July 2023

On July 27, AERA submitted comments in response to a request for information (RFI) on developing a roadmap for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). Established in 2022, the TIP Directorate has the mission to support use-inspired and translational research and accelerate the development and use of federally funded research; strengthen U.S. competitiveness by accelerating the development of key technologies; grow the domestic workforce in key technology focus areas; and expand the participation of U.S. students and researchers in areas of societal, national, and geostrategic importance, at all levels of education.

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 included a provision for NSF to develop a three-year roadmap for the TIP Directorate’s activities. The RFI sought input into priorities for translational and use-inspired research for the 10 technology areas and the five societal challenges included in the law. The societal challenges include inequitable access to education, opportunity, and other services.

The comments provided by AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine include recommendations for the TIP Directorate’s activities to be inclusive of the perspectives of education researchers and of the social and behavioral sciences more broadly.

“Education and other of the social and behavioral sciences center on the human experience and thus are that will be involved in and affected by advances in technology and innovation that will be supported by use-inspired and translational research,” wrote Levine. “AERA encourages TIP not only to include educational institutions as partners in TIP’s activities, but also promote STEM education research in formal and informal settings as a focus of TIP activities where technological innovations have the potential to transform STEM teaching and learning.”

The comments also encourage the TIP Directorate to incorporate STEM education research within TIP’s activities and to support STEM education research incubators, which could include community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving Institutions, school districts, and community organizations. In addition, the comments encourage TIP to establish a program authorized in the CHIPS and Science Act, the Centers for Transformative Education Research and Translation, which would support activities to facilitate the widespread and sustained implementation of promising, evidence-based STEM education practices, models, programs, curricula, and technologies.

Related:

AERA Highlights, July 2022, Slimmed-Down Competitiveness Bill Introduced with NSF Reauthorization Language