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Eric.ed.gov – A Compendium of Social-Behavioral Research Funded by NCER and NCSER: 2002-2013. NCER 2016-2002

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this compendium is to catalog NCER’s and NCSER’s contributions to social-behavioral research. Research undertaken as part of these projects is contributing to a knowledge base that ultimately aims to improve academic outcomes for students via improvements in students’ social-behavioral competencies, teachers’ practices, and the climate of schools. This compendium is part of a series of compendia that will highlight different areas of NCER- and NCSER-funded research. Other compendia explore math and science research and education technology research. In this compendium, readers will find descriptions of the social-behavioral research projects from across NCER’s and NCSER’s portfolios. These projects have different primary purposes, including exploration, development of interventions (practices and policies), evaluation of interventions, and development and validation of measurement tools. However, the projects are all… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Mediating Learning Number Bonds through a Vygotskian Lens of Scientific Concepts

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Children’s learning of early number bonds is a significant issue in South African schools because evidence shows that flexible and efficient (fluent and reasoned) knowledge of number bonds to 20 correlates with success at the end of primary schooling, yet the evidence is that many South African students are over-reliant on inefficient counting methods. This paper focuses on why and how treating early number bonds as scientific concepts may be the key to raising learners’ attainment in these. The paper argues that teacher mediation is crucial and that mediation for learning scientific concepts has to be meaningful, relational and transcendent. This theoretical position is illustrated with examples from a dynamic assessment interview with a Grade 2 learner carried out as part of the Wits Maths Connect —… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Project-Based Learning: A Literature Review. Working Paper

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The concept of project-based learning (PBL) has garnered wide support among a number of K-12 education policy advocates and funders. This working paper builds on and updates a seminal literature review of PBL published in 2000. Focused primarily on articles and studies that have emerged in the 17 years since then, the working paper discusses the principles that underlie PBL, how PBL has been used in K-12 settings, the challenges teachers have confronted in implementing it, how school and district factors influence its adoption, and what is known about its effectiveness in improving students’ learning outcomes. PBL is grounded in cross-cutting “design principles” often related to what is taught, how it is taught, and how students should be evaluated in a PBL classroom. PBL design principles emphasize… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – District Action Plan 2003-2008: Improving Academic Achievement in Reading, Math and Language Arts

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The results of the SAT 9 tests administered to Guam students in grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 11 have consistently indicated below average academic performance in the subjects of reading, math and language arts over the past decade of testing. To ensure that students attain the necessary skills and knowledge in reading, math, and language arts, the Student Focus Committee has constructed a district action plan designed to address problems by focusing on measurable objectives to raise student performance. These objectives, discussed in detail in the plan, are grouped into the following categories: (1) standards and assessment; (2) personnel quality and accountability; (3) federal, state, and local programs; (4) home-school connection; (5) Education Indicator System; and (6) system-wide needs/changes. Appended are the following: (1)… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Preparing and Supporting STEM Educators. STEM Smart Brief

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Teachers do make a difference in student outcomes–and it can be a big one. Research has shown this to be especially true in mathematics, which forms the foundation for all future STEM learning. But most U.S. students do not get a series of good teachers–and highly skilled math and science teachers are not the norm. Excellent instruction requires both deep content knowledge and expertise in teaching that content to all kinds of learners. Developing inspiring STEM instruction is particularly demanding, while STEM teachers are particularly poorly prepared. This STEM Smart Brief describes the research and promising practices regarding teacher preparation, professional development, and school leadership strategies that are effective in improving teacher quality or student outcomes. Link til kilde

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Eric.ed.gov – Sustaining Student Gains from Online On-Demand Professional Development

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: A multi-State, quasi-experimental study was conducted as a longitudinal, two-year follow-up of participation in an online, on-demand professional development (PD) program. The purpose was to ascertain whether student gains were sustained in a second year of PD participation. Data verified gains in Year 1 versus Pre-PD baseline, with continued gains in Year 2 atop those achieved in year 1 of PD participation, reflecting a positive trend and continued advantage over non-PD schools in the same districts. Results showed that student in PD schools gained 7.7% (p<0.01) more in Math in year 2 atop 18.9% (p<0.001) gains from year 1, versus gains of 0.5% (ns) and 4.2% (p<0.01) for non-PD schools in the same districts. Similarly, students in the PD schools gained 10.2% (p<0.01) more in Reading in… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Unlocking Young Children’s Potential: Governors’ Role in Strengthening Early Mathematics Learning. NGA Paper

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: As governors respond to the need to significantly improve the quality of public education, they should consider incorporating stronger actions to improve mathematics instruction as part of their overall reform agenda. Governors can take the following actions to promote high-quality mathematics instruction for young children: (1) Become a champion for improvements in the quality of early math education with legislators, business leaders, educators, parents, and students; (2) Align high-quality mathematics standards through the educational pipeline, and support appropriate use of student assessments to measure results. State leaders could consider raising standards for the math skills and concepts children should learn in their state’s early learning guidelines; and (3) Promote changes in policies that improve educator preparation and that support their capacity to teach mathematics to young children.… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Sustainability of Professional Development to Enhance Student Achievement: A Shift in the Professional Development Paradigm

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this study was to describe the sustainability of professional development, specifically the teacher utilization of the Science-in-CTE pedagogical model and science-enhanced agricultural education lessons in curricula one year following the Science-in-CTE pilot study. This quasiexperimental study included 41 teachers (15 treatment agricultural education, 14 control agricultural education, and 12 science) who participated in seven days of professional development in the pilot study in 2009-2010. This study was a partial replication of the Math-in-CTE follow-up study and data were collected using a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data were obtained from online questionnaires and qualitative data were collected from personal and telephone interviews. Researchers found that a majority of the treatment agricultural education and science teachers voluntarily incorporated portions of the seven-element pedagogical model and 15… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Pathways to STEM Initiative (PSI): Evaluation Report for an Investing in Innovation (I3) Development Grant

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Pathways to STEM Initiative (PSI) on students and science teachers and to describe the level of PSI implementation. One group of middle schools participated in PSI, which included project-based science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) coursework; extra-curricular STEM opportunities for students; and teacher professional development. A multivariate matching algorithm was used to identify a comparison group of schools that received the participating district’s standard science curriculum. The students in the study schools were 62% Hispanic/Latino, 17% Black/African American, and 12% White. Additionally, 23% of the students were English language learners. The study compared students’ science achievement and teachers’ beliefs about science and attitudes toward STEM across the treatment and comparison schools and assessed the fidelity… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Instrumental Appropriation of a Collaborative, Dynamic-Geometry Environment and Geometrical Understanding

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: To understand learners’ appropriation of technological tools and geometrical understanding, we draw on the theory of instrumental genesis (Lonchamp, 2012; Rabardel & Beguin, 2005), which seeks to explain how learners accomplish tasks interacting with tools. To appropriate a tool, learners develop their own knowledge of how to use it, which turns the tool into an instrument that mediates an activity between learners and a task. The tool used in our study is the Virtual Math Teams with GeoGebra (VMTwG) environment. It contains a chat panel and multiuser version of GeoGebra. The learners are seven middle and high school mathematics teachers who participated in a professional development course in which they collaborated synchronously in VMTwG to solve geometrical tasks. We use conventional content analysis to analyze the work… Continue Reading