NSF Award
2013314
With support from NSF?s Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings and the Division of Undergraduate Education, this project will serve the national interest by exploring midscale approaches to improving STEM education for all students. The award will fund a workshop that brings together education researchers and other key stakeholders to explore how NSF?s Mid-scale Research Infrastructure Big Idea could facilitate STEM education research. This Big Idea aims to address research infrastructure needs of the scientific, engineering, and STEM education fields by investing in the development of experimental research capabilities in the mid-scale range, defined as $20-70 million total project cost. Mid-scale infrastructure funding is intended to support development, design, and construction of cutting-edge research infrastructure to support scientific advances. In the STEM education field, such investments have the potential to advance research on many topics, including the development of technologies for use in educational settings, models of education, and career pathways. The results of this research could help the nation meet the learning needs of an increasingly diverse population at all stages of the learning lifecycle. Successful implementation of this workshop will produce a vision and a set of priorities for the mid-scale research infrastructure needed to support STEM education research.<br/><br/>The Workshop on Mid-scale STEM Education Research Infrastructure will convene STEM Research education experts and stakeholders to exchange ideas about how mid-scale research infrastructure can advance the frontier of STEM education and to develop a community of stakeholders around this topic. Mid-scale research infrastructure is necessary to enable the advancement of knowledge about how best to educate all learners regarding STEM concepts and skills. Developing foundational skills and knowledge in STEM is an imperative for all students in primary and secondary education. At the postsecondary level, success in STEM is crucial to a broad range of professions and career pathways. Graduate training both prepares the researchers who will advance basic knowledge as well as the next generation of teachers and professors. Informal STEM educators also play a key role in providing opportunities to engage with STEM applications and concepts. Although much progress has been made across sectors in developing effective instructional practices in STEM, the proliferation of new technologies such as mixed reality and simulations, of computational applications across disciplines, and of interdisciplinary educational and career pathways will lead to new challenges and opportunities to be addressed by education research. This workshop aims to advance the nation?s STEM education by enhancing knowledge of relevant research infrastructure needs. The workshop will convene an interdisciplinary group of experts with the charge to identify opportunities and gaps that can inform the potential for mid-scale research infrastructure to advance STEM education research. The resulting workshop summary will detail potential projects and identify anticipated near-term outcomes and long-term impacts of mid-scale STEM education research infrastructure.<br/><br/>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.
