Learning Systems Institute The Florida Center for Research in STEM

Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

The Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (FCR–STEM) was created by the Florida Legislature and competitively awarded to Florida State University in 2006. It is another highly respected center operated by LSI faculty and staff.

The mission of FCR-STEM is to help the State of Florida improve STEM teaching and learning in grades K-12 and prepare students for higher education and STEM careers in the 21st century. Through impacts on teacher knowledge and classroom practice, FCR-STEM strives to improve student achievement, narrow student achievement gaps, and increase student pursuit in STEM fields.

These broad goals are addressed primarily through high-quality research, teacher professional development, and the development of innovative resources and tools to support instruction aligned with curriculum standards.

Among FCR-STEM’s significant accomplishments are the impacts of professional development on teacher and student outcomes, the design and delivery of intensive professional development for over 40,000 teachers in Florida, and the development of CPALMS.

Through research conducted at FCR-STEM, our staff works to answer the question, “How can we improve STEM integration and teaching and learning for all students?” Our staff pushes for a scientific approach to educational research and supports the use of open science and experimental design in our work. The work includes reports of the impact of educational interventions on student learning in mathematics and statistics through various teacher learning programs involving formative assessment, Cognitively Guided Instruction, lesson study, and statistics curriculum and professional learning opportunities.

CPALMS

CPALMS is an online toolbox of information, free vetted resources, and interactive tools to help educators effectively implement teaching standards.

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InSPIRE

CPALMS will help InSPIRE promote an integrated approach to learning that impacts the entire learner continuum from kindergarten through postgraduate studies.

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CGI

Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) is a way of teaching math that uses children's own problem-solving strategies and number sense.

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Math Anxiety

Researching a school-based intervention for children with math anxiety using strategies from cognitive behavioral therapy.

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Where Educators Go For Bright Ideas

CPALMS is an online toolbox of information, free vetted resources, and interactive tools to help educators effectively implement teaching standards. Read More

CPALMS Impact

CPALMS now offers more than 13,000 high-quality educational resources developed by FSU faculty and K-12 educators. During the pandemic, LSI made all the CPALMS resources accessible to students, parents, and educators around the globe to support them in teaching and learning from home. More than 20 million students depended on CPALMS during that period. Since CPALMS started offering educational resources, more than one billion resource views/downloads have been delivered. During the last year, CPALMS had more than 70 million resources delivered to Florida’s educators and students. A unique type of resource, CPALMS includes 500+ Perspectives Videos which are standards-aligned short (~5-min.) video resources highlighting experiences and ideas from experts, teachers, professionals, and skilled enthusiasts. The CPALMS video production team ensures videos are ready for teachers and students to understand technical content, learn new approaches to teaching, and highlight the appearance of STEM concepts in practical, real-world situations

Original Student Tutorials

CPALMS also features over 1,300 Student Tutorials which are interactive online lessons for students to explore math, science, English language arts, and social studies content. The development of these tutorials is a collaboration between K-12 educators, subject specialists, instructional designers, graphic designers, narrators, and others who collectively spend 200-400 labor hours to create each tutorial. During the last year, several tutorials crossed a million views.

CPALMS By The Numbers

Florida State University’s Institute for Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Research, and Education (InSPIRE) project is a 10-year $400M initiative led by the President, VP of Research, and the Office of the Provost, in partnership with FSU Office of Research, College of Engineering, and Learning Systems Institute (LSI). The project aims to expand the economic development of the panhandle’s Gulf Coast counties through building infrastructure and educational opportunities focused on advanced manufacturing and aerospace engineering.

The endeavor will build physical infrastructure, including an aerospace and advanced manufacturing research facility in Panama City, and expand community partnerships and opportunities. The project also includes a K-20 educational and workforce development team and STEM outreach led by the Learning Systems Institute with the goal of training at least 1,000 teachers and provide over 5,000 industry certifications to participants who participate in LSI’s innovative approach to professional learning and workforce development.

LSI’s history and capacity to transform education across Florida and globally will lead to new developments within professional learning, building a prepared workforce and InSPIREd communities across the panhandle of Florida. LSI will InSPIRE and advance teachers and students through industry certifications, curriculum, and professional learning. InSPIRE aims to create an environment for change by developing InSPIRE school incentives, supporting community outreach, and providing multiple pathways for continual learning. Additionally, through InSPIRE LSI is committed to providing exceptional and unparalleled opportunities for military families, including comprehensive after-school and summer programs designed to enrich and enhance students’ educational experiences while simultaneously providing military spouses with comprehensive workforce training opportunities.

LSI’s programs, such as the Summer of InSPIRE 2024 pilot features a course in AI-Powered Storytelling that will engage educators in exciting and cutting-edge fields like aerospace exploration and AI foundations. The AI-Powered Storytelling program will engage primary school teachers in creating resources to inspire students in aerospace exploration, leveraging AI, prompt engineering, and machine learning training activities. Ongoing K-20 programs and courses will respond to industry and teachers' needs and always aim to involve elementary teachers in long-term research-based professional learning, creating enthusiasm and engagement that will affect students’ path and options as they progress into the workforce.

InSPIRE presents many opportunities for collaboration across all areas of education, including research, grad and undergrad student opportunities, and teacher support infrastructure. Partner with InSPIRE to invest in the future of education and empower the next generation of learners. Join us in creating an InSPIREd future for education.

FCR-STEM Latest News

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20,0000 Florida Teachers Have Completed the Civics Seal of Excellence Course

More than 20,000 Florida educators have completed the Florida Department of Education's Civics Seal of Excellence course, which is hosted on a portal developed by LSI and FCR-STEM and built on the CPALMS platform.

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CPALMS Mathematics Formative Assessment System Changed The Course Of A Florida Teacher’s Career

None of the things I have participated in, learned and accomplished in math education come close to the monumental shifts that occurred in my teaching practice as those that occurred while working on the MFAS

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LSI Awarded $4 Million STEM Education Grant

The Learning Systems Institute has been awarded a four-year, $4 million grant by The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

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LSI Wins Supporting Math Learning In Afterschool Programs

The Florida Philanthropic Network (FPN) has awarded Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute (LSI) a grant to implement the “Afterschool Math Success: Developing the Vision and Support” project.

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LSI Holds First Professional Learning Course For FSU’s InSPIRE

LSI held its first professional learning course for K-5 Gulf Coast teachers. The teacher workshop is part of the workforce training and education component of FSU's InSPIRE.

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FSU InSPIRE And Microsoft Partner To Offer Artificial Intelligence Certificate And Badge

Florida State University and Microsoft have joined forces on an Artificial Intelligence Educator industry certification and badge.

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150 Teachers Joined The CGI Teacher Training Program

In the 2023-2024 school year, 150 teachers from 20 elementary schools joined the CGI teacher training program as part of the Successful Start project.

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CPALMS Launches Another Free Resource For Florida's Teachers

To continue to find new ways to help teachers, CPALMS recently launched a weekly segment of CPALMS Teacher Perspective Videos.

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Dr. Tazaz Named an Early-Career Research Fellow

The Gulf Research Program (GRP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has selected Florida State University’s Dr. Amanda Tazaz as one of five early-career research fellows.

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GP-IN To Increase Entry Into Geosciences For Underrepresented Populations

The grant is titled "GP-IN: Bridging the Gap into Geosciences for Underrepresented Pre-college Populations through Experiential Learning Opportunities" and aims to break down barriers to entry into the geosciences for underrepresented populations of students.

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LSI Hosted Nearly 300 Florida Teachers For June Professional Development

The CPALMS team led two significant events in Tallahassee for Florida teachers with more than 280 educators in the capital city for Integrated Civics Professional Development workshops.

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Recent FCR-STEM Projects

"A teacher works with two students on using CGI in math."

Cognitively Guided Instruction

The premise of CGI is that all students enter school with intuitive knowledge and abilities that can serve as the basis for developing their mathematical ideas. Teachers can help students build on that intuitive knowledge to develop a progressively abstract understanding of mathematics that make up the elementary school curriculum.

CPALMS Civics Platform and Educational Resources

Our team leads the development of educational resources for civics, including integrated resources that can be used in math, science, English language arts, computer science/coding, social studies, and fine and performing arts. Over 1,600 instructional resources were created and distributed on CPALMS for over 260,000 Florida teachers and 3M Florida K-12 students.

Prek-2 Assessment

LSI is leading the creation of PreK-2 English language arts (ELA) and mathematics assessment items that will be on the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) in which over 800,000 students participate three times per year. Based on LSI’s expertise and innovation, the team is pioneering a new interactive assessment format and system for PreK-2 learners.

Successful Start Project

The Successful Start project is a partnership between Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute (LSI), The Children’s Board of Hillsborough County and Hillsborough County Public Schools. The project team, led by Dr. Amanda Tazaz, provides early elementary school teachers with eight days of mathematics teacher professional development based on Cognitively Guided Instruction.

$"Graphic with logos for LSI and the National Science Foundation. The text reads “Examining the Mechanisms of the Math Anxiety-Math Achievement"$

Math Lions Project

LSI was awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a school-based intervention for children with math anxiety using strategies from cognitive behavioral therapy. The project, titled “Examining the Mechanisms of the Math Anxiety-Math Achievement Link through a School-Based Grades 2-3 Intervention,” is supported by the NSF’s Education and Human Resources (EHR) Core Research (ECR) program.

Bridging the Gap into Geosciences for Underrepresented Pre-college Populations

Starting in the summer of 2024 and continuing into the summer of 2025, Amanda Tazaz, Ph.D., will lead a partnership of geoscience agencies in the state and several departments at FSU and Florida A&M to develop four geoscience summer camp programs that will be implemented with pre-college students attending summer camp at the Boys and Girls Club of the Big Bend.