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College of Education Awarded $9.1 Million in Grant Funding From July to September, 2024

A graphic shows scales, non-specific heads and dollar signs in green, red and purple.

Faculty and researchers at the NC State College of Education, including the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, were awarded $9,140,684 to support 14 projects from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2024. 

Editor’s note: All dollar amounts listed are reflective of the grant funding awarded directly to the College of Education and do not include funding awarded to other collaborators. 

NC Digital Equity and Learning Implementation (DELI) 

This project, funded by a $2,534,663 grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, will enable the Friday Institute’s Program Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) Group to lead the effort in managing and supporting initial planning and implementation of the NC Digital Equity Plan as well as the development of measurement and assessment tools that will be used for Digital Champion grants and Digital Equity Subgrants. Friday Institute Associate Director of Program Evaluation and Educational Research Erin Huggins is the project’s principal investigator. Friday Institute Director of Digital Learning Emma Braaten is a co-principal investigator. 

Teacher Professional Development and Collaboration to Integrate Cybersecurity in Mathematics and Science Elementary Curriculum 

This project, funded by a $2,038,086 National Science Foundation DRK-12 grant, is designed to develop and test an innovative professional development program that will support teachers to infuse cybersecurity lessons into fourth and fifth grade math and science instruction. Professor of Learning, Design and Technology Florence Martin is the project’s principal investigator. Professor of Mathematics Education and Special Education Jessica Hunt and Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of Science Education Sarah Carrier are co-principal investigators. 

Building and Testing a Framework for Dismantling Systemic Oppression: Advancing Liberatory and Conceptual Mathematics Learning with Black Disabled Students 

This project, funded by a $1,040,523 National Science Foundation grant, will develop a partnership with Black disabled high school students and center their voices, knowledge and experiences in the development of a teacher coaching theoretical framework that addresses challenges while advancing conceptual mathematics learning and high school mathematics instructional practices. Professor of Mathematics Education and Special Education Jessica Hunt is the project’s principal investigator. 

Teacher Experience within a Nested Learning System: An Investigation of Mathematics PLC Meetings in Elementary and Middle Schools

This project, funded by a $1,456,506 National Science Foundation DRK-12 grant, will examine professional learning communities (PLCs) in the context of schools, districts and state-level activities to determine how teachers experience mathematics-focused PLC meetings as part of a broader teacher learning system and understand the perspectives of various stakeholders within the system as related to the role of mathematics-focused PLCs in schools. Associate Professor of Mathematics Education Temple Walkowiak is the project’s principal investigator. Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education Robin Anderson and Friday Institute Senior Director Shaun Kellogg are co-principal investigators. 

Strengthening Diversity and Equity in Two-Way Immersion Programs

This project, funded by $624,694 from the American Institutes for Research, will facilitate the exploration of strengths and areas for growth in regard to desegregation and integration within two-way DLI programs in one North Carolina school district while working with the partner district to develop and analyze the effectiveness of new strategies and tools to enhance desegregation and integration. Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Educational Leadership Jenn Ayscue is the project’s principal investigator. 

Roots and Wings: Curriculum, Assessment, and Resources for Black Homeschool Families in Engineering Education

This project, funded by $503,794 from the National Science Foundation, aims to develop resources that support and train Black homeschool families for better STEM learning by co-creating curriculum units that integrate historical Black STEM figures to increase connections for younger students. Assistant Professor of STEM Education Tamecia Jones is the project’s principal investigator. 

Investigation of Students’ Learning, Interest and Career Aspirations in an Integrated Science and Artificial Intelligence Learning Environment (i-SAIL)

This project, funded by a $378,546 National Science Foundation DRK-12 grant, will develop a curriculum that will engage middle school students in learning science and basic artificial intelligence (AI) concepts with the goal of fostering an inclusive learning environment and providing access to resources and opportunities that promote equitable participation while cultivating STEM interests and career aspirations. Assistant Professor of Learning Design and Technology Shiyan Jiang is a co-principal investigator on the project. 

Learning by Teaching with Tutee Inquiry for Robust Learning in Algebra

This project, funded by $336,060 from the National Science Foundation, will develop teachable agent technology that aims to amplify the effect of learning by asking students questions to justify their reasoning while solving algebraic equations as well as follow-up questions to solicit responses that reflect connections between procedural operations and conceptual justifications. Assistant Professor of Learning Design and Technology Shiyan Jiang is a co-principal investigator on the project. 

Unlocking Historical Thinking: Leveraging Library of Congress Digital Archives to Develop Learning Trajectories 

This project, funded by a $74,915 grant from the Library of Congress, will build on previous research to catalyze broader adoption of innovative approaches to historical learning, including a learning trajectories matrix that provides teachers with a series of conjectured pathways to plan instruction and assessment aligned with key learning indicators for teaching history with digital primary sources from the Library of Congress. Professor of Social Studies Education Meghan Manfra is the project’s principal investigator.

Digital Guilford 

This project, funded by a $45,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, will allow the Friday Institute’s Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) Group to partner with the NC A&T Bluford Library to demonstrate the impact of the Digital Champoint Digital Guilford initiative, which aims to expand digital inclusion efforts in Guilford County. Friday Institute Associate Director of Program Evaluation and Educational Research Erin Huggins is the project’s principal investigator. Friday Institute Research Scholar Rebekah Davis is a co-principal investigator on the project. 

Micro-Credentials for Integrating Computing Responsibly Into Other (MICRO) Domains in Colleges of Education

This project, funded by a $34,046 National Science Foundation IUSE grant, will adapt MICRO resources for use within teacher preparation programs in colleges of education and explore other programmatic and faculty support scaffolds that will help teachers be successful. Friday Institute Research Scholar Rebekah Davis is the project’s principal investigator. Friday Institute Director of Digital Learning Emma Braaten is a co-principal investigator. 

Collaborative Research: SaTC: EDU: A Socially Distant Cloud-Based Hardware Security Platform

This project, funded by $33,770 from the National Science Foundation, aims to test different notions in hardware security through a framework for undergraduate and graduate students in electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science. Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor of Science Education Gail Jones serves as senior personnel on the project. 

FI IHE Supports

This project, funded by $28,946 from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, will enable the Friday Institute’s Program Evaluation and Education Research (PEER) Group to collaborate on updating the Digital Learning Progress Rubric and Digital Learning Competencies while creating a dissemination plan for these materials. Friday Institute Research Scholar Jamie Gillespie is the project’s principal investigator. Friday Institute Associate Director of Program Evaluation and Educational Research Erin Huggins is a co-principal investigator on the project. 

Transitions: Variable Temperature CryoEM to Redesign Thermophilic Enzymes for Carbon Fixation

This project, funded by $10,153 from the National Science Foundation, will develop a simplified version of one of the alternative carbon-fixing pathways, the reductive TCA cycle, with the idea of introducing it into biofuel crops to increase CO2 fixation and plant productivity. Associate Professor of Science Education K.C. Busch will serve as senior personnel on the project.