NSF research and development projects have produced a rich array of principles, materials,and practitioner insights that are helpful guides to improved preparation and professional development of STEM teachers. The following examples illustrate the range of ideas and products available from that work.
FEI and the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF) have partnered to launch MyScope Outreach. It is an easy-to-use platform that gives students a glimpse into the microscopic world around them.
FEI and the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF)
Whyville is an interactive website and part of a larger research project. In Whyville, millions of "citizens" come from all over to learn, create, and have fun together.
The Education Developoment Center (EDC) is developing, field-testing, and disseminating professional development materials for mathematics teachers in grades 6-12.
The mission of Understanding Science is to provide a fun, accessible, and free resource that accurately communicates what science is and how it really works.
The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley
The Teaching Elementary School Science as Argument (TESSA) has two main purposes: (1) To develop electronic resources to support preservice elementary teachers in learning to teach science as argument, and (2) To study the development of preservice elementary teachers knowledge and practices for teaching school science as argument.
This article discusses Structure-Behavior-Function thinking to help students think deeply, systematically and with an orientation that will help them learn and more fully understand complex systems.
Rebecca Jordan, Lei Liu, Steven Gray, Marylee Demeter, Spencer Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver
The science snackbook is a collection of science education resources that are based on, and scaled down from, exhibits in the museum of science, art and human perception in San Francisco.
With over a million hits per year, www.evolution is a teacher resource aimed at improving the understanding of the nature of science, the patterns and processes of evolution, and the history of evolutionary thought and to increase their ability to teach these subjects effectively.
Physics by Inquiry is a set of laboratory-based modules that provide a step-by-step introduction to physics and the physical sciences. All the modules have been explicitly designed to develop scientific reasoning skills and to provide practice in relating scientific concepts, representations, and models to real world phenomena…
Mathematics in Context (MiC) is a comprehensive 6-8 mathematics curriculum. It uses realistic contexts and multiple strategies to discover, explore, and understand rich math concepts…
The Making Science Mentors program trains middle school science teachers to be effective mentors for other middle school teachersusing a long-term, inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning how to be a more effective science educator…
The Lenses on Learning program is a modular course that addresses a number of issues of importance to administrators as they seek to support Standards-based mathematics instruction in their schools and districts. Each module contains sufficient material for 3-5 class sessions of three hours each.
Catherine Miles Grant, Barbara Scott Nelson, Ellen Davidson, Annette Sassi, Amy Shulman Weinberg, Jessica Bleiman
School Leadership Games is a professional training tool built for aspiring and practicing school leaders. These games will offer complete simulated school leadership experiences, and will ultimately be configurable into a comprehensive game of school leadership in which players will have the opportunity to run schools and learn the necessary skills and qualities of successful school leaders through game play.
Teachers' Domain is an extensive library of free digital media resources produced by public television, designed for classroom use and professional development
Three departments at Rice University collaborated to create a professional development model for developing secondary school teacher leaders in mathematics.
Rice University; Aldine Independent School District; Houston Independent School District
Resources for Environmental Literacy offers a fresh way to enhance your classroom productivity. The environmental context it provides can improve your students' science learning even as learning the science improves their ability to deal with five real-world topics.
Environmental Literacy Council and National Science Teachers Association
The Science and Math Informal Learning Education (SMILE) pathway collects the best educational materials on the web and creates learning activities, tools, and services for those who teach school-aged kids in non-classroom settings.
The SimCalc project seeks to democratize access to the mathematics of change, making challenging concepts accessible to ordinary middle school students.
This work of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) assists states in improving evaluations of the quality of professional development for teachers…
Focus on Mathematics is a partnership seeking to improve student achievement by providing mathematics teachers with the content knowledge and skills valuable in their profession…
Boston University; Education Development Center; the Massachusetts school districts of Arlington, Chelsea, Lawrence, Waltham, and Watertown; Lesley University; University of Massachusetts- Lowell; Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) is a staff development/teacher education program designed to help educators think through the major ideas of K-6 mathematics…
Deborah Schifter, Virginia Bastable, Susan Jo Russell
Education Development Center; Mt. Holyoke College; TERC
The Curriculum Topic Study (CTS) is developing a set of tools and professional development processes to engage science and mathematics teachers and professional developers…
The Boston Science Partnership is a project designed to improve science teaching and learning in Boston's middle schools and high schools, to enhance university-level teaching by STEM faculty, and to ensure the university partners continued support for and faculty involvement in science education.
Boston Public Schools; University of Massachusetts-Boston; Northeastern University; Harvard Medical School; Roxbury Community College; The College Board
The Expository Writing and Science Notebooks Program developed professional resources to help elementary teachers strengthen their students' writing skills, particularly writing in science notebooks.
The Iowa Science Literacy project is a collaborative endeavor between the content areas of science and literacy, with an emphasis on the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), an exciting approach to teaching science in classrooms from primary to collegiate levels.
ATE Central is a freely available online portal and collection of materials and services that highlight the work of the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) projects and centers.
Internet Scout at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Opinions expressed on this site are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the National Science Foundation. Note: NSF funding for this project has ended and this site has been converted to a static archive that is not actively maintained.
