CT4EDU
This project is a collaboration between Michigan State University, Oakland Intermediate School District, and the American Institutes for Research to develop a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) focused on bringing computational thinking instruction to students in grades 3-5.
My role: As a graduate research assistant on the project, I helped design the research components of the work, collected and analyzed data, and worked with teachers to create and improve lesson plans.
Learn more at CT4EDU.org.
Learning Trajectories for Everyday Computing (LTEC)
This project, based at the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, centers on the development and testing of learning trajectories for computational thinking (CT) in elementary school and accompanying instructional materials that integrate mathematics and CT.
My role: As a co-PI of LTEC’s first exploratory project, I spearheaded the development of learning trajectories synthesized from existing computer science education literature. As a part-time staff member on the follow-up design and development project, I contributed to the design of instructional materials to accompany the trajectories and helped with analysis of the data collected from the classrooms that piloted the materials.
Learn more at everydaycomputing.org.
Everyday Mathematics and the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project
Everyday Mathematics (EM) is a research-based mathematics curriculum for grades Pre-K to 5, developed at UChicago STEM Education, a research and development center at the University of Chicago. UChicago STEM Education is also the institutional home for the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project’s (UCSMP) mathematics textbook series for grades 6-12.
My role: As an editor and curriculum developer at the University of Chicago, I contributed to the CCSS and Fourth Editions of Everyday Mathematics and the Third Edition of the UCSMP secondary series. Over the course of ten years, I assisted in drafting research-based revision plans, wrote and edited both print and digital materials, and contributed to classroom-based field tests of the materials.
Learn more at everydaymath.uchicago.edu and ucsmp.uchicago.edu.
Exploration of Fact Fluency
I am worked with a colleague, Dr. Meg Bates, to analyze the activity of more than 150,000 elementary-school students in a web-based facts practice game. We explored what students’ accuracy levels and speed in producing correct answers might suggest about the development of fluency with basic facts (single-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems) and instructional strategies for supporting the development of fluency.
My role: The methods and organization of the study, as well as interpretation of the results, were developed collaboratively between myself and Dr. Bates. I conducted most of the statistical analysis on the data using the statistics software environment R.
Katie the Curious 