The Chèche Konnen Center periodically holds conferences to promote and sustain a "national conversation" on issues of equity and diversity in science education. The goal is to expand understanding of issues of language and culture as they relate to learning and teaching in the sciences, through grounded, interdisciplinary discussion of classroom-based research. Conferences bring together various stakeholders, including the science education, mathematics education, bilingual education, English as a second language, and systemic reform communities. Participants include researchers, teachers, administrators, and policymakers. To date, we have organized two major conferences:

Children's Ways With Words. In 1999, the Center convened a conference for teacher researchers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers. Based on joint analysis of video-based cases of classroom science and mathematics learning, this group formulated a research agenda on diversity and education reform in the sciences and mathematics. For more information, see the "NCISLA-CREDE Joint Newsletter: Diverse Students Learning Mathematics and Science (Winter 2001)" available as a PDF file, published by the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement (NCISLA) at the University of Wisconsin.

What Counts as Teacher Research? In 2000, the Center convened a conference for elementary teachers who conduct research into their students’ learning in science and mathematics. The conference focused on participants’ efforts to understand the talk and thinking of students they found puzzling for one reason or another. Experienced and beginning teacher researchers explored various practices of teacher research in terms of core theoretical, methodological and pedagogical commitments. See our list of Publications, including the following article: C. Ballenger & A. Rosebery, What Counts as Teacher Research? (in press, Teachers College Record). A PDF file is available for download.

© 2003 TERC
cheche_konnen@terc.edu