Research and Evaluation

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 Greater North Shore Science Partnership (GNSSP) offers middle and high school science and math teachers an intensive course of study contributing to the completion of Northeastern University”s Masters of Education in Middle School Science program. CSE research involves observing middle school science teachers to understand whether and how participating in the GNSSP mathematics course for science teachers has an impact on the nature of their science instruction.

In 2008 New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) developed a strategic vision for the improvement of its middle schools, known as The Campaign for Middle School Success. This is a multi-year, strategic approach to closing achievement gaps and increasing student academic achievement with frameworks for schools to apply with flexibility. It provided 70 middle schools, chosen through a competitive grant application process, with grants that would finance their improvement planning.

This project studies the effects of an EDC-developed professional development program, Fostering Geometric Thinking Toolkit, on teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs). It tests the hypothesis that geometric problem solving invites diagramming, drawing, use of colloquial language, and gesturing to complement mathematical communication and affords teachers opportunities to support ELL learning.

PETlab is a curriculum that introduces boys and girls between the ages of 9–12 to the principles of game design through digital and non-digital activities. The curriculum is being developed for the Boys & Girls Club of America. CCT is evaluating a month-long pilot of the program at five Boys & Girls Club. Through eight activities, boys and girls will modify components of games, such as rules and mechanics, in order to explore how they influence the experience of game play and how they relate to one another in game design.

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.

The goal of this project is to prepare a protocol for documenting parent involvement strategies being used by urban districts and schools that serve large proportions of economically disadvantaged and minority students in the Northeast and Islands region.

This five-year project is designed to provide NASA with rigorous evaluation findings of its education portfolio contributions to furthering key strategic goals: develop the STEM workforce in relevant disciplines, attract and retain students at all stages of the educational pipeline, build strategic partnerships between STEM formal and informal education providers, and promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission.

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).

The Center for Science Education is conducting an audit of opportunities to learn science in a sample of Massachusetts high schools in order to answer the following research questions:

• How are opportunities to learn and succeed in science distributed across Massachusetts high schools?
• To what degree are the nature and distribution of opportunities to learn science associated with student MCAS achievement?