GISMO (Generating Increased Science and Math Opportunities) is a research lab located at the William & Ida Friday Institue for Educational Innovation on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Researchers at GISMO conduct research on and design innovative approaches to learning and teaching mathematics and science. Through computer software, curriculum development, and assessment design and analysis, GISMO strives to generate ways to enrich math and science education throughout the Triangle area.
Public Launch of RNR Database We are pleased to announce the launch of the GISMO Rational Number Reasoning Database. The database can be accessed here.
AUG. 10, 2009.
DELTA Hosts Conference: Realizing the Potential For Learning Trajectories Research to serve as Evidence and Validation for Standards and Related Assessments
The Diagnostic E-Learning Trajectories Approach (DELTA) research group
headed by Dr. Jere Confrey and Dr. Alan Maloney, at the Friday Institute
is joining with The Center on Continuous Improvement at Teacher's
College, Columbia Univesity to host a national meeting on how the
research on learning trajectories can inform the development of a set of
evidence-based Common Core Standards is being developed under the
auspices of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the
National Governor's Association (NGA).
The commitment to develop
these Common Core standards has been endorsed by 46 states, two
territories and the District of Columbia including North Carolina. The
conference is being convened with a national known group of researchers
to consider what is known about learning trajectories in mathematics and
what their implications might be for developing additional standards for
what students need to learn in the earlier grades if they are to be able
to meet the new core "job and college ready" standards by the end of
secondary school.
The meeting is by invitation only and will be held
from August 10-12. The goal of the meeting will be to produce a
document that can be conveyed to the standards writers with the hope of
informing the development of the proposed grade level standards and
their representation. A focus will be on what is known at the current
time about learning trajectories, how this literature can be shared
effectively, and how to relate this knowledge to standards, their
assessment, and instruction
FEB. 21, 2009.
Dr. Confrey to give Plenary Talk in Raleigh at Research on Undergraduate Mathematics Meeting
Dr. Confrey to give Plenary Talk in Raleigh at Research on Undergraduate Mathematics Meeting on Friday, February 28, 2009, at 1:30-2:30 entitled "Steering a Course for Preparing Students for the Mathematical Sciences in the 21st Century."
This talk will report on efforts here in North Carolina to revise state standards around learning trajectories and to focus on preparing all students for the Mathematical Sciences. She will argue that the high school math wars are failing to serve the needs of the 21st Century and that it is time to focus on preparation for the Mathematical Sciences more broadly, and move away from the narrow preparation for calculus only that has been the foundation of advanced math in our high school curriculum. A strategy for doing so, practically and politically, is outlined.
FEB. 21, 2009.
GISMO Graduate Students to Attend CSMC Research Conference
Graduate Students Shayla Thomas and Erin Krupa will be attending the annual research conference for the Center for the Study of Mathematics Curricula in Phoenix, Arizona, February 26-28, 2009. They will present a paper synthesizing the research on Core Plus and report on the ongoing North Carolina Integrated Mathematics Project, a project funded by the Department of Public Instruction under the Mathematics Science Partnership Program. The project is a collaborative project with the New Schools Project to assist teachers in implementing the Core Plus integrated mathematics curriculum. The Friday Institute and GISMO are responsible for the research and evaluation on the project.
FEB. 21, 2009.
Confrey speaks on the research-policy connection in education at NSF Principal Investigators' Conference
Jere Confrey presented a talk entitled "Designing Research for Policy Impacts: a Reflection" at the NSF REESE (Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering) program PI meeting in Washington D.C. on February 18-19. She responded to the question of how her research had interfaced with policy over the years.
She identified the key factors that increase the likelihood of policy effects as:
Selecting high-leverage targets for work
Forming partnerships/relationships across traditional borders
Positioning for rapid responsiveness, credibility, and timeliness
Designing for adaptability while avoiding lethal mutations
FEB. 20, 2009.
GISMO Team works with Department of Public Instruction and Teacher Educators and Leaders across the State on New Math Standards
Dr. Alan Maloney and Dr. Jere Confrey, together with GISMO graduate students Erin Krupa, Gemma Mojica, Marrielle Myers and Kenny Nguyen worked with members of the Department of Pubic Instruction Mathematics Section and teacher educators and leaders from across the state to propose revisions to North Carolina K-12 Mathematics Standards. The Friday Institute hosted a pair of two-day meetings to revise standards and prepare prototype assessment items.
The GISMO team has introduced a new format for standards, which shows the Learning Trajectories and how they evolve across the grades. This format is based on the traditional strands model for standards, which contains six large strands (Number and Operations, Measurement, Geometry, Problem Solving, Data Analysis and Probability, Algebra, and Problem-Solving and Reasoning). The strand names have been modified, and subcategories have been added, to illustrate to teachers how topics change year by year based on student learning. GISMO Director Confrey says, "Teachers need assistance in not only understanding what needs to be taught at the grade level they teach, but what comes before that they can build on and what comes after, which likewise depend on their success in teaching children."
An exciting by-product of the work is a proposal by GISMO to solve a long-standing problem at the high school level. There have had to be two curricula at high school, one for the traditional, siloed, subject-specific mathematics courses (Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II) and one for Integrated Math (IM 1, 2, and 3). This then leads to the need for two sets of high-stakes end-of-course tests (a total of six different tests), and confusion among parents.
By extending the learning trajectories display of state standards as "levels of complexity," the state can establish a single set of standards for high school mathematics for the first three years. This model reflects the state's position that all students will responsible to learn the same content by the end of their first three years of high school, but gives the students and districts flexibility in the curricular approaches they choose to accomplish this. It also anticipates that the number of high-stakes tests can be reduced from six to two: one on core content after year one (regardless of curriculum), and one after year three for all the standards, with year two covered by benchmark testing according to specific curricula. The result would be greatly improved efficiency in testing and professional development. Dr. Maloney commented, "This permits space for both local decision-making on curricular preference, and for innovation in light of new curricular opportunities including topics such as modeling and the increased use of new technologies. It should enable much lower costs to the state for the development of the high-stakes tests, as well. This kind of innovation is consistent with the mission of the Friday Institute."
NOV. 20, 2008.
Dr. Confrey and Dr. Maloney presented two talks on the DELTA project in Washington D.C.
On October 10, they gave a brown bag talk for program officers and guests of the National Science Foundation.
On November 14, at the DRK-12 Program Principal Investigators' meeting, their presentation on DELTA concentrated on the progress on
the new diagnostic assessments.
NOV. 10, 2008.
Midyear NCIMP Conference
The Friday Institute hosted the midyear conference of the North Carolina Integrated Math Project on November 10.
This project, co-sponsored by NCSU, members from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), and the New Schools Project, addressed the teaching of CORE-Plus mathematics programs in schools across the state. Along with workshop sessions on various mathematical topics, the 45 attendees, including teachers and principals, heard a panel of Dr. Loek Helminck, head of the Mathematics Department, Dr. Robert Young, Professor of Operations Research,
Ms. Emmy Coleman, former-Principal of Warren New Tech High School, Dr. Allison McCulloch, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, and Danielle Robbins, doctoral student in Biomathematics, discuss the new directions in Mathematical Sciences and changing needs for mathematics preparation of secondary students.
NOV. 1, 2008.
Dr. Confrey presents at NCCTM
Dr. Confrey gave two presentations on the work of GISMO at the annual statewide meeting
of the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCCTM) in Greensboro, NC. On October 29, she addressed the 2008 Mathematics Leadership Institute on why K-12 education should be focusing broadly on the modeling for the mathematical sciences. The presentation was entitled "The Mathematical Sciences and Twenty-first Century Skills - A Three Part Proposal for Coordination." On the following day, she presented the Grades 3- keynote address to the State Mathematics Conference on our evolving understanding of students' reasoning on rational number.
OCT. 18, 2008.
DELTA Advisory Board
On October 16 and 17, the National Advisory Committee and the Evaluation Team for the DELTA project visited the Friday Institute for two days of discussion on the Rational Number Reasoning Synthesis and DELTA projects.
Guests included Dr. Richard Lehrer (Vanderbilt University), Dr. Herb Ginsburg (Teachers College, Columbia University), Dr. Joanne Lobato (San Diego State University), Dr. Andrew Izsak (San Diego State University), Dr. Albert Otto (St. Louis, MO), and Dr. Michael Mitchelmore (McQuarie University, New South Wales).
Project Directors Confrey and Maloney and graduate students Kenny Nguyen, Marrielle Myers, Holt Wilson, and Gemma Mojica presented on the progress of our work. Dr. William Penuel (SRI International) and Dr. Roger Howe (Yale University) reported on our first year evaluation for the DELTA project). Dr. Andrea LaChance (State University of New York, Cortland), the evaluator for the Synthesis Project, also attended.
OCT. 1, 2008.
Dr. Paola Sztajn joins North Carolina State University
Dr. Paola Sztajn joined NCSU as Professor of Elementary Education in September, and has been conferring with the DELTA team on our work on learning trajectories and how it might be useful to teachers. She joined NCSU directly from an assignment as a project officer at NSF, and indirectly from her previous position at University of Georgia.
