Middle Grades

In recent years, national attention has focused on the use and role of instructional materials in mathematics education to improve student achievement. New national standards, international comparisons, and demands for increasing accountability suggest the need for broader research and stronger evidence about the effective use of mathematics curricula. EDC is conducting a project to understand mathematics curriculum leaders’ needs for research that informs their decision-making, and to increase researchers’ understanding of those needs.

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.

This project reviewed Parametric Technology Corporation’s (PTC) 3-D solid modeling lesson plans and aligned the activities to U.S. national science, mathematics, technology, and career standards. Partners in Virginia public schools and the British School of Washington are developing design-based science and technology education lessons that illustrate the use of PTC software (Pro/DESKTOP and Pro/ENGINEER) within the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) “Material World Modules” Program.

The National Forum, which was based at EDC from 1997 to 2005, is now an independent organization. Visit the Forum’s Web site for current contact information.

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.

This project field-tested an innovative software tool, Draft:Builder, designed to help students with disabilities develop information-gathering and analysis skills within the middle grades curriculum. The project incorporated key principles of universal design to ensure accessibility to students with cognitive, sensory, and physical disabilities. Draft:Builder, designed as a prototype in a previous project, is published by Don Johnston, Inc., in collaboration with EDC.

This project built on speech recognition work from a previous project. We worked with a software publisher and speech recognition companies to produce a speech recognition product that meets the needs of individuals with disabilities. This product maintains desirable features of existing products and takes advantage of advances in speech recognition technology, while also integrating other critical adaptive technologies.

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.