RECRUIT is an experimental alternative science and mathematics teacher certification program that aims to increase the number of secondary science and mathematics teachers from under-represented populations in the profession, including recent and advanced science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates, and mid-career scientists, mathematicians, and industry personnel. It emphasizes two central themes: quality and innovation in science and mathematics teacher preparation through both program design (including development, pilot testing, and effectiveness assessment), and also intensive research on teacher cognition and content knowledge, teacher support communities and identifying effective models for collaboration between education faculty, STEM faculty, and school personnel.

The project’s aim is to develop three qualitatively different computer-aided programs to help pre-kindergarten to first grade children who are at risk for difficulties in learning mathematics to memorize basic addition and related subtraction facts and to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the programs. After development and formative evaluation, a summative evaluation of each program will entail a one-year training experiment involving about 75 participants randomly assigned to the three programs. Computer-based testing during the intervention will chart the on-going learning. Testing afterward will gauge attainment, long-term retention, and near and far transfer. Analyses will include ANCOVAs.

This project evaluates the efficacy of computer-based programs to foster primary-grade children’s fluency with single-digit addition and subtraction facts. The PI’s theory- and research-based programs incorporate features that may promote fact fluency, including relatively novel efforts to promote discovery of patterns and relations underlying whole fact families. Systematic comparisons of experimental and control conditions involve at least 60 children at risk for academic failure (e.g., pupils from low-income families or a minority group). Training experiments evaluate programs with different fact families and include gauging retention and transfer of fluency and effects of age and risk factors.

This project investigates two types of transitions in preschoolers' development of number and arithmetic knowledge: (1) Changes in how children represent number; and, (2) Changes in what children represent. By examining both types of transitions, separately and as they interact, we evaluate different developmental views and the proposition that, at the same time children are gaining representational precision, they also move toward more generalized concepts. This more accurate and complete developmental account can serve as the basis for a powerful instructional framework for early childhood mathematics education.

This project seeks to develop a mathematics assessment system for young children that can be used by education professionals. The plan is to design the Early Mathematics Assessment System (EMAS), a tool which will measure a broad range of mathematical content knowledge and proficiency skills of children. Once developed, the next steps are to develop a software format that can be used on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and then to ensure the reliability and validity of the EMAS. The last goal in the project is to assess how the EMAS is used by evaluators.

Dr. Bresler counsels and teaches on research and development issues for Hogskoken/Stord/Haugesund (HSH) staff and students, in particular the different research projects and programmes connected to different profiles in the Master Programme ICT in learning. The field of work engaged is related to the different profiles of the Master degree program on ICT in Learning at HSH; national, international and local seminars and conferences; and research and development guidance and advice. The work is performed as physical visits to Stord/Haugesund, online seminars, and on-demand consultations via internet.

This innovative, hybrid-online Masters of Education program serves current secondary science certificate holders, permitting additional science designations. Frontier science and critical technologies vital to the global economy (biotechnology, nanotechnology and informatics) are featured, accenting engineering’s influence in these interdisciplinary areas. Pertinent research and models for course curriculum are introduced with teaching methodologies, pedagogical approaches, and evaluation methods. Teacher leadership, integrated into coursework, focuses on mentoring, coaching, and distributed leadership, enabling dissemination of innovative concepts. Participants develop science course design and instruction skills, content skills and knowledge. Engineering’s Center for Nanoscale Chemical-Electrical-Mechanical Manufacturing Systems and Urbana School District #116 are partners.

This project supports the collaboration of faculty, ISBE and other partners in the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative. Through this project faculty will facilitate the review and selection of the pilot induction and mentoring projects as well as create a network among the projects. The team will work with the Joyce Foundation, SRI, and the Illinois Education Research Center on evaluation designs that cross the pilots and other, existing, induction and mentoring programs. Specific activities include working sessions for the project directors and selected staff members, providing resource advice and coordination, data collection and reporting on projects’ structure, accomplishments, and challenges.

This project addresses a critical aspect in establishing a successful, statewide program of mentoring and induction of new teachers in Illinois. The purpose of this project is two-fold: first, to build on current initiatives to create a statewide network of support for new teachers, mentors, and administrators who work with new teachers; and second, to design a stable infrastructure that serves as a resource for school districts, universities, teachers unions, community colleges, and other institutions that are designing, implementing, improving, evaluating and studying programs, projects, and activities for teachers who are new to the profession

This project trains pre-service teachers, in-service mainstream teachers, and bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers at the elementary and middle-school levels. The first goal is to comprehensively improve teacher education program at UIUC for pre-service teachers so that the latter can provide instruction to accelerate Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students’ language acquisition, literacy, and content knowledge. The second goal provides professional staff development over the academic year. The third goal addresses the state and local shortage in bilingual and ESL teachers by increasing the number of teachers (pre-service and in-service) who take courses for their bilingual/ESL approvals.

A negative relationship exists between diverse students and mathematical achievement, partly because teachers are poorly qualified to teach them. There is research about what effective teachers of diverse students do, but how we might help others develop their disposition/knowledge? This project addresses four questions: (1) How do focus group teacher candidates conceptualize “teaching mathematics to diverse students" before, during, and after an intensive, one year partnership with a Chicago Public School; (2) What knowledge do candidates believe is necessary for teaching mathematics to diverse students; (3) What educational conditions account for the differences in candidates' understanding; and, (4) What are implications for theoretical understanding of teacher learning?

The goal of this project is to develop the next generation of middle school curricula that support students in learning science content based on national standards, situated in project based investigations. These materials will draw on design principles developed out of current findings in research on learning, literacy, instruction and assessment. We will investigate whether students in diverse settings (urban, suburban, and rural) develop deeper understanding of key learning goals using these materials than do students who use conventional materials.

We will develop a learning progression for scientific modeling, explore its implementation in two grade bands across elementary and middle school, and examine teacher and students' developing practices. UIUC will be a research site to collect teacher and student data in elementary classrooms regarding research questions focused on use of models and modeling practices across disciplines and the relationship between scientific modeling and content learning. Data will be collected and analyzed focusing on inservice and preservice teachers understanding and use of scientific models and modeling. UIUC will assist in development of surveys, and/or interviews for 4th-7th grade students and teachers

This masters’ degree program deepens elementary school teachers’ knowledge, integrating science, mathematics, and pedagogy with an inquiry-oriented approach. Emphasizing “sense-making” while learning, it brings together faculty and teacher interests from geometry, astronomy, probability, and entomology. Principal partners include Curriculum and Instruction; Educational Organization and Leadership; Educational Psychology; Office of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education; Mathematics; Entomology; Atmospheric Sciences; Illinois Natural History Survey; School of Earth Systems, Environment and Society; College of Engineering, and Decatur Public schools. World-renowned researchers, featured Illinois campus scholars are also inspirational instructors, engaging young people, providing content expertise, and powerful experiences for science and mathematics teachers.

This project is a collaboration involving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Ohio State University to develop and conduct teacher training workshops in Indonesia, including participation in the programmatic, administrative and fiscal management over the course of two years.

Dr. Marilyn Johnston-Parsons will support field activities in Indonesia; lead planning activities with Indonesian Institutional Teams and develop tools for data collection. She is prepared to travel to Indonesia during non-academic year time to participate in planning activities, including working with a to-be-identified elementary education faculty member who indicates willingness to be available for planning activities in Indonesia during non-academic year time. She will further provide review and feedback to research and curriculum development efforts, aid in the development of a Project Graduate course, and contribute to Project evaluation reports, including attending a funder meeting in Washington, DC Year Three.

Microsoft Partners in Learning Project (PiL) Program Evaluation: Guidance for Academic Program Managers and Evaluators, is a literature review project between RMIT University of Australia and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This project examines the extant United States literature related to computer-mediated environments that may benefit designers of new educational technologies and designers of learning. The literature review includes content related to; writing pedagogy, diversity/equity interventions, documentation of instructional designs, teacher-as-researcher/reflective practitioner, mixed mode research methodologies. The goal of the project is to inform an evaluation for adapting outcomes of the Australian project activities to American contexts.

This project explores how boys’ and girls’ early experiences differ at both school and home, and how those differences relate to gender disparities in K-5th grade mathematics achievement. In the study's first component, students’ home experiences, classroom experiences, and attitudes toward mathematics are compared by gender. The second and third components focus on the relationship between those student experiences and gender gaps in kindergarten mathematics achievement. In the final component, relationships among girls’ and boys’ attitudes toward mathematics, experiences, and achievement, are examined. Throughout the study, interactions among gender, race/ethnicity and SES are explored.