This mixed methods study explored the development of elementary and middle school preservice teachers' (PSTs) learning to assess student thinking through analysis of students' written work. Six sections of the first mathematics content course for teaching implemented two writing assignments focused on analysis of student work aligned to the…

This study examines shifts in science teachers' (N = 15) beliefs and practices within the context of a research-practice partnership (RPP) that developed and implemented curriculum modules in middle school science classrooms. Interview, document, and observation data gathered over the course of the project indicate that the vast majority of…

STEM education has received attention both as a reform pedagogy and as a public means for economic growth and national security. Yet, despite this attention, clarity about what "counts" as STEM and how the individual disciplines relate to an integrated approach remains ambiguous. This article elicits the conceptions about what…

This study of a state-funded, 3-year implementation of an integrated STEM professional development (PD) program for teachers from two middle schools in the midwestern U.S. examined if participants in the PD were enabled to transform their practice and perceptions of STEM. An integrated STEM approach includes a focus on the STEM disciplines, along…

The Teacher Academy in the Natural Sciences (TANS) provided middle school (U.S. Grades 6-8) teachers (N = 81) with intensive professional development (PD) in chemistry, geosciences, and physics, with teachers enrolled in one scientific discipline per year. Because some teachers were retained and rotated into different disciplines, the TANS program…

In the transition to middle school, and during the middle school years, students' motivation for mathematics tends to decline from what it was during elementary school. Formative assessment strategies in mathematics can help support motivation by building confidence for challenging tasks. In this study, the authors developed and piloted a…

This study examines Middle School Mathematics Teachers' (MSMTs') (N = 1,241) perceptions of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) and its impact on the instructional environment. A total of eight factors appear in the data. These factors include professional support, teachers' use of district-adopted and non-district-adopted…

This study investigated the ways in which four middle grades teachers developed mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) geometry as they implemented dynamic geometry software in their classrooms with the assistance of a coach. Teachers developed various components of MKT by observing coaches teach, by dynamic discourse with students, which is…

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practices are ways of eliciting the reasoning and applying foundational ideas in science. As research has revealed barriers to states and schools adopting the NGSS, this mixed-methods study attempts to identify characteristics of professional development (PD) that will support NGSS…

This study focused on intensive work within a large, urban, low-performing middle school in the southwest to address and transform teacher beliefs regarding the role of culture within their science pedagogy. Given the recent, rapid growth of numbers of students from Hispanic/Latino(a) backgrounds in the United States, it is critical that a…

We describe and analyze a professional development (PD) model that involved a partnership among science, mathematics and education university faculty, science and mathematics coordinators, and middle school administrators, teachers, and students. The overarching project goal involved the implementation of interdisciplinary STEM Design Challenges…

Concerns with the ability of U.S. classrooms to develop learners who will become the next generation of innovators, particularly given the present climate of standardized testing, warrants a closer look at creativity in science classrooms. The present study explored these concerns associated with teachers' classroom practice by addressing the…

Through historical and contemporary research, educators have identified widespread misconceptions and difficulties faced by students in learning algebra. Many of these universal issues stem from content addressed long before students take their first algebra course. Yet elementary and middle school teachers may not understand how the subtleties of…

Two related case studies of secondary mathematics teachers examine the roles and conditions helpful in initiating, directing, and/or supporting teachers' own professional development. Using multiple data sources from school-based and professional settings, we applied analytic induction to identify patterns of similarities and differences in…

Effective competition in a rapidly growing global economy places demands on a society to produce individuals capable of higher-order critical thinking, creative problem solving, connection making, and innovation. We must look to our teacher education programs to help prospective middle grades teachers build the mathematical habits of mind that…