College of Education faculty Christina Krist, assistant professor, Curriculum & Instruction, Gloriana Gonzalez Rivera, professor, Curriculum & Instruction, and Michelle Perry, professor, Educational Psychology have been named CADRE National Science Foundation Discovery Research PreK-12 Awardees.
The Discovery Research PreK-12 program (DRK-12) aims to catalyze research and development that enhances all preK-12 teachers' and students' opportunities to engage in high-quality learning experiences related to the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Krist's project is titled "A Professional Development Model for High School Teachers to Adapt Curricula Toward Students' Knowledges and Resources." This project brings together education researchers, high school science teachers, research scientists, and community-based organizations as co-design teams to modify science curriculum materials to be justice- and community-oriented. Building on existing partnerships between education researchers and 11 science teachers in two districts in Illinois, project teams will engage in cycles of curriculum analysis and adaptation over three years. These professional learning cycles will develop pedagogically relevant content expertise, such as a deepened understanding of locally relevant science phenomena and infrastructure for community-engaged science instruction.
Gonzalez-Rivera was awarded for her project "Engaging Teachers in Integrating Human-Centered Design for Geometry Problem-based Instruction." Geometry instruction offers unique opportunities for students to apply design thinking to authentic problems. This project supports teachers in designing and implementing lessons using a human-centered design (HCD) approach. Geometry teachers will participate in lesson study for two years to plan problem-based geometry lessons and to observe student thinking during those lessons. The project investigates how teachers learn about and apply a human-centered framework for teaching geometry.
Perry's project is "Examining Elementary Mathematics Teachers' Behaviors and Learning with an Online Professional Development Platform." In this project, the investigators will explore different ways elementary school teachers participate in online learning on a platform that includes videos, discussions, and other resources for mathematics teaching. Knowing that teachers may use the platform to different degrees depending on their interest and time available, the study will investigate how different profiles of participation influence teachers' learning.
More on NSF DRK12 is available here.
