Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

The Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments offers three overarching recommendations to guide NSF-EHR investments over the next several years: Capitalize on promising trends in STEM

learningCreate coordinated programs of researchDevelop a knowledge base of NSF funded

research on STEM learning and learning environments

Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

1. Capitalize on promising trends in STEM learning

Context: a confluence of major forces Recognition of the role of postsecondary education and STEM skills New education standards, including CCSS and NGSS New information, communication, and collaborative technologies The rise of improvement science and its application to data

collection, analyses, and pedagogical practice Understanding that learning occurs across environments and the

lifespan

These trends in the wider field of education open significant new opportunities to improve STEM learning for all American students.

Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

1. Capitalize on promising trends in STEM learning

Opportunities Encourage researchers and practitioners to improve the

field’s understanding of core questions Exploit the potential of cyberlearning to accelerate and

personalize STEM learning Study shifts in educators’ roles in the STEM disciplines Employ multi-modal learning analytics and data-intensive

methods to address educational questions (e.g., STEM performance assessments)

Take leadership to engage emerging concerns for human subjects’ protections in STEM learning environments

Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

2. Create coordinated programs of research

Context: common problems of practice Growing capacity in the field to identify common problems of

practice, including “stumbling blocks” to student learning Potential to raise levels of STEM learning for girls and young

women and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups

Technology infrastructure and improvement science open new ways to expand field participation in designing and testing solutions

NSF investment should be designed to spark broad interest, understanding, and dialogue about how problems can be solved and solutions applied.

Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

2. Create coordinated programs of research

Opportunities Build knowledge about how to recognize and overcome

common “stumbling blocks” that hamper student learning. Examples include: Understanding rational numbers, ratios and proportional

reasoning Applying core concepts and problem-solving strategies for

computational thinking Other potential high-leverage topics include:

Mastering interdisciplinary Overcoming barriers that limit the success of

underrepresented students in postsecondary STEM learning

Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

3. Develop a knowledge base of NSF-funded research

Context: coordination and transparency New NSF/IES guidelines provide a basis for coordinated,

transparent programs of knowledge generation Programs should encompass projects across research “types,”

including foundational, design and development, impact, scaling, and evaluation

Balanced portfolios could help fill gaps and drive evidence and theory toward development, design, and implementation.

Greater transparency about NSF priorities and how NSF-funded research efforts fit together could help educators, researchers, and others in the field to recognize potential connections with their work.

Subcommittee on STEM Learning and STEM Learning Environments

3. Develop a knowledge base of NSF-funded research

Opportunities Develop a logic model and associated schematics that

articulate the Directorate’s vision Strengthen relationships with educators and others to

identify high-leverage topics Broaden participation by practitioners and researchers,

especially those from underserved populations Establish and/or charge translational research centers with

developing common standards for collecting and tagging data