Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR)

EHR Core Research Program (ECR)

Program Announcement: NSF 13-555

2

• Website:http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504924

• Full Proposal Target Date: February 4, 2014

EHR Core Research

3

• Introduced in 2013 to support foundational research in the following areas:• STEM learning • STEM learning environments • STEM workforce development• Broadening participation in STEM

• Encourage integration across the four areas and collaboration among researchers in related disciplines, including social and behavioral sciences.

EHR Core Research

4

• Make strategic research investments in potentially transformative areas;

• Accelerate development and growth of theory and methodology;

• Address challenges of practice; • All in STEM Education, Broadening

Participation, and Workforce Development!

Goals of ECR

5

• ECR projects are:• Theory driven• Theory generating• Theory testing• And predictive

• What has been funded (recent awards made through this program, with abstracts)

ECR Projects

6

• Core Research Proposals • Maximum budget request: $1.5M• Maximum duration request: 5 years

• Capacity Building Proposals • Maximum budget request: $300K• Maximum duration request: 3 years

ECR Proposal Types

7

• Identify issues and questions critical to the advancement and the improvement of STEM learning and workforce participation.

• Propose to address these using a wide range of research methods and data gathering strategies.

• May expand knowledge in existing areas or or build the base of research knowledge and evidence in new areas.

Core Research Proposals

8

• Support the groundwork necessary for advancing research within the four core areas

• Some examples:• Workshops• Syntheses• Development of new measures and instruments

Capacity Building Proposals

9

• Learners range from pre-K children to older adults and from non-scientists to STEM doctoral students to the STEM workforce

• Settings range from formal to informal, from virtual to outdoor field environments, and include institutional research and development

Contexts for Research

10

• STEM learning

• STEM learning environments

• STEM workforce development

• Broadening participation in STEM

EHR Core Research Areas

11

ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of learning issues, including:• Learning of specific STEM disciplinary knowledge and practices• Learning progressions, assessments and development• Learning and engagement within and outside of formal schooling• Dissemination of knowledge and learning in social networks• Integration of research and knowledge across different theoretical

perspectives• Impacts of persistence and identity on learning.Such issues may be addressed using:• A range of theoretical and methodological approaches, including the

use of “big data”• Theories and methods at the frontiers of STEM disciplines and

across disciplines

STEM Learning

12

• ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of learning environment issues, including:• Changing and emerging environments across a age groups

and formal and informal settings, including cyberspace• Characteristics of learning environments and how they

interact with or support multiple aspects of STEM learning• Special focus on emerging learning environments and

evidence-based approaches to undergraduate STEM instruction including blended instruction, virtual reality, personalized learning environments

• Such issues may be addressed using multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives

STEM Learning Environments

13

• ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of workforce development issues, including:• Preparation of a diverse, globally-prepared and highly-skilled

STEM workforce - including teachers• Focus on entire STEM workforce continuum, with an

emphasis on retention and degree attainment• Emphasis on academic and non-academic STEM career

pathways and transitions across changing contexts and climates

• Connecting workplace expectations to design of interventions• Special focus on public-private partnerships and

working with stakeholders.

STEM Workforce Development

14

• ECR entertains proposals on a wide range of broadening participation issues, including:• Evidence gathering about practices that broaden

participation, retention, and success of individuals underrepresented in STEM  

• Emphasis on academic transition points• Study of accessibility and the impacts of technology on

diverse populations• Measures, methods and metrics to assess impacts and

outcomes of broadening participation and institutional capacity building

• Special focus on public-private partnerships and working with stakeholders.

Broadening Participation in STEM

15

Resources• ECR program page on NSF website• ECR Program Announcement (NSF 13-555)• FAQs on ECR (NSF 13-103)• NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) (

NSF 13-1)• Common Guidelines for Education

Research and Development (NSF 13-126)• FAQs on the Common Guidelines (

NSF 13-127)

16

What do we mean by “Common Guidelines”?

A cross-agency framework that describes:• Broad types of research and development • The expected purposes, justifications,

and contributions of various types of research to knowledge generation about interventions and strategies for improving learning

17

Types of Studies• Foundational research and development studies

• Generate fundamental knowledge that may contribute to teaching and/or learning

• Early stage/exploratory studies• Examine relationships among constructs to

establish logical connections• Design and development studies

• Design and iteratively develop particular interventions (programs, policies, practices or technologies); pilot test

18

Types of Studies (continued)IMPACT STUDIES• Efficacy Studies

Estimate the impacts of strategies under optimal conditions of implementation

• Effectiveness Studies Examine implementation and estimate impacts

similar to routine practice but still on a limited scale• Scale-up Studies

Explore implementation and estimates impacts under conditions that prevail under wide-scale adoption

19

Fundamental knowledge that may contribute to improved learning & other education outcomes

Studies of this type:• Test, develop or refine theories of teaching

or learning• May develop innovations in methodologies

and/or technologies that influence & inform research & development in different contexts

Foundational Research

20

Studies of this type:• Examine relationships among important

constructs in education and learning• Seek to establish logical connections that

may form the basis for future interventions or strategies intended to improve education outcomes

• Connections are usually correlational rather than causal

Early-Stage or Exploratory Research

21

Important Features of Each Type of Research

Purpose How does this type of research contribute to the evidence base?

Justification

How should policy and practical significance be demonstrated?

What types of theoretical and/or empirical arguments should be made for conducting this study?

(continued)

22

Important Features… (continued)

Outcomes

Generally speaking, what types of outcomes (theory and empirical evidence) should the project produce?

What are the key features of a research design for this type of study?

23

• Cover Sheet• Project Summary

• State which of the four CORE area(s) are targeted

• Table of Contents• Project Description

• Restate which of the four CORE area(s) are targeted• Include Results from prior NSF Support

Sections of Proposal

Follow the NSF Grant Proposal Guide: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/index.jsp

24

• References Cited• Biographical Sketch(es)• Budget / Budget Justification• Current and Pending Support• Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources• Supplemental Documents:

• Post-doc Mentoring Plan• Data Management Plan

Sections of Proposal

25

• Research design and methodology• Appropriate and rigorous research methods• Well-documented usable, and replicable

models, frameworks, data, literature, and measures

• Well-justified methods, consonant with theory, and suited to the stated questions or hypotheses

Additional Considerations

26

• Standard or continuing grants• Estimate making 28 awards• Funding amount is $20,000,000

(pending availability of funds)• No PI limit• No limit of number of proposals per

organization• No limit on number of proposals per PI

Award and Eligibility Information

27

• NSF projects should be of the highest quality and have the potential to advance, if not transform, the frontiers of knowledge

• NSF projects, in the aggregate, should contribute more broadly to achieving societal goals

• Meaningful assessment and evaluation of NSF funded projects should be based on appropriate metrics, and include both the broader impacts and intellectual merit of the project.

NSF Merit Review Principles

28

• Intellectual Merit – the potential to advance knowledge.

• Broader Impacts – the potential to benefit society and contribute to the achievement of specific, desired societal outcomes.

Both criteria, Intellectual Merit and Broader Impact, will be given full consideration during the review and decision-making processes. Proposers must fully address both criteria.

NSF Merit Review Criteria

29

• What is the potential for the proposed activity to:• Advance knowledge and understanding within its own

field or across different fields (Intellectual Merit); and• Benefit society or advance desired societal outcomes

(Broader Impacts)? • To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and

explore creative, original or potentially transformative concepts?

• Is the plan for carrying out the proposed activities well-reasoned, well-organized, and based on a sound rationale? Does the plan incorporate a mechanism to assess success?

Merit Review Considerations

30

• How well qualified is the individual, team, or organization to conduct the proposed activities?

• Are there adequate resources available to the PI (either at the home institution or through collaborations) to carry out the proposed activities?

Please Note: Reviewers are also asked to review Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources, Data Management Plan, and Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan

Merit Review Considerations

31

• IRB exemption/approval documentation is required at the time of the award - in order to receive funding

• Please plan for the timing necessary to obtain institutional IRB approval

IMPORTANT: Human Subjects - IRB

Program Contacts

Address questions to the program via:

ECR@nsf.gov

Questions?

Website:http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=504924

Full Proposal Target Date: February 4, 2014