49
For the awards that only included K–5:
Technology and engineering were more likely
to be studied in isolation for the older children,
but were still lumped together with other topics
most of the time.
•
Technology: 25% of all awards that included
technology studied it in isolation from the
other topics. It was most likely to be studied
with science (75%), but was often studied
with math (60%) and/or engineering (60%).
•
Engineering: 10% of all awards that included
engineering studied it in isolation from the
other topics. It was most likely to be studied
with science (85%), but was often studied
with math (65%) and/or technology (60%).
•
Science and math continued to be more
likely to be studied in isolation than technology
and engineering, with math continuing to
dominate as an isolated topic of study.
•
Math: 62% of all awards that included math
studied it in isolation from the other topics.
When it was studied with other topics, it was
most likely to be studied with science (36%),
but was sometimes studied with technology
(27%), and/or engineering (29%).
•
Science: 48% of all awards that included
science studied it in isolation from the other
topics. It was almost equally likely to be
studied with engineering (39%), math (36%),
and/or technology (34%).
14% of all awards covered all four topics together.
C. Funding Distribution: Science Favored in Pre-K,
Engineering in K–5
The funding distribution across topic areas
appeared to differ by age group.
f
Among the pre-K
awards, science was the most “valuable” topic to
include in a project: when studied in isolation,
it received more than twice the award amount
($4.37 million) as math studied in isolation ($1.98
million), and awards that included science
among other topics of study had the highest
award amounts (almost $1 million more than
the next runner up, math).
Among K–5 awards, the topics were valued more
equally; however, of these, engineering appeared
to be the most “valuable” topic to include in a
project: it received the highest award amount
when studied in isolation (by $788,000) and it
also produced the highest award amounts when
included on a project among other topics. This
is particularly striking when you consider that
engineering was very unlikely to be studied in
isolation, and was a less common topic of study
overall (25% of awards) than science (55%) and
math (56%). This contrast between the high award
value of engineering and the small number of
studies including it suggests that there may be a
stronger demand from the NSF for K–5 engineering
research than there are projects studying it.
Average awards amounts across topics studied
in isolation
Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
Pre-K $4,370,328 — — $1,977,728
K–5 $2,361,902 $1,440,199 $3,150,059 $1,834,759
In the following tables, recall that for pre-K
awards, technology and engineering always fall
under the same grants, so their awards amounts
will be the same. Engineering is almost always
studied along with other topics (particularly at
the K–5 level), especially science and math.
Average award amounts across topics overall
Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
Pre-K $2,783,829 $1,154,481 $1,154,481 $1,927,313
K–5 $2,484,567 $1,939,022 $2,719,522 $2,165,642
Of the seven outliers for award amount (those
awarded more than $6,125,615) in the sample,
six included science, ve included math, four
included engineering, and two included technology.
When these are removed, the distribution looks
as follows:
Average award amounts across topic areas,
without outliers
Science Technology Engineering Mathematics
Pre-K $2,062,212 $1,154,481 $1,154,481 $1,927,313
K–5 $1,797,170 $1,105,544 $1,367,656 $1,430,834
f
Only major awards, defined here as those granted $500,000 or more, were reviewed in this analysis.