High Schools

This National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research project examined teacher retention, particularly of science and mathematics teachers within the Boston Public Schools (BPS), by addressing these research questions: (1) What are the hard and soft costs to schools and to the district of having teachers come and go? (2) What explains why some schools tend to retain their teachers while other schools are less able to do so? and (3) What can the district and BPS do to reduce teacher turnover? CSE researchers gathered cost data at the district level.

CSE and the Center for Applied Ethics (CAE) are developing an NIH-supported supplemental curriculum in bioethics to be used in high school biology courses. An advisory team of ethicists, scientists, and teachers collaborated with EDC staff members to develop these instructional materials on topics of social importance in the life sciences. Topics include enhancements in sports, vaccinations, allocation of scarce resources, clinical trials, genetic testing, and modifying the natural world.

CSE is directing the research and evaluation activities for TERC and the Institute of Ecosystem Studies’ Biocomplexity and the Habitable Planet project. This project is developing a set of instructional materials that engages students, teachers, and their parents in the science of coupled natural human (CNH) systems. The inquiry-based investigations are designed around four cases in urban, agricultural, tropical, and polar systems, in which students address environmental management challenges increasingly confronted by society.

EDC is developing an interactive, animated CD-ROM for high school students in West Africa to teach them about Pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza. Through this e-Learning multimedia product—with computer games and a comic style story—students will learn about the transmission and dangers of the H1N1 virus, necessary skills to protect themselves, and how to communicate with parents, relatives, and friends about the dangers of transmission and appropriate preventive actions.

The Ecosystems and Evidence project is a collaborative exploratory research and development project with Rutgers University and the Institute of Ecosystem Studies that addresses the question, “Can students develop an understanding of the nature of ecological science (NOES) in high school biology and environmental science classes that is useful and productive in environmental citizenship?” To address this question, the project will identify the essential elements of NOES, investigate how these can be taught and learned, and explore how NOES skills and understandings are used to enhance environm

The INTALEQ (INnovations in Technology-Assisted Learning for Educational Quality) project is a public/private partnership initiative that will help Yemeni students “step up” to the future by giving them a chance to master the types of skills necessary to flourish in the 21st century. INTALEQ (which means “step up” or launch in Arabic) offers a replicable model for leveraging the power and pull of technology, not just to teach computer and internet skills, but to improve core teaching and learning in Yemeni high schools, particularly in the essential areas of math and science.

EDC is working with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) to develop an investigation using the MicroObservatory online telescopes. Controlling the telescopes from their classroom, students will join a community of scientists in the search for solar systems beyond our own, including a search for a twin of Earth that may harbor life.

This project is developing a series of online professional development modules for school counselors—middle grades, high school, and postsecondary student service professionals—that focus on career counseling and college preparation. The modules use a learning community approach where school counselors will participate in the project as a cohort and engage in structured online discussions with their colleagues and the instructor during each of the module sessions.

CSE, through a cooperative agreement with the NSF, is establishing and maintaining the Discovery Research K–12 learning resource network, known as CADRE. The goals are to advance the state of research and evaluation in STEM education and to move forward the goals of the DR-K12 program. CADRE provides support services to grantees from the DR-K12 program, which enhances student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines through the development, implementation, and study of resources, models, and technologies.

This project developing, implementing, and studying a dual model of professional development that augments traditional professional development with an online professional development platform: the Active Physics Teacher Community (APTC).