quality, accessibility, and interactivity of content to determine what student’s identify and conceptualize as high-quality online STEM content.
Our Courts is a free, interactive, Web-based program designed to teach students civics and inspire them to be active participants in our democracy. It includes a complete curriculum that exceeds many states’ standards and can be used independently or as a supplement to other civics programs. Complementing the classroom materials is an immersive game environment designed for use in afterschool settings or at home. EDC is contributing instructional design expertise to this project.
Success at the Core, a free online professional development resource for school-based leadership teams and teachers, has won a 2011 Best Educational Software (BESSIE) Award for “Best Professional Development Website.” EDC and Vulcan Productions created Success at the Core to help leadership teams and teachers prepare all students for success.