Project Overview
Project BEES (NSF DRK-12, DRL 2201407, $789K, 07/01/2022 – 06/30/2025, awarded May, 2022) is an early stage design and development project focused on the teaching strand. This project enables engineering-focused behaviors and mindsets of students with extensive support needs (ESN) in grades 3-5 who are underserved by current practices and often not responsive to typical science instruction. This 3-year, mixed-methods, design and development project has two major objectives: (1) to develop a framework to support teacher instruction of engineering-focused behaviors and mindsets for students with ESN, and (2) to use this framework to design, assess, and disseminate universally designed instructional materials. In particular, it involves four strands of work: (a) investigating teachers’ engineering instruction, (b) developing a framework to support teacher development of students’ engineering-focused behaviors and mindsets to support instruction of students with ESN, (c) conducting design-based implementation research to support universally designed engineering instruction and instructional materials, ​​(d) producing and disseminating the instructional support framework and materials.

Project Personnel
Bree Jimenez – Principal Investigator

Ginevra Courtade – Principal Investigator

Christine Cunningham – Senior Personnel

Cory Forbes – Senior Personnel