Making the Building Blocks of Early Math Scalable, Accessible, and Viable for All Young Children and Their Teachers

该项目将建立一个互动和集成的课程和专业发展技术系统：积木工具集。BB工具集旨在使所有幼儿教育工作者和他们的学生受益。幼儿将从引人入胜的、有效的数字教育游戏和面对面的活动中学习。教师将及时获得与学生发展相关的专业发展，并就课程选择和对文化敏感的教学策略提供指导。这款应用程序建立在研究团队之前对幼儿数学学习轨迹的研究基础上。学习轨迹以对儿童认知的研究为基础，包含三个相互关联的组成部分：学习目标、思维水平的发展进程以及与每个水平相关的教学活动。以研究为基础的课程资源和专业发展并不总是提供给服务不足的社区，而这场流行病只会加剧基于收入和种族的不平等。因此，BBToolset的研究和开发的所有阶段都将与不同的社区合作进行。项目组将通过三种方式确保公平的材料和获取机会。首先，学习轨迹活动中包含的资源将包括广泛的指南和即时提示，以促进制定符合文化要求的数字和面对面活动。第二，将包括已知可促进特定边缘人群的参与、学习和认同的教学方法和战略，包括支持多语种学习者。第三，所有组成部分都设计成可以使用通用的学习设计，并纳入残疾儿童的适应。研究小组将使用以前工作中的课程研究框架来开发BB工具集，并对BB工具集进行形成性和总结性评估，特别注意其使用在多大程度上增加了儿童和教师的参与和学习。这项工作还将确保所有儿童，主要是来自服务不足人口的儿童，充分受益。在形成阶段，研究和开发将包括焦点小组、调查和涉及教师和儿童的系统数据。对数千名参与者的详细数据的分析将指导正在改进的BBToolset系统和学习轨迹的形成性评估组成部分。将评估和改进发展进程，以及教学活动(包括数字教育游戏)。在总结性阶段，该项目将在教室内和整个项目群体中利用实验研究设计。数据将用分层线性模型进行分析，以评估干预的有效性和有效性。该项目将为教师提供经过验证的资源，不需要大量的初始工作或额外工作。这项实证工作还将验证形成性评估是教学过程中的一个强有力的因素，并为研究人员提供广泛的数据和他们可以用来收集新数据的工具。因此，该项目将有助于促进认知、课程和通过技术扩大教育创新的知识。探索研究PREK-12计划(DRK-12)旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高Pre-K-12学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will build an interactive and integrated curricular and professional development technological system: the Building Blocks Toolset. The BBToolset is designed to benefit all early childhood educators and their students. Young children will learn from engaging, effective digital educational games and face-to-face activities. Teachers will receive just-in-time professional development related to their students' development and guidance on curricular choices and culturally sensitive pedagogical strategies. The app builds on the research teams' prior work on the mathematical learning trajectories of young children. Learning trajectories are grounded in research on children's cognition and contain three interrelated components: a learning goal, a developmental progression of levels of thinking, and instructional activities that correlate to each level. Research-based curricular resources and professional development are not always available to underserved communities, and the pandemic has only exacerbated inequities based on income and race. Thus, all phases of research and development of the BBToolset will be conducted collaboratively with diverse communities. The project team will ensure equitable materials and access in three ways. First, the resources embedded in the learning trajectories activities will include extensive guides and just-in-time tips to promote culturally responsive enactment of digital and face-to-face activities. Second, teaching approaches and strategies will be included that are known to promote engagement, learning, and identification for specific marginalized populations, including support for multilingual learners. Third, all components are designed to be accessible using Universal Design for Learning and incorporating adaptations for children with disabilities.The research team will use the curriculum research framework from prior work for the development and both formative and summative evaluation of the BBToolset, paying particular attention to how much its use increases engagement and learning for children and teachers. The work will also ensure that all children, primarily from underserved populations, benefit fully. In formative phases, the research and development will include focus groups, surveys, and system data involving teachers and children. Analyses of detailed data from thousands of participants will guide the ongoing refinement of the BBToolset system and the formative assessment components of learning trajectories. The developmental progressions will be assessed and refined, as will the instructional activities (including digital educational games). In summative phases, the project will utilize an experimental research design within classrooms and across the entire project populations. Data will be analyzed with hierarchical linear modeling to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of the intervention. The project will provide teachers with a validated resource that does not require substantial initial or additional work. The empirical work also will validate formative assessment as a powerful element of the instructional process and provide researchers with extensive data and a tool they could use to collect new data. Thus, the project will contribute to advancing knowledge in cognition, curriculum, and the scale-up of educational innovations through technology. 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.