2006 Annual Report - Nsdl.library.cornell.edu

NSDL PathwaysApplied Math and Science EducationRepository (AMSER)AMSER is an applied mathematics and scienceeducation portal of resource collections andintegrated services designed specifically for useby faculty, staff, and students of community andtechnical colleges. Community colleges often servea bridging function between public schooling andbaccalaureate education, and train a significantpercentage of the national workforce. AMSER’s goalsinclude the creation of professional development thatpromotes adjunct faculty skills in the application anduse of digital resources.PartnersLead: Internet Scout Project,University of WisconsinMadisonMERLOTAmerican Association ofCommunity Colleges (AACC)American Association of TwoYear Colleges (AMATYC)Advanced TechnologicalEducation projects of NSF(NSF ATE)Pathway since 2004Audiences: Community andtechnical colleges, facultyprofessional developmenthttp://amser.org/ChemEd DLibPartnersOne new Pathway partner was added in 2006—theLead: Journal of ChemicalChemical Education Digital Library (ChemEd DLib).Education (JCE)Based at the University of Wisconsin, ChemEd DLibAmerican Chemical Society(ACS)builds on the collections of the Journal of ChemicalChem-CollectiveEducation DLib (originally an NSDL CollectionsPathway since 2006project) and the work of the American ChemicalAudiences: Undergraduate/Society (ACS) Education Division. An innovativegraduate, high schoolelement of the project will be Textbook Tables ofhttp://www.jce.divched.org/JCEDLibContents browsing—utilizing these cornerstone toolsof chemistry courses as a means of locating resourceskeyed to a specific textbook in use. The ACS is the largest scientificsociety in the world, with 158,000 members, and the JCE has becomethe premier pedagogical journal in the chemical sciences. ChemEdDLib will be engaging with other NSDL Pathways such as CSERD,Math Gateway, Teachers’ Domain, ComPADRE, and MatDL on areasof cross-disciplinary interest.BiosciencesEdNet (BEN)The BEN collaborative was originally established in 1999 by theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science, with eleven otherprofessional societies and educational coalitions. Since then it has grownto 26 collaborating entities, with the BEN portal (www.biosciednet.org)providing access to resources that help bioscience educators engagestudents, shorten lesson preparation time, provide concept updates,and develop curricula in line with national content standards.PartnersLead: American Associationfor the Advancement ofScience (AAAS)American PhysiologicalSociety (APS)Ecological Society ofAmerica (ESA)American Society forMicrobiology (ASM)American Institute forBiological Sciences (AIBS)Additional collaboratorsAAAS Science’s STKE Signal TransductionKnowledge EnvironmentAAAS Science OnlineAssociation for BiologyLaboratory Education(ABLE)AmericanPhytopathological Society(APSNet)Making ConnectionsAmerican Society forBiochemistry and MolecularBiology (ASBMB)National Association ofHealth Sciences EducationPartners (NAHSEP)American Society for CellBiology (ASCB)National Health MuseumAccess Excellence (NHMAE)American Society forHuman GeneticsBioQUEST CurriculumConsortium (BCC)Bio-Link (NSF ATE Centerfor Biotechnology)Botanical Society ofAmerica (BSA)Dolan DNA Learning Center(DNALC)Entomology Digital Library(EntDL)Faculty for UndergraduateNeuroscience (FUN)Human Anatomy andPhysiology Society (HAPS)National Association ofBiology Teachers (NABT)34Society for DevelopmentalBiology (SDB)Society for Integrativeand Comparative Biology(SICB)Society of Toxicology (SOT)Video and Image DataAccess for Science InquiryDuring Teacher Preparation(VIDA)Pathway since 2005Audiences: Undergraduateand high ties for Physics and AstronomyDigital Resources in EducationPartners:American Association of PhysicsTeachers (AAPT)The ComPADRE Pathway focuses on educationAmerican Astronomical Societyresources, tools, and learning environments for(AAS)Physics and Astronomy, from K–12 throughAmerican Physical Societyundergraduate, and informal learning. Its(APS)Society of Physics Studentscommunity-based collections serve specific groups,(SPS)such as teachers of introductory courses at the highAmerican Institute of Physicsschool or college levels, undergraduate physics and(AIP)astronomy majors, researchers in physics education,Additional collaborators:MERLOTteachers and students in upper-level courses,Science Education Resourceand life-long learners. ComPADRE supports itsCenter (SERC)audiences through content, communication, sharing,European Physical Societyand professional development. It helps content(EPS)developers by organizing, reviewing, disseminating,Pathway since 2005Audiences: undergraduate,and sustaining resources; and promotes usage ofhigh school, lifelong learnersNSDL and its services by physics and astronomyhttp://www.compadre.orgcommunities. New services provided byComPADRE include databases of student research and professionaldevelopment opportunities, flexible and sharable annotated personalfiling cabinets, and an automated citation service using commoncitation formats (AIP, APA, Chicago, MLA, Endnote export) forreferencing resources found in ComPADRE. ComPADRE is workingwith the Math Gateway on sharing resources that are of interest toaudiences of both Pathways and with NSDL Core Integration toprovide an NSDL-enabled wiki for curriculum developmentand dissemination.5Making Connections

Computational Science EducationReference Desk (CSERD)PartnersLead: Shodor EducationFoundation, Inc.CSERD is a collaborative project of the ShodorEducation Foundation and its partners. Theirgoal is to identify, develop, and sustain effectiveeducational materials for computational science,technology, engineering, and mathematics. CSERDprovides peer-reviewed content and easy-to-usenavigation tools to find and use models, tools, andlesson plans tied to learning standards to supportdiscovery-based teaching and learning. CSERDprovides educators with expertise on how to buildand validate computational models appropriate toa variety of learning levels (K–20). In partnershipwith the National Computational Science Institute(NCSI) more than 1,000 faculty and teachers havebeen trained in teaching with computational sciencethrough workshops that have introduced them toNSDL and its resources. Additionally, many NCSIparticipants are actively giving back to NSDLthrough the collection and review of content.National Computational ScienceInstitute (NCSI)Kean UniversityNorth Carolina CentralUniversityOhio SupercomputingApplicationsNational Center forSupercomputing ApplicationsClemson UniversityAdditional collaboratorsEngaging People inCyberinfrastructure (EPIC)SCxy Education ProgramTeraGridSigma XiBurroughs Wellcome FundPathway since 2004Audiences: Undergraduate,K–12, lifelong learnershttp://cserd.nsdl.orgMaterials Digital Library Pathway (MatDL)The MatDL Pathway provides content and servicesNational Institute of Standards& Technologyneeded across the materials science (MS) community,Massachusetts Institute ofparticularly directed to undergraduate and graduateStandards & Technologystudents, educators, and researchers. MatDL isUniversity of Michiganbuilding an information infrastructure to supportPurdue UniversityMS education, research, and interactions between theIowa State UniversityPathway since 2005two as well as to disseminate resources generated byAudiences: undergraduate/national and international government-funded teamsgraduate, researchand centers. In addition to its repository of materialshttp://matdl.orgscience research articles and publications, MatDL, aspart of the NSDL, has created several tools in 2006.The Soft Matter Wiki is publicly accessible information provided byexperts in the nanoscience community offering content pertinent to softmatter and nanomaterials with specific focus on computational methodsand modeling. MatForge is a collaborative code workspace for openaccess development of modeling and simulation software. MatDL hasalso established a Teaching Archive for collaborative development of coreundergraduate MS teaching materials, and created services and contentfor virtual labs in large undergraduate introductory science courses. Inthese ways MatDL provides a key link with other research initiativesfunded by NSF, and is helping to advance exploration of the services thatNSDL can provide to the research community.PartnersLead: Mathematical Associationof AmericaEngineering PathwayA partnership between the National Engineering Education DeliverySystem (NEEDS) at the University of California-Berkeley, andTeachEngineering at the University of Colorado, the EngineeringPathway is a portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources inengineering, applied science and math, computerPartnersscience/information technology, and engineeringLead: University of CaliforniaBerkeleytechnology, designed for use by K–12 and universityLead: University of Coloradoeducators and students. The K–12 engineeringBouldercurriculum uses engineering as a vehicle for theColorado School of Minesintegration of hands-on science and mathematicsDuke University – Pratt Schoolthrough real-world designs and applications thatof EngineeringOregon State Universityinspire student creativity. Higher education resourcesVirginia Techinclude support for national board accreditation,Worcester Polytechnic Instituteresearch and scholarship, curricula development,American Society forand extracurricular activities for students. AdditionalEngineering Educationservices include outreach information and materials,Pathway since 2005diversity resources, and information about careersAudiences: K–12,undergraduate/graduate,and professional societies. The Engineering Pathwayprofessionalhas been instrumental in working with NSDLhttp://www.to address the technical and social challenges ofengineeringpathway.orgCommunity Sign-On across NSDL sites.Making ConnectionsPartnersLead: Kent State University6Mathematical Sciences DigitalLibrary (MathDL)Math GatewayThe Math Gateway of the Mathematical Association ofAmerica (MAA) offers more than 20,000 rich resourcesfrom twelve partner collections. MAA is the largestprofessional society focused on undergraduate matheducation. Math Gateway is a prospective user of theExpert Voices blogging environment produced byNSDL, to stimulate conversations around math topics;and Gateway partners are seeking solutions to thechallenges of displaying mathematical formulas andprocesses on the web. Working with NSDL and otherPathways to craft solutions to cross-partner search anddiscovery of a wide variety of resources is a key goal forthe Gateway. The Math Gateway held its first workshopfor educators in 2006, introducing MAA member mathfaculty at the undergraduate and community collegelevel—including those who work with K–12 teachers—to the MathDL library, the Math Gateway, and NSDL.The participants will, in turn, work to spread awarenessand use of these resources to colleagues at regional MAAmeetings and within their own institutions.7Math ForumMathWorldConnected Curriculum ProjectiLumina Digital LibraryMathematics SurveyVirtual Laboratories inProbability and StatisticsDemos with Positive Impactcauseweb.orgNational Curve BankNSDL Middle School PortalEthnomathematics DigitalLibraryWeBWorKEduworksMERLOTCollege BoardwebODEAdditional collaboratorPlanet MathPathway since 2004Audiences: undergraduate/graduate, K-12http://mathgatewway.maa.orgMaking Connections

Middle School PortalPartnersLead: Ohio State UniversityPositioning NSDL in Broader ContextsPutting content in context is the mission of the MiddleAdditional collaboratorSchool Portal at Ohio State University (OSU). TheMath GatewayPathway since 2003Middle School Portal was the prototype project thatAudiences: Middle school,fostered the development of the Pathways strategy forK–12, teacher professionalbuilding NSDL. The MSP continues some aspects ofdevelopmentthe work of the Eisenhower National Clearinghousehttp://msteacher.org(ENC), which was funded by the U.S. Departmentof Education from 1992 until 2005. “We take materials on math, science,and technology topics that are taught in middle school, assign them to theappropriate educational standards, and put them in context so they areeasy to use,” says Kim Lightle, director of the Portal. For example, a sectionon aerodynamics has one link that describes the fundamentals of flight toteachers, and several other links that describe it in terms 7th-graders canunderstand. The Middle School Portal has also participated in NSDL’sExpert Voices project, where teachers shared their ideas and skills aboutteaching math concepts through measurement exercises in a moderatedweblog, Measuring at the Middle Level. Through the portal, OSU providesservice for NSDL and other Pathways as a middle school level filter, andis also providing context and narrative around NSDL resources for a jointproject with a major educational publisher.Teachers’ DomainTeachers’ Domain is a service of WGBH Boston, the producer of manyof PBS’s most popular programs. Free video segments from programssuch as NOVA and ZOOM!, plus a wealth ofinteractive features, have helped make Teachers’PartnersDomain a key provider of online educationalLead: WGBH EducationalFoundationresources. WGBH’s usage statistics suggest thatOther public television stationsone out of three K–12 schools in the U.S. have usedPathway since 2004Teachers’ Domain media resources, lesson plans, orAudiences: K–12, teacherprofessional development courses. Teachers’ Domainprofessional developmentnow provides more than 1,000 a resources including video and audioclips, interactives and images, and lesson plans and tools. Each resourcecomes with an explanatory background article and correlations to stateand national curriculum standards. Teachers’ Domain is a key participantin NSDL collaborations that are creating a suite of tools to help resourcedevelopers align their content to K–12 educational standards.Making Connections8Strengthening and leveraging core partnerships and forging new alliances thatincrease usage and broaden key audience exposure to the library are essentialto the long-term success of NSDL.Partnerships with national agencies are being expanded and agreements withscience education publishers are adding new content to NSDL and enlargingits role nationally. NSDL is creating alliances with museums and othercenters of informal education. NSDL serves as a provider of resource contentfor these organizations and their education initiatives and activities, offersadvice and assistance in the development of special collections, and acts as adissemination mechanism for education and outreach efforts.NSDL is collaborating with professional societies such as the NationalScience Teachers Association (NSTA) to provide professional developmentopportunities and teacher training events on NSDL resources, tools, andservices. With the educational technology organization Project Tomorrow,NSDL is working to have teachers and students in schools across the countryuse and provide feedback on NSDL resources.9Positioning NSDL in Broader Contexts

NSTA/NSDL WebSeminars 2006NSTA and NSDL offered fivejointly sponsored online webseminars in 2006, with a totalparticipation of 259 attendees. NSDL Online: Hurricanes(DLESE; NSDL) Birds: Bringing the Field tothe Classroom (Cornell Labof Ornithology) The Virtual Bone Lab:eSkeletons (eSkeletons,University of Texas at Austin) Plate Tectonics Made toOrder (Scripps Institutionof Oceanography, OhioState University) Learning by Doing:Computational Science(Shodor EducationFoundation; CSERD)Average number of participantsper seminar: 52Highest participation: 88 (PlateTectonics)Number of NSDL presenters: 11Participants judged the valueof the seminars on a 1–5scale: 1 Poor and 5 Excellent.Averaged scores over the fiveseminars given to date:Overall seminar value4.62Seminar content relevant4.64Interactive nature ofseminar:4.64% who want to see moreseminars like thoseoffered:100%Comments fromparticipantsLearning about the digitallibrary system search engineswas great. That they are freeis marvelous the slides wereincredible and fantastic visualand interactive tools.Access to experts is invaluable.Enjoyed learning about thevariety of resources availablethrough NSDL.I like hearing from scientistswho actually are in the fieldnow, while my students need theinformation. I love for studentsto see and hear science that ishappening right now Supporting K–12 Teachersin the ClassroomNSTA Web SeminarsNSDL is partnering with the National Science TeachersAssociation (NSTA) to present a series of online WebSeminars in 2006 and 2007. Web Seminars are 90-minute,live professional development experiences for teachersthat use online learning technologies. NSTA/NSDLWeb Seminars encourage participants to interact withscientists, engineers, and education specialists, all froma desktop computer. Highly interactive, the seminars arescheduled at times to allow convenient participation fromall U.S. time zones.Facilitated by an NSTA or NSDL coordinator, expertsreview specific science content or methods and strategiesto teach science. Teachers have the chance to get real-timeanswers to questions and use online tools. Seminars areavailable on the NSTA web site (http://institute.nsta.org/web seminars.asp) and linked to from NSDL.org.NSTA/NSDL seminars feature some of the exemplarycollections and resources in NSDL.Digital Libraries Go to SchoolTeaching effective use of web-based technologies inthe classroom is one of the goals of a project fundedby NSF’s Teacher Professional Continuum program.NSDL is partnering with Utah State University and theState University of New York at Cortland on the DigitalLibraries Go to School (DLGTS) project. DLGTS holdsworkshops designed to improve the online informationseeking and resource design skills of middle school scienceand math teachers, as well as to widen understandingamong developers about teachers’ needs and uses oftechnology. The workshops feature NSDL resources incombination with Utah State’s Instructional Architect tool(http://ia.usu.edu), which helps teachers create lessonsas web pages with built-in links to NSDL resources.Throughout this three-year project, teacher-created contentwill be posted on NSDL sites for other teachers to use andreview. Initial workshops were held in rural areas of Utahand New York, to focus on providing benefit from onlineteaching tools in less urbanized locations. Additionalworkshops will include students in teacher trainingprograms at SUNY Cortland and Utah State.Positioning NSDL in Broader Contexts10Project TestDriveAnother component of the NSDL Digital Libraries Go To School workshops,Project TestDrive, will ask teachers and students in 50 schools across thecountry to identify and use NSDL resources and provide feedback not onlyon the resources but the classroom context in which they were used. ProjectTomorrow, an educational technology organization partnering with NSDL,is developing a rubric for evaluating current and future NSDL resources,and will design and implement teacher and student surveys. “It’s goingto be a year-long process,” says Julie Evans of Project Tomorrow, who willconduct the research. The process aims to gain important informationnecessary to further develop strategies for meeting the changing needs ofK–12 teachers. “I think the potential for NSDL is huge,” says Evans. “Butyou must compete to get people’s attention because they have so many otherpriorities. Students are pulled in all different directions, and not all teachersare comfortable using online resources. So we’re going to be identifyingspecific ways to win over hearts and minds to NSDL.”Supporting Educational ReformThroughout the nation’s K–12 schools, there hasbeen increasing emphasis over the past ten yearson aligning curricula and assessments to centrallyestablished content standards aimed at improvingstudent learning. Scientific literacy for all citizens isthe goal of the National Science Education Standards(NSES) and the foundation upon which individualstate content standards are generally premised. Inmathematics, the National Council of Teachers ofMathematics (NCTM) Standards serve as a similarreference point. NSDL partners have consistentlyworked to address the needs of educators, but formany the activity of detailing how their individualresources support each of the 49 sets of establishedstate standards has been prohibitively complex.Different sets of state standards exist for core subjects,but among these there are few indices, and littlecross-referencing among different state efforts. Acollaboration between NSDL, Syracuse University,and JES & Co.’s Achievement Standards Network(ASN) database project is combining standardsbased efforts to craft solutions to the challenges ofassociating resources to standards, both state andnational.An understanding of sciencemakes it possible for everyoneto share in the richness andexcitement of comprehendingthe natural world. Scientificliteracy enables people touse scientific principles andprocesses in making personaldecisions and to participatein discussions of scientificissues that affect society. Asound grounding in sciencestrengthens many of the skillsthat people use every day, likesolving problems creatively,thinking critically, workingcooperatively in teams, usingtechnology effectively, andvaluing life-long learning. Andthe economic productivity of oursociety is tightly linked to thescientific and technological skillsof our work force.–National Science EducationStandards (NSES)11Positioning NSDL in Broader Contexts

Achievement Standards NetworkSeveral years ago NSF funded a project based at the University ofWashington that included development of the Achievement StandardsNetwork (ASN), an authoritative web-based collection of learningstandards for primary and secondary schools at both state and nationallevels. JES & Co., a private non-profit, along with researchers at theUniversity of Washington developed the ASN and is now distributingit through the State Educational Technology Directors Association(SETDA) (http://www.thegateway.org/setdatoolkit). The ASN includesan online forum where standard-writers can discuss topics such as whatmakes a good standard, and the best ways to correlate a standard to aresource.Content Assignment ToolThe Center for Natural Language Processing (CNLP) at SyracuseUniversity has been developing software that recognizes patternsin human language so it can be translated into terms computers canunderstand. Their Content Assignment Tool (CAT) uses NaturalLanguage software to suggest state standards that might be supportedby any file or web page that can be processed electronically. Userssimply enter the URL for a web page or a link to a document,then choose the appropriate state or national standards that arerecommended by the tool. An NSDL partner library and a partnerwith Syracuse

Cornell University, and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), NSDL integrates multiple . Biology Teachers (NABT) National Association of Health Sciences Education Partners (NAHSEP) . with the National Computational Science Institute (NCSI) m