Discovery Research K-12

The Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program seeks to enable significant advances in student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines. Projects funded under this solicitation begin with a research question or hypothesis about how to improve preK-12 STEM learning and teaching and then develop, implement, and study effects of innovative educational resources, models, or technologies. DR K-12 invites proposals that meet a variety of educational needs, from those that address immediate challenges facing preK-12 STEM education to those that anticipate the future when expectations, roles and resources are likely to be aligned in different ways. DR K-12 especially encourages proposals that challenge existing assumptions about learning and teaching within or across STEM fields, envision needs of learners in 10-15 years, and consider new and innovative ways to support learning. Project goals, designs, and working strategies should be informed by prior research and practical experience drawn from all relevant disciplines and they should focus on concepts and skills that are central to STEM disciplines. The DR K-12 program is primarily concerned with the goals and effectiveness of formal education, yet it recognizes that learning is not limited to traditional school sites and times. As appropriate, the program encourages projects to draw from knowledge and practice of learning in out-of-school and informal settings. While many projects supported under this solicitation will focus on exploratory development and testing of innovative ideas for some specific facet of STEM education, all proposals must explain how the work can lead ultimately to successful adoption of findings or products in the preK-12 enterprise on a national scale.NSF has created an agency-wide priority to fully capture the transformative potential of advanced learning technologies across the education enterprise. The intent is to catalyze new approaches to STEM learning by all and for workforce development, and to provide the pathways and resources to study the learning process itself. To address this mandate, the DR K-12 program has the more focused goal of fostering the creation of a new generation of resources, models, and tools that take full advantage of the capabilities of information and communications technologies to enhance the education of K-12 learners. The DR K-12 program accepts proposals for exploratory projects, full research and development projects, and synthesis projects, as well as for conferences and workshops related to the mission of the program.