Discovery research prek?12 resource center for transformative education research and translation (DRK?12 RC)

The National Science Foundation's Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings awarded American Institutes for Research (AIR) a $2.62 million Project Grant on October 1, 2025, through the STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) to establish and operate the Discovery Research PreK-12 Resource Center for Transformative Education Research and Translation (DRK-12 RC) through September 30, 2030. The Resource Center serves as a support mechanism for the NSF's DRK-12 Program, facilitating collaboration and capacity-building in applied STEM education research by connecting stakeholders across the PreK-12 education ecosystem, including teachers, school leaders, administrators, policymakers, and researchers.

The DRK-12 RC delivers three primary service streams: (1) identifying and disseminating promising resources, tools, approaches, and research findings to educational practitioners and policymakers for strategic implementation; (2) facilitating communication and collaboration among current, former, and prospective DRK-12 award recipients to enhance researchers' capacity to conduct high-quality work across all project types; and (3) increasing national visibility of the DRK-12 Program's goals and impacts. AIR executes this award in collaboration with the Southern Regional Education Board and the University of South Carolina as sub-awardees, with activities designed to translate scientific findings into educational practice and enhance the overall influence and reach of the NSF's research and development investments in PreK-12 STEM education.

Abstract

The discovery research prek-12 resource center for transformative education research and translation (DRK-12 RC) will support the DRK-12 program and its community in fulfilling DRK-12 mission and goals. The resource center will encourage collaboration, translation, and capacity-building in applied stem education research by connecting a broad range of interest holders, providing technical support, disseminating resources and increasing the visibility of DRK-12 program-funded impacts. In addition, the resource center will be an intellectual partner as NSF seeks to enhance the overall influence and reach of the DRK-12 program's research and development investments. All DRK-12 RC activities serve the national priority of translating scientific findings to and from educational practice to the benefit of society within an ethical and high-impact framework. Under the leadership of the american institutes for research, in collaboration with the southern regional education board and the university of south carolina, the DRK-12 RC is expected to work collaboratively with NSF and the DRK-12 program's constituent communities to design, implement, and evaluate these three broad activities: 1) identify and share promising resources, tools, approaches, and research findings with teachers, school leaders and administrators and policymakers for feedback, strategic use and the advancement of science; 2) facilitate communication and collaboration among current, former, and prospective DRK-12 award recipients as a means of building stem education researchers' capacity to conduct high-quality and meaningful work across the full range of project types supported by the program; and 3) further raise the national visibility of the DRK-12 program's goals and impacts. The DRK-12 RC is dedicated to building capacity while enhancing the accessibility and visibility of DRK-12 projects, research findings, and innovations through advanced technological tools and strategic communication efforts. By broadening awareness of the DRK-12 program, building focused research acumen, and promoting community engagement, the DRK-12 RC will foster a dynamic network of stem education researchers, educators and decision-makers, empowering this powerful community to collaboratively transform fand advance prek-12 stem teaching and learning. The discovery research prek-12 program (DRK-12) is an applied research program that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) by prek-12 students and teachers. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in stem education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for funded projects. In addition, this project is jointly funded by the translation and diffusion (TD) program that supports research that advances the science of translation and diffusion between research and practice in stem education, the innovative technology experiences for students and teachers (itest) program, which supports projects that seek to increase students' knowledge and interest in stem and information and communication technology careers, and the advancing informal stem learning (aisl) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of stem learning in informal environments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.