The TIMS Project was founded by UIC (retired) physicist Howard Goldberg and mathematician Philip Wagreich. Joan Bieler and Cathy Kelso are currently TIMS Project co-directors. Wagreich serves as principal investigator of the project. The TIMS Project is housed within UICís Institute for Mathematics and Science Education (IMSE).

TIMS has received more than $9 million in external funding since 1990 from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the State of Illinois Scientific Literacy and Eisenhower funds, as well as direct support from school districts for professional development activities.

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TIMS activities include:

Curriculum Development.
TIMS has developed two sets of nationally recognized curriculum materials: 

• Math Trailblazers
  In 1997, the TIMS Project completed the development of the Math Trailblazers, a comprehensive mathematics curriculum for grades K–5. This project was one of only three national projects funded by the National Science Foundation to develop comprehensive, elementary, reform mathematics curricula. The full curriculum includes 31 books, totaling nearly 11,000 published pages, which are published by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company. TIMS staff members also support dissemination and implementation of Math Trailblazers.

  Learn more about Math Trailblazers via the selected links below:
  

  • Foundations  
    • Connections to Science 
      
    • Connections to Language Arts 
      
    • Assessment 
      
    • Research Foundations 
      
  • Math Trailblazers, Second Edition 
  • FAQs  
  • Sample Lessons, Second Edition  
  • Implementaion Support 
  • Research and Evaluation 
  • Links to sites 
  • Seminars and Institutes 
    

    
    
    

• TIMS Laboratory Investigations
  Pulling together over twenty years of research and development, the TIMS Project recently prepared 147 TIMS Laboratory Experiments for commercial publication. The experiments, which formed the foundation of the TIMS Project, are published in CD-ROM format by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company as the TIMS Laboratory Investigations. 

Staff Development and Outreach.
Since the 1970s, TIMS has worked with elementary school teachers to foster professional development. In recent years, these activities have been funded by the Illinois Scientific Literacy Program and local school districts. In January 1996, TIMS began TIMS '95, a four-year, $3 million NSF-funded effort with two components: 1) to establish Chicago-area, university-school partnerships to improve mathematics instruction through staff development; and 2) to create a set of resource materials for others to use in similar professional development efforts.

• TIMS Professional Development
  The TIMS Project provides an array of professional development programs for K–8 teachers and schools. This includes grant-funded projects and other programs supported by schools and school districts. In particular, TIMS staff support teachers and schools with implementation of Math Trailblazers and the TIMS Laboratory Investigations. TIMS also provides a series of ìreadiness workshopsî that are designed to help prepare schools and teachers for selection of reform mathematics curricula. The TIMS Project has developed special expertise in supporting full-school adoption of reform mathematics curricula and on implementation of such curricula in urban schools. 

To arrange TIMS workshops or for other information you can contact the TIMS Project directly at tims@uic.edu.