From TeacherWiki

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), along with a handful of other universities,was just awarded a $10 million grant to put to work cognitive science principles to lead to better student learning. We have chosen to try to test those ideas using the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP2) but such demonstrations should be applicable to any text book. Disclaimer: This project is not a Pearson project, but they are on our advisory board.

Press Release

A computer tutor developed and studied at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

To learn more about go here

WPI CMP Collaborative

Learn how ASSISTments can help you do Data Driven Instruction with your CMP curriculum. Become part of a group.

1. Watch this Video
2. If you are very new to ASSISTments go here to learn how to get started.
3. Click here to see what we have built for Book work with CMP.
4. Share what you are doing. Ask questions.

[Alternate Viewing Location]

Does your district use the CMP2 curriculum?

• No? You can still work with us in the ASSISTments project: Go to this link to get started.

• YES? Join our new “CMP and ASSISTments WPI Collaborative.” Be a part of developing and piloting computer based interventions to improve an already fantastic curriculum. You and your students can be a part of finding out what works and what does not. We here at WPI are first and foremost a research institution. This is why ASSISTments and the training you will receive are all free of charge. Our ASSISTments work here at WPI has been funded by over $9 million in federal grants.

We will be leveraging the formidable strides we have made in computer-assisted data driven instruction and student tutoring developed within ASSISTments. Over the last eight years we have taken pride in working directly with classroom teachers to develop a system that helps them do their job. Many of our most dedicated pilot schools have been using CMP2 for many years and have helped us develop these materials that are directly related to their curriculum. They are:

1. Connected Mathematics Homework: Teachers have built homework for seven (of the eight total) units in 8th grade and seven (of the eight total)units in 7th grade. This means students can get immediate feedback on their book homework while teachers get emails at 6 AM letting them know who did their homework, and what were the toughest questions.
2. We have built Connected Mathematics specific questions for 16 units so teachers can assign these as a review or as differentiated instruction to struggling students. Each question has detailed hints to help a student solve the problem if they cannot do it on their own. Teachers get live reports on students' progress.
3. Mastery Learning of pre-requisite skills for each CMP unit. With the computer assisted tool only those students who are weak in the skill get extra practice and everyone is reassessed for retention every 7, 14 and 30 days.
4. MCAS practices that are integrated with the CMP exercises. We already have over 4000 MCAS questions in our system and many of them have been matched with CMP2 units. These problems are particularly useful since we have built tutoring for them.
5. The ability to grade and discuss students' explanations online so they can reflect on their own writing and learn from each other about how to write an exemplary explanation.

What can you do to learn more and join our CMP and ASSISTments WPI Collaborative.

First: Join our mailing list. We will send out updates monthly on new events and progress. Click here to put your name on this important list.

Second: Come see our work in action and get trained. We currently have three different ways for you to do this.

1. Attend a CMP and ASSISTments 6 hour training. School leaders and teachers alike can come and really learn how to use the system. After a training they will be ready to start piloting the system and move forward in your data driven instruction.
2. Come to an ASSISTments in Action with CMP event. These events take place at a cooperating school. There will be an initial 1-hour visit to a variety of classrooms using ASSISTments in a variety of ways for data driven instruction. Then teachers will gather to learn about the teaching strategies while school leaders (Math Department Head or above) will gather to discuss the implications of gathering data instantaneously online (Just imagine being able to discuss benchmark assessments mid-unit the same day the students took the test)
3. We will be at the Association of Teachers of Mathematics in New England Conference November 8 and 9. Come to our booth and our talk and learn more!

Details on Opportunities

Our first publication for this grant.: Here is a study showing the ARRS system leads to better results.

• Heffernan, N., Heffernan, C., Dietz, K., Soffer, D., Pellegrino, J. W., Goldman, S. R. & Dailey, M. (submitted) Cognitively-Based Instructional Design Principles: A Technology for Testing their Applicability via Within-Classroom Randomized Experiments Submitted to the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness 2011 Fall Conference pdf

Sign up to be part of our CMP collaborative

Get on our mailing list. We will send out updates each month.

Click Here to put your name on our contact list.

Go to our Events page to learn about Trainings at WPI, ASSISTments in Action Events and setting up your own trainings at your school.

This page was created by Christina Heffernan