NSF 22-548: EHR Core Research: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research

Overview

ECR’s Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) supports projects that build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research that will enhance the nation’s STEM education enterprise. In addition, ECR: BCSER seeks to broaden the pool of researchers who can advance knowledge regarding STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development. Researchers of races and ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities who are currently underrepresented in their participation in STEM education research and the STEM workforce, as well as faculty at minority-serving and two-year institutions, are particularly encouraged to submit proposals.

Specifically, ECR: BCSER supports activities that enable researchers to expand their areas of expertise and acquire the requisite knowledge and skills to conduct rigorous research in STEM education. Career development may be accomplished through investigator-initiated professional development and research projects or through institutes that enable researchers to integrate methodological strategies with theoretical and practical issues in STEM education.

Relevant Capacity-Building Foci

To successfully conceptualize, design, and execute studies capable of making contributions to knowledge in STEM education and learning, broadening participation, and workforce development, investigators and their teams typically require a wide range of knowledge, skills, expertise, and experiences. Examples of relevant capacity-building foci span a range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Deep knowledge of subject-matter literature: Domain expertise (mastery of theories and findings) is critical to investigators’ ability to identify important scientific questions and articulate a theoretically derived and framed rationale for the project.
• Interdisciplinary perspectives: Theories, methodologies, analytical techniques, and findings that can have a catalytic effect when explored in the context of multiple fields. Moreover, interdisciplinary endeavors also increase the human capacity of the nation to address problems, broadening the range and diversity of scholars working toward their solution (Porter & Rafols, 2009).
• Skill operationalizing research questions and articulating theories of change: Investigators should be able to operationalize the conceptual framework that organizes the responses to the research questions before collecting data, e.g., reducing variables into measurable factors.
• Expertise in study design, research methods, and data analysis techniques and familiarity with advances in computational, quantitative, qualitative and evaluative research methodologies: Expertise in these areas is essential in arguing the feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed research to generate sufficiently robust evidence on the topic(s) of interest and in executing the study as planned. Depending upon the nature of the research proposed, experience may be required identifying appropriate measures, devising appropriate sampling strategies, developing and establishing the psychometric properties of research instruments, and aligning analytic methods with the study design.
• Expertise that could advance educational innovation: Investigators should be able to incorporate new methods and techniques in their research that will improve education quality. For example, they may consider how artificial intelligence tools or large data sets could be used or mined to enhance traditional teaching and learning methods. Areas where this research may be applicable could include intelligent tutoring systems, personalized learning, computer-adapted assessments, or in automating of teaching tasks.
• Skill synthesizing study findings through meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, and other systematic review methodologies.
• Experience collecting, managing, documenting, and archiving data (e.g., to facilitate replication and reproducibility studies[1] and secondary analyses).
• Experience building teams, establishing partnerships, leading collaborations, and mentoring junior collaborators.

Proposal Types

1. Individual Investigator Development in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER: IID)

2. Institutes for Methods and Practices in STEM Education Research
3. Conference Proposals

Co-PIs are not allowed on Individual Investigator Development proposals. 

Estimated Number of Awards: NSF expects to make 29 standard or continuing grant awards. 
Anticipated Funding Amount: $12,000,000
The ECR: BCSER competition anticipates making the following awards:

• Individual Investigator Development in STEM Education Research: Up to 19 awards. The maximum award amount is $350,000 for three years.
• Institutes for Methods and Practices in STEM Education Research: Up to 5 awards. The maximum award amount for is $1,000,000 for three years.
• Conference: Up to 5 awards. The typical award amount for a conference is $25,000 to $100,000.

2025 Important Information And Revision Notes (See full announcement for complete details)
Update: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation have been added as a collaborating partners in this program. For additional information, please refer to Dear Colleague Letter: Building Investigators' Capacity to Leverage Emerging Technologies to Improve STEM Education Research (NSF 22-126).

Innovating and migrating proposal preparation and submission capabilities from FastLane to Research.gov is part of the ongoing NSF information technology modernization efforts, as described in Important Notice No. 147. In support of these efforts, proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation must be prepared and submitted via Research.gov or via Grants.gov, and may not be prepared or submitted via FastLane.

Proposal titles should begin with BCSER.

The Project Summary should specify the proposal type as Individual Investigator Development - Experienced; Individual Investigator Development - New; Institutes for Methods and Practices in STEM Education Research; or Conference.

2025 Revision Notes
The Individual Investigator Development (IID) track now includes two proposal types: Investigators Experienced in STEM Education Research and Investigators New to STEM Education Research.
The IID track is no longer limited to early- and mid- career investigators and accepts proposals from investigators at any stage in their career development.
The IID track now accepts proposals for up to three years.
The Institutes for Methods and Practices in STEM Education Research (IMP) track (formerly Institutes in Research Methods) now solicits a broader range of institute topics.