ABSTRACT
Purdue’s Center for 21st Century Conceptual Tools (TCCT) was created in 1999, based on combined support from the AT&T Foundation, the Lucent Technologies Foundation, and a continuing allocation in Purdue’s budget from the State of Indiana. TCCT’s overall research mission is to enlist collaborating teams of evolving experts (that include teachers, parents, policy makers, business leaders, and university-based scientists in fields preparing leaders for future-oriented professions) to investigate:
What is the nature of the most important elementary-but-powerful understandings and abilities that are likely to be needed as foundations for success beyond school in a technology-based age of information?
What is the nature of typical problem-solving situations in which students must learn to function effectively when mathematics and science constructs are used in the everyday lives of students, their families, or friends?
How can we enlist the input, understanding, and support of parents, teachers, school administrators, community leaders, and policy makers—during the process of generating answers to the preceding questions?
