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The goal of this paper is to share an analytic framework for understanding Students? Ways of Thinking (SWoT) in STEM-rich learning environments. Before revealing our refined coding framework, we detail the nature of our collaborations and the various analytic decisions that led to its formation. These collaborations supported our collective ability to make sense of SWoT and produce a more coherent perspective that can be operationalized in STEM contexts. Our analytic framework foregrounds student claim-making and the related evidence and reasoning used in support. Specific commentary about the development and application of each coding category is provided, including examples of student data and rationale for related coding decisions. Our analytic framework, and discussion of its formation, can help educators, curriculum makers, and policymakers make use of SWoT in the development of meaningful and effective STEM education.

This case study explores the degree to which mathematical knowledge for teaching can be developed by prospective teachers in a multi-site teacher education context. The majority of the article focuses on a description of the target middle level mathematics endorsement program, including distance-based instructional norms, community building efforts, and tasks and activities intended to support the generation of mathematical knowledge for teaching. All preservice teachers enrolled in the program were invited to participate in the study. Means on Likert-scale survey items were calculated at three points in time over one year to determine changes. Open-ended survey items and focus group interviews were analyzed qualitatively to supplement the quantitative findings. These data support the result that middle level preservice teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching can be positively impacted by a middle level mathematics teacher education program. Two broader implications are provided: 1) teacher education experiences can have positive impact on prospective teachers' development, and 2) this development is possible in a multi-site teacher education setting. Possible implications on international teacher education efforts are provided.

STEM education should be grounded in our knowledge of how students think in STEM-focused learning environments. However, little is currently known regarding specific types of thinking in these contexts. We explore the theoretical notion of STEM Ways of Thinking (SWoT) in interdisciplinary learning situations. Our primary focus is not on the curricular content of STEM education, but rather on the nature of the cognitive activity at play during STEM-focused activity. We give particular focus to students' claim making and reasoning during interdisciplinary STEM activity. Our framework focuses on the disciplines of science, engineering, and mathematics. While these disciplines have vastly different practices and epistemologies, we argue that claim making and reasoning provide an avenue for considering student thinking at their intersections. A brief literature review of SWoT is provided that illustrates trends and limitations amongst current theories and studies. After a detailed discussion of our own theoretical perspective of SWoT, we provide an illustrative learning segment to explore the explanatory and analytic power of our theoretical perspective. Implications of our work on curriculum and instruction are provided.

Despite the increasing number of inclusive STEM schools, little is known about the cultural dimensions that influence STEM curriculum and instruction within these schools. This paper describes research conducted at three inclusive STEM schools, one each at the elementary, middle, and high school level. We explored similarities and differences in cultural dimensions across the schools with specific attention to how these differentially influence teachers' perceptions and enactment of STEM curriculum and instruction across the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Our cross-case analysis revealed structural aspects (school vision, community partnerships, course scheduling, and testing pressures) as well as professional orientations (i.e., instructional practices, interdisciplinary collaboration, and teacher content knowledge) that appear particularly important to student learning experiences at each grade level. Navigating these factors of STEM school culture requires teachers to not only be knowledgeable but also to draw on a professional orientation that encourages collaboration and risk-taking. We discuss implications for teacher education and STEM school development.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the norms, processes, and implications of a standards-based assessment (SBA) system in a project-based, STEM-focused secondary school in the United States. The SBA system had both formative and summative components in relation to classroom teaching and grading, respectively. We focus on both teacher and student perspectives of the assessment system, and the potential impact of the system on their roles as teachers and learners. Results indicate that students reacted positively to the reteach and retake aspects of the SBA system, but also faced feelings of stress due to fluctuations in grades and the demands to stay current in their academic progress. Evidence also shows that the SBA system changed students' perceptions of the learning process, and themselves as learners. Our study sheds much-needed light on the use of an assessment and grading practice that is severely understudied in K-12 education in the US, and also adds to the database of studies that make explicit connections between teaching, learning, and assessment at the classroom level.

How does teacher change get conceptualized, supported, and realized? The authors address this far-reaching question by exploring how teacher collaboration, centered on examining student learning data, can result in changes in instructional perspectives and practices. Their case study consists of a middle school mathematics teacher group working with administrators and professional developers. A grounded theory approach is used to discuss their five-year journey, which includes two years prior to their formal beginning, and the various factors that impacted individual and group teacher change. They specifically address the following research question: What influences the long-term trajectory of a collaborative teacher inquiry team, and what is the nature of the changes that define this trajectory? (Contains 2 figures.)

Background: Despite increasing attention to STEM education worldwide, there is considerable uncertainty as to what constitutes STEM education and what it means in terms of curriculum and student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the commonalities and variations in educators' conceptualizations of STEM education. Sensemaking theory framed our analysis of ideas that were being selected and retained in relation to professional learning experiences in three contexts: two traditional middle schools, a STEM-focused school, and state-wide STEM professional development. Concept maps and interview transcripts from 34 educators holding different roles were analyzed: STEM and non-STEM teachers, administrators, and STEM professional development providers. Results: Three themes were included on over 70% of the 34 concept maps: interdisciplinary connections; the need for new, ambitious instructional practices in enacting a STEM approach; and the engagement of students in real-world problem solving. Conceptualizations of STEM education were related to educational contexts, which included the STEM education professional development activities in which educators engaged. We also identified differences across educators in different roles (e.g., non-STEM teacher, administrator). Two important attributes of STEM education addressed in the literature appeared infrequently across all contexts and role groups: students' use of technology and the potential of STEM-focused education to provide access and opportunities for all students' successful participation in STEM. Conclusions: Given the variety of institutionalized practices and school contexts within which STEM education is enacted, we are not convinced that a single worldwide definition of STEM education is critical. What we do see as essential is that those working in the same system explore the common elements that are being attributed to STEM education and co-construct a vision that provides opportunities for all their students to attain STEM-related goals. This is especially important in the current reform contexts related to STEM education. We also see that common conceptions of STEM education appear across roles and contexts, and these could provide starting points for these discussions. Explicitly identifying the ideas educators are and are not selecting and retaining can inform professional learning activities at local and larger scales.

In "Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All," NCTM (2014) defines productive struggle as students delving "more deeply into understanding the mathematical structure of problems and relationships among mathematical ideas, instead of simply seeking correct solutions" (p. 48). Hiebert and Grouws (2007, p. 387) state that struggle does not mean "needless frustration" or "overly difficult" problems but problems within a student's zone of proximal development, as defined by Vygotsky (1978). The zone of proximal development is seen as an educational target just beyond what a student can do independently when provided appropriate support. With this in mind, Cynthia Townsend wondered about the nature of her students' zone of productive struggle as she developed real-world mathematics tasks with the intent to encourage her students to dig deeper into algebraic relationships and experience productive struggle. At the same time, she also considered the proper nature and level of support she would need to provide. In this article, the authors describe two tasks they studied: (1) a set of problems related to human viruses, which introduced students to exponential functions. Students chose a virus to research, with a focus on its properties and reproduction number, created a table and graph, and answered open-ended questions about their findings; and (2) students chose a used car on the basis of their chosen career and their given salary. They then used tables, graphs, and equations to analyze the linear system related to the value of their car and the amount paid on their car loan. By applying Vygotsky's construct of the zone of proximal development to productive struggle, the teachers developed indicators to analyze students' zones of productive struggle. Students who were working within their zone of productive struggle were successful in completing and understanding the tasks with guidance from their teacher or peers and without continual frustration. Students who were working outside of their zone were overwhelmed, expressed negativity toward mathematics, and at times stopped working on the task. A bibliography is included.

Drawing on the rich line of research that has emerged over the past 15 years, this article details the types of support necessary for the establishment and nurturing of teacher collaborative inquiry. Although teachers have the ability and drive to initiate change, it is often the case that complex layers of support are required to achieve this goal, some of which originate in the teacher community, but others that must emanate from those who can advocate and facilitate these teacher-led processes. This article lays out a theoretical framework for supporting teachers engaged in collaborative inquiry. While the authors make use of a specific professional development project employing "supported collaborative inquiry" to add context, the authors are not providing a case study or review of literature in this paper; rather, they articulate a framework to provide guidance for supporting teacher collaborative inquiry and to detail specific types of support which can serve as units of analysis for studies on teacher professional development. These supports are based in the inquiry process, which is not a typical element of teachers' work, and in the environments that support teachers engaging in the inquiry process. The authors theorize that not only is it limiting to solely consider the teachers and their immediate work in the conceptualization and implementation of collaborative inquiry, professional development must look to provide teachers with opportunities for influencing the contexts and impacting the forces that originate outside their immediate work environment. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper articulates a perspective on learning to discuss ways in which students develop personal sense and negotiate meaning in a middle school algebra context. Building on a sociocultural perspective that incorporates mental objects, learning is described as a mutually dependent process involving personal sense making and the public negotiation of meaning. Analysis of student problem solving is focused on the development of taken-as- shared meaning through an individual and collaborative analysis of the properties of various conceptual entities. The results suggest that functional properties inherent in linear relationships were more supportive in eliciting meaning making exchanges than were algebraic properties associated with generalized arithmetic, although the contextual nature of the linear tasks may have also supported the meaning making activity. (Contains 2 footnotes, 1 table, and 2 figures.)

This qualitative study examines the information collected about applicants to mathematics or science teacher preparation programs (MSTPPs) and how university faculty perceive and value this information in admissions decisions. Based on document review and interviews with MSTPP faculty and admissions directors, we found that broad measures of mathematics and science content background (e.g., achievement test scores, past mathematics and science courses taken) were used more frequently than information on applicants‐specific mathematics and science content knowledge and dispositions. In many cases, application components (such as interviews and personal essay statements) were perceived by faculty to be conducive to surfacing applicants‐content knowledge and dispositions; however, they were not constructed or employed in a way that afforded the obtainment of this information. We highlight salient examples of MSTPPs‐collection and use of information related to mathematics and science and discuss implications for TPP admissions processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applying the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching framework, we discuss the components of teacher knowledge that might be useful in supporting mathematical inquiry, and examine ways in which we strive to develop this knowledge within a middle grades mathematics program for undergraduate students who are prospective teachers. Using sample activities from multiple courses in the program, we offer general principles of instruction for supporting mathematical inquiry at all grade levels. We contend that an awareness and application of the multiple facets of mathematical knowledge for teaching can be critical to supporting mathematical inquiry across the K-16 spectrum.

Given the current emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and its key attributes, middle school is an optimal time to implement STEM-based curricula. However, the interdisciplinary and open-ended nature of STEM projects often makes implementation difficult. In this article, we describe a professional development project aimed at preparing middle grades teachers to implement STEM Design Challenges with their students. We discuss the resources that supported project teachers in navigating identified implementation challenges and provide an example of a sixth-grade team's efforts to engage all learners in STEM experiences. Recommendations and examples in this article can support other middle school teams working to enact STEM education.

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 (DCs). The PD model targeted: (a) increasing teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics and science; (b) helping teachers integrate STEM practices into their lessons; and (c) addressing teachers' beliefs about engaging underperforming students in challenging problems. A unique aspect involved low-achieving students and their teachers learning alongside each other as they co-participated in STEM design challenges for one week in the summer. Our analysis focused on what teachers came to value about STEM DCs, and the challenges in and affordances for implementing DCs. Two significant areas of value for the teachers were students' use of scientific, mathematical, and engineering practices and motivation, engagement, and empowerment by all learners. Challenges associated with pedagogy, curriculum, and the traditional structures of the schools were identified. Finally, there were four key affordances: (a) opportunities to construct a vision of STEM education; (b) motivation to implement DCs; (c) ambitious pedagogical tools; and, (d) ongoing support for planning and implementation. This article features a Research to Practice Companion Article.

Background: This study is about teachers' collective activity during the development and initial year of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-focused school in the USA. The target school of this study was inclusive, as it sought admission of students from varying backgrounds and levels of ability. Drawing from narrative inquiry and case study methodologies, we examine the collective work of the teachers in the target school from 6 months prior to school start-up through the end of the first year. We focus on visioning, collaboration, and curriculum development in our analysis of the teachers' collective work. Results: We analyze the collective sense-making activity of the teaching staff regarding key facets of the start-up process. While the teachers received a variety of supports, including time and resources for collaborating, there was a lack of specific support for the conceptualization and creation of multi-disciplinary, STEM-focused projects. The risk-taking and collaborative actions of the teachers led to three specific instructional approaches that were continuously adjusted to respond to the evolving vision of the STEM-focused school. The teachers also solicited the needs and interests of their students and utilized these in curricular design and instruction, which promoted student buy-in and participation. By the end of the school year, a common vision for STEM-focused, project-based learning was emerging, but not solidified. Conclusions: Our study confirms the power of "doing" and "risk-taking" in teacher development, particularly in the ways in which teacher collaboration advanced curriculum and instruction in this STEM-focused school context. The intellectual supports that teachers require in this context are numerous and must be carefully identified and nurtured, and the subsequent teacher activity must be monitored as contextual shifts occur and sources of pressure (e.g., external learning standards) become relevant. The teachers' role is a complex mixture of learner, risk-taker, inquirer, curriculum designer, negotiator, collaborator, and teacher. Instructional and curricular supports require substantial time to synthesize and eventually enact, and more than a few months prior to school start-up are necessary to fully engage and prepare teachers for the collective task of visioning, collaborating, and planning the curriculum and instruction of an innovative school.

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 teachers' experiences and developmental trajectories. Findings revealed how the teachers served as brokers in their own development process and how attitude, attention, and awareness played important roles in teacher learning. As the teachers initiated learning processes, they demonstrated awareness of broader educational contexts that support learning by identifying external policies and priorities that aligned with teachers' attitudes. They then used these external priorities as boundary objects to broker for teachers' learning, including other teachers' learning. They attended to learning needs in directing a plan for learning activities, rather than using externally mandated goals for changing practice (e.g., an external focus on improving students' tests scores). These cases suggest that in structuring professional learning, opportunities to self-identify learning needs should be part of the process, and external supports can become more powerful when teachers play a brokering role in relating these supports to their immediate contexts. Further implications for professional development processes are explored. (Contains 3 figures.)

This article measures and discusses six teacher groups' (a) time spent working with data and (b) time devoted to particular kinds of inquiry activities, and explores various contextual factors that influence these results. The authors make use of a framework useful in describing and analyzing the stance taken by teachers when they engage with student-learning data. Their findings suggest that most teacher groups spend the vast majority of their time collecting and analyzing data, with little time devoted to exploring potential data sources and reflecting on implications of their data analysis. Furthermore, "time on task" is less important than stance in determining the nature of the inquiry activity. Implications of these results are explored.

Background/Context: Schools and districts are increasingly emphasizing evidence-based decision making as a means for improving teaching and learning. In response, professional development efforts have shifted toward situated, sustained activities that involve groups of teachers in reflective inquiry about student learning data, instructional practices, and curricular goals. Although strong evidence exists regarding the benefits of looking at student work, there is little research that investigates how teachers might work together to attain these benefits. Classroom teachers often lack the necessary skills and supports to enact data-based inquiry in a manner that informs and influences classroom practices. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: In response to a need for specific frameworks to support teachers' collaborative interactions around student learning data, we have developed a conceptual framework for describing and characterizing key influences on teachers' actions and interactions. The purpose of this article is to fully describe the two dimensions that constitute the framework, illustrate them with examples from multiple cases, and discuss potential implications of the framework on research and practice. Population/Participants/Subjects: This framework was developed from multiyear case analyses of seven professional learning communities (PLCs). The teachers in these PLCs were secondary science and mathematics teachers who were supported by a 3-year professional development project. Research Design: We began to derive this conceptual framework using constant comparison in the development of semiannual case studies. Preliminary results and hypotheses on the specific ways in which teacher groups were interacting as they worked with student learning data led to the need to better conceptualize what was occurring. Building on others' work related to stance, we used grounded theory methods to construct and refine this framework. Findings/Results: A detailed framework and examples are provided regarding collaborative teacher inquiry groups' inquiry stance along two dimensions: (1) their epistemological stance toward student learning data, and (2) the nature of their dialogue when using these data in their inquiry process. The first dimension is delineated by four descriptive categories ranging from an improving to a proving stance; the second dimension ranges from sustained negotiation to no negotiation. Conclusions/Recommendations: This analysis of inquiry stance in a collaborative group is valuable in providing a detailed tool for empirical analyses of collaborative teacher development in the context of working with student learning data. Additionally, it provides practical support for facilitators and school leaders by characterizing fundamental and often hidden influences on PLC processes and outcomes.

The Partnership for Reform in Secondary Science and Mathematics (PRiSSM) is a three-year project that targeted mathematics and science teachers in middle and high schools from six districts in southwest Washington. Consistent with NSDC (2009) recommendations for professional development, PRiSSM involved collaborative teacher teams in reflecting on and discussing content goals and student learning data to improve practice. Based on the authors' ongoing work with PRiSSM teachers and administrators, they have identified five important considerations essential to maximizing the potential of teacher collaborations around content-specific learning objectives. In this article, the authors discuss these five considerations: (1) Teacher-defined inquiry focus; (2) Principal involvement; (3) Benefits of single-disciplined learning communities; (4) Supporting research skills and content-specific discussions about student learning data; and (5) Teacher leaders as facilitators.

This article describes the collaborative inquiry activity of a group of high school mathematics teachers interested in increasing student engagement and problem solving in the classroom. Specific findings related to the nature of the teacher interactions and subsequent impacts on practice are discussed. The findings focus on (a) the nature of the interactions within the teacher group and their impact on instructional decision-making and theory-building, (b) the role of student work in their collaborative inquiry, and (c) the role and impact of the inquiry group's facilitation processes. A description of the professional development provides context for the results. The teachers in this study were able to build individual and collective theories on learners and instruction. The limitations of their inquiry context and their own conversational norms allowed for deeper reflections on classroom practice than on learners and learning. Specific connections between the inquiry work and classroom practice are found.

Collaborative inquiry groups, such as professional learning communities and lesson study groups, are proliferating in schools across the United States. In whatever form, the potential for impacting student learning through this collaborative work is expanded or limited by the nature of teachers' conversations. Polite, congenial conversations remain superficially focused on sharing stories of practice, whereas collegial dialogue probes more deeply into teaching and learning. Examples of talk taken from collaborative teacher inquiry groups are used to illustrate these important differences. Specific recommendations are provided, including the role that teacher leaders can play in adopting and modeling specific strategies that support the use of more substantive professional conversation.

Background/Context: The type of professional development provided for teachers has been undergoing change from a one-time workshop approach to a more embedded, long-term, reflective, and collaborative structure. Although findings on the impact of new forms of professional development (PD) are beginning to emerge in the literature, there is little research on the professional development of those who design and support these PD efforts. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: To better understand how to support secondary teachers' engagement in collaborative inquiry, a group of 12 professional development providers deliberately set out to use the same processes and structures in their development and implementation of a PD model. This research examines what this group learned about fostering and sustaining a culture of collaborative inquiry and considers how this can inform PD providers' support of teachers' engagement in a collaborative inquiry cycle. Research Design: A narrative case study design was used to examine the evolution of the professional development group from its inception in March 2004 through December 2005, halfway through the project's duration. The particular timeframe was targeted to explore the developmental phase of the group and critical decisions that shaped the group structure and direction. Data Collection and Analysis: Traditional qualitative data sources were collected and analyzed in the construction of the narrative, including interviews with the professional developers, archived documents, and video and audio recordings of meetings. Conclusions/Recommendations: The PD group's focus on how to foster and sustain a culture of collaborative inquiry provides insights into the structures and processes that support this kind of collaborative endeavor. Assuming an inquiry stance toward the work was challenged by the ongoing business of implementing a large-scale project and the demands of people's other work in school districts and universities. Difficulties related to communication between and during meetings also occurred. An explicit reliance on collaborative norms and explicitly using processes such as dialogue structured by protocols, distributing leadership responsibilities, and co-constructing an inquiry focus based on data analysis helped the group develop and maintain an inquiry stance. These findings inform the support of teachers undertaking collaborative inquiry for professional growth

This article presents five case studies of grade six to grade eight science and mathematics teachers engaged in supported collaborative inquiry. The research focus is on teachers' growth trajectories related to their participation in professional learning communities supported through a professional development project. There were noticeably different trajectories in the teachers' progress through the inquiry cycle and a variation in the degree of collaboration in different professional learning communities. Some of the successes and challenges are attributed to the cross-grade, cross-disciplinary nature of the collaboration; others to teachers' existing relationships with each other prior to the beginning of this professional development project. The case study data indicate that dialogic inquiry grounded in classroom-based data is a key element in teachers' professional growth.

Discusses effective professional development in education and describes a frame for professional development in the context of teaching with technology. Explains the use of PLATE (Plan for Learning And Teaching with Educational Technology) for a higher education faculty in a teacher education program and discusses the impact on students. (LRW)

This article outlines the use of the online "SpeakEasy" communication package in two sections of a mathematics methods course in an elementary education teacher certification program. The instructional uses of "SpeakEasy" are described, with specific attention to the manner in which it was woven into the fabric of the course and made central to the instructional format. Specific data were collected to determine the various effects of extending classroom discussion into the virtual realm in this context. These included the promotion of reflection on the teaching of mathematics and increased "vocality" of students who provided little or no input in the actual classroom. The students also possessed positive attitudes to the use of "SpeakEasy" in the course. Recommendations for instruction and instructional design are provided. (Contains 1 table.)

Describes one instructor's approach to incorporating simulations and classroom discussions into a differential equations course. Discusses subsequent effects on student learning attitudes and outcomes in conceptualizing and applying ideas regarding solutions to differential equations in this learning environment. Explores issues on computer-mediated learning environments and recommendations for using simulations to support conceptual development. (Author/KHR)