Grant Funded and Special Projects

The College Now Program

College Now at The City College allows qualified high school students to enroll in courses that earn college credit and provides academic enrichment, giving students the foundation for academic success. Students have the opportunity to experience the richness of our campus by having access to our facilities and participating in academic, social, and cultural events.

Center for School Development

For the past several years The Center for School Development has been providing professional development in technology integration for K-12 teachers in several NYC community school districts. Most notable have been the technology integration workshops that we have offered around curriculum themes related to culture and science. 

Mathematics Projects

The Center for Urban Mathematics Education (CUME)

The Center aims to promote interdisciplinary collaboration and scholarship and community outreach in the field of education in general and, more specifically, mathematics education. CUME focuses all its activities – research, outreach, and teacher education programs – on issues critical to education, particularly mathematics education, in urban environments. The goal of the Center is to develop a comprehensive, research-based, and, at the same time community-focused platform to improve the teaching and learning for all children in urban communities.

Mathematics in the City

Mathematics in the City was established in 1995 as collaboration between City College and the Freudenthal Institute. It is both a think tank and a national center of inservice for K-8 mathematics education. We offer summer institutes, and a yearly calendar of in-service events open for national participation.

The Proof Project

The Proof Project investigates the development of students’ understanding of proof during the undergraduate experience. Proof, arguably, lies at the heart of mathematics; it pervades all mathematical work and sets mathematics apart from all other sciences. As such, it is necessary for all students to develop both the understanding of concepts related to proof and the skills to read and write proofs. The Proof Project aims to examine the ways in which undergraduate students acquire and develop their understandings of the concept of proof and to provide suggestions for the types of curricular and pedagogical innovations that can make the mathematics of proof accessible to all students.

The Urban Math Project

The Urban Math project is aiming to address the development of mathematical practices in urban middle school classrooms. Over the next five years this study will trace the development of middle school students' competencies in the mathematical practices of representation and justification and will identify conditions that influence that development. We first begin with a broad analysis of a large number of urban students’ conceptions of mathematical practices. This will be followed by a focused and detailed analysis of the development of 6th to 8th grade students, using a variety of instruments and classroom observations. The goal is to go beyond documentation of the current conditions, and to trace and understand changes in students’ competencies over time. Furthermore, the study will analyze classroom teaching practices that influence these changes. To achieve this, the students' teachers will participate in concurrent professional development activities designed to enhance their understandings of middle school students' development of mathematical reasoning and classroom practices that promote that development, and will also be studied in parallel with their students.

Science Projects

City Technology
For over a decade Prof. Neujahr of Childhood Education and Prof. Benenson of Mechanical Engineering have developed science and design technology education materials under National Science Foundation funding.  Their current project is “Physical Science Comes Alive: Exploring Things That Go” This project, funded by NSF for 2.4 million over five years, is a combination research and development project.  The research into the ways children learn concepts of force, motion, energy, systems and design is being conducted by Richard Lehrer of Vanderbilt University who is a co-PI on the project.  Profs. Neujahr, Benenson, and a team of six teachers is developing and testing curriculum at the K-1, 2-3, and 4-5 grade levels. The curriculum development is being informed by the research conducted by Lehrer.

CLUSTER: Investigating a new model partnership for teacher preparation

CLUSTER (Collaboration for Leadership in Urban Science Teaching, Evaluation and Research) is an National Science Foundation-funded project (NSF TPC-055269). Its partners are The City College of New York, New York Hall of Science, and City University of New York’s Center for Advanced Study in Education. It aims to develop and research a model designed to increase and improve the pool of secondary science teachers who reflect the ethnic distribution of city students and who are prepared to implement inquiry-based science instruction.