Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE): Expanding the Reach and Impact of Innovations in STEM Education

Education Development Center, Waltham MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project from the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) will provide assistance to Discovery Research K-12 (DRK-12) projects in national dissemination of the R&D contributions of the DRK-12 program. This project will strengthen the capacity, advance the research, and amplify the impact of DRK-12 projects and researchers working in the assessment, learning, and teaching strands. Through this effort, CADRE will advance the goals of the DRK-12 program in preK-12 formal STEM education by responding to the continuing need for communication, collaboration, and innovations among DRK-12 awardees and between awardees and the education system. The DRK-12 program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. CADRE's goals to strengthen the capacity, advance the research, and amplify the influence of active DRK-12 projects and associated researchers are designed to contribute to improvements in preK-12 STEM education. During this project, CADRE will continue its work in three main areas: (1) supporting the DRK-12 community, (2) connecting awardees in support of knowledge generation, and (3) connecting to the larger community of education research, policy, and practice. In addition, CADRE will bring together communities of practice to synthesize research across DRK-12 projects to identify critical themes in successful projects. CADRE will support early-career researchers and postdoctoral fellows through dedicated mentoring programs. They will also launch a Community Partners program designed to recruit a more diverse set of prospective DRK-12 researchers into the community. CADRE seeks to bring together (virtually and in-person) diverse audiences to contribute to and benefit from the work of DRK-12 projects, thereby further increasing engagement in evidence-based education in the STEM disciplines. CADRE will work to ensure that the knowledge and products produced by and with DRK-12 projects are broadly accessible to a varied group of stakeholders. CADRE will disseminate the research, models, resources, and technologies--both within the program and outside--to the broader education practitioner, research, and policymaking communities through a variety of media, including infographics and podcasts. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.