Project Profile: "Project Pathways: A Math and Science Partnership Program for Arizona Targeted Project Track"

Project Pathways: A Math and Science Partnership Program for Arizona Targeted Project Track

Project Pathways targets mathematics and science learning and achievement in grades 9-12. The project will produce a research-based and tested model to support secondary mathematics and science teachers. Core partners include four school districts (Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, and Tolleson) and the Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (CRESMET) at Arizona State University (ASU). The Maricopa Community College District and Intel are collaborators with ASU in delivering the project's research-based services and products to these districts. The demographics of the partner school districts mirror those of Arizona, where 45% of students are persons of color and the Hispanic population is expanding rapidly.

Pathways will produce tools and knowledge to guide secondary mathematics and science teachers in promoting conceptual learning and STEM behaviors that the literature deems essential for continued STEM learning and course-taking. These key behaviors include competence and flexibility in scientific inquiry, mathematical problem solving, and engineering design.

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Showcase

The Role of the Facilitator in Promoting Meaningful Discourse Among Professional Learning Communities of Secondary Mathematics and Science Teachers

This report describes the construct of decentering and its influence on the discourse of a professional learning community (PLC) of secondary mathematics teachers...

How Old is The Earth? An Exploration of Geologic Time

"Geologic time is fundamental to the study of the Earth and life sciences, but it is an abstract and difficult concept for students to master. We predict that placebased inquiry,...

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Library

Sense of Place in the Practice and Assessment of Place-based Science Teaching

"We teach earth, ecological, and environmental sciences in and about places imbued with meaning by human experience. Scientific understanding is but one of the many types of meanings that can…

Key Variables for Establishing and Sustaining Highly Effective Professional Learning Communities

This session describes attributes of Pathways Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) that have emerged in research projects to be effective for shifting mathematics teachers' instruction. These shifts have led to greater…

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Resources

Documenting the Emergence of "Speaking With Meaning" as a Sociomathematical Norm in Professional Learning Community Discourse

We introduce the sociomathematical norm of speaking with meaning and describe its emergence in a professional learning community (PLC) of secondary mathematics and science teachers. We use speaking with meaning…

Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP)

"The Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) was developed as an observation instrument to provide a standardized means for detecting the degree to which K-20 classroom instruction in mathematics...

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