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DISCOVERY RESEARCH K-12

Discovery Research K-12

Grant: Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12)
Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF)
Division: Directorate for Education & Human Resources; Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings
Deadline: Required letters of intent are due October 4, 2012. Full proposals are due December 6, 2012.

Description: The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students, teachers, administrators and parents. All DR K-12 projects should be framed around a research question or hypothesis that addresses an important need or topic in preK-12 STEM education.

DR K-12 invites proposals that address immediate challenges that are facing preK-12 STEM education, as well as those that anticipate a radically different structure and function of preK-12 teaching and learning. DR K-12 especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision the future needs of learners, and consider new and innovative ways to support student and teacher learning. DR K-12 is particularly interested in projects that hold promise for identifying and developing the next generation of STEM innovators.

The DR K-12 program is primarily concerned with the goals and effectiveness of formal education, but recognizes that learning is not limited to formal school environments and times and therefore encourages projects to draw from knowledge and practice of learning in out-of-school and informal settings.

There are four strands of the DR K-12 program. Applicants must declare, in their required Letter of Intent, which strand their project will address. Collectively, the four strands foster the creation of a new generation of resources, models and tools that take full advantage of the rich research base on STEM learning and the capability of modern information and communications technologies.

  • The Assessment Strand: projects that develop and study valid and reliable assessments or student and teacher knowledge, skills and practices.
  • The Learning Strand: projects that develop and study resources, models and tools to support all students' STEM learning, enhance their knowledge and abilities and build their interest in STEM fields.
  • The Teaching Strand: projects that develop and study resources, models and tools to help pre- and in-service teachers provide high quality STEM education for all students.
  • The Scale-up and Sustainability Strand: projects that develop and study the factors that contribute to successful implementation, scale-up and sustainability of proven, high-quality innovations in schools an districts in a cost-effective manner.

The DR K-12 program invites proposals for three types of projects:

  • Exploratory projects allow researchers and developers an opportunity to undertake preliminary work needed to clarify constructs, assemble theoretical or conceptual foundations or perform early investigations of an idea for an innovative resource, model or tool.
  • Full Research and Development projects are built on the most promising Exploratory projects or other non-NSF funded projects. These projects have already demonstrated effectiveness in small sets of classrooms, schools or other learning settings. Resources, models or tools developed in these types of projects should result in completed products, ready for implementation by others who request them.
  • Conferences and Workshops related to the mission of the DR K-12 program are also supported under this solicitation.

Fit for Public Broadcasting: Stations with close connections to their K-12 partners and university partners may find a fit here. While the emphasis is on research, note that WGBH received partial funding under this grant program for season 3 of Design Squad, an engineering show, in 2008 and again in 2010. Read about that award here. In 2011, educational media producers at WGBH received an award to work with the Education Development Center to develop, test and refine hands-on technology that promotes children's understanding of numbers, uses interactive media and provides professional and technical support materials for preschool educators. Their project is called Next Generation Preschool Math and addresses the need for early childhood mathematics curriculum, particularly for low-income students.

A variety of activities have been funded through this program, and many are activities in which public media stations have expertise, including journalism, professional development, and transmedia design and production. A project at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis entitled Science Literacy through Science Journalism, aims to teach science journalism as a way to improve high school students' understanding of science-related public literacy. A project at the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study is designing and studying an online professional development course for high school science teachers about alternative energy. Read more about that project. Designers and researchers at TERC are studying the impact of transmedia games on scientific understanding, and in another project, they're researching the effects of social digital games on high school students.

Eligibility: Eligibility is unrestricted. As with most NSF grants, applicants must designate a Principal Investigator (PI).

Anticipated Funding: It is anticipated that about 15-20 Exploratory awards, 15-20 Full Research and Development awards and five Conference/Workshop awards will be made in FY 2012, pending availability of funds. There is $40,000,000 available for new awards. Normal limits for funding requests of DR K-12 proposals are as follows: (1) Exploratory projects up to $450,000 with duration up to three years; (2a) Full Research and Development projects up to $3,000,000 with duration up to four years; (2b) Full Research and Development projects with a primary focus on learning how to take proven STEM innovations to scale, up to $4,000,000 with a duration of four years; (3) Conference/Workshop projects up to $100,000 for duration up to two years.

How to apply: Required letters of intent, specifying the Strand that the proposal addresses, the tentative project title, the principal investigators and the organizations involved, must be submitted via the NSF FastLane system. Full proposals may be submitted via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. Online submission requires registration, a process that usually takes three to five business days but can take as long as four weeks. Be sure to visit Grants.gov and begin registering well in advance of the deadline.

Resources:
Program Notice
Program Website
Currently funded DR K-12 Projects
Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education