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.

The purpose of this preliminary case study is to identify and describe high school mathematics teachers’ discourse-based formative assessment practices (DAP) by focusing on extended discourse episodes that occur in classroom instruction. The goals of this preliminary project are to: (1) document each teacher’s formative assessment practices; (2) make qualitative discernments about their formative assessment practices; (3)consider if there is a relationship between their practices and demographic differences across school settings; and, (4) consider how the findings inform the conceptualization of future studies about DAP, and teachers’ professional learning experiences for DAP.

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.

This grant supports a graduate research project.

This project trains preservice mathematics teachers committed to teaching in high needs schools. In Phase I, students learn and apply the latest theories and practices for supporting marginalized students to learn mathematics. The program provides summer internships for recruitment of diverse and qualified preservice teachers, the Noyce Seminar, ongoing mentoring with an experienced Chicago Public School teacher, and access to the particularly rich and diverse array of summer enrichment programs operated by the University of Illinois. Results will improve STEM education among marginalized populations across the nation and successfully increase teacher placements in high needs Illinois schools.

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.

Project NEURON brings together the University of Illinois’s Neuroscience Program, the College of Education's Department of Curriculum and Instruction, the Office for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education and local teachers to develop and disseminate curriculum materials linking cutting-edge science with national and state science standards. This project creates professional development opportunities for teachers and graduate students, includes a formative and summative evaluation and a dissemination mechanism. Project goals include: (1) developing and disseminating curriculum modules for use in secondary science classrooms; (2) improving instructional practices of secondary science teachers; and, (3) improving student engagement in and learning of science.

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.

Scholarship in social and entrepreneurial leadership and distributed leadership frame EnLiST’s efforts to build and sustain a state-wide Illinois community of highly qualified science teacher leaders, transforming K-12 science teaching and learning through intensive professional development and innovative school projects. Teacher leaders gain cutting-edge scientific knowledge, research experiences in University laboratories, and effective pedagogical repertoires, as well as entrepreneurial leadership and transformative skills. They return to their districts empowered to energize and transform STEM teaching and learning. Core partners include Education, Physics, Chemistry, Business, Champaign Unit 4 District, Urbana School District #116, and Thornton High School District #205.