This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports the establishment of an interdisciplinary graduate training program in Cognitive, Computational, and Systems Neuroscience at Washington University in Saint Louis. Understanding how the brain works under normal circumstances and how it fails are among the most important problems in science. The purpose of this program is to train a new generation of systems-level neuroscientists who will combine experimental and computational approaches from the fields of psychology, neurobiology, and engineering to study brain function in unique ways. Students will participate in a five-course core curriculum that provides a broad base of knowledge in each of the core disciplines, and culminates in a pair of highly integrative and interactive courses that emphasize critical thinking and analysis skills, as well as practical skills for developing interdisciplinary research projects. This program also includes workshops aimed at developing the personal and professional skills that students need to become successful independent investigators and educators, as well as outreach programs aimed at communicating the goals and promise of integrative neuroscience to the general public. This training program will be tightly coupled to a new research focus involving neuro-imaging in nonhuman primates. By building upon existing strengths at Washington University, this research and training initiative will provide critical new insights into how the non-invasive measurements of brain function that are available in humans (e.g. from functional MRI) are related to the underlying activity patterns in neuronal circuits of the brain. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kurt ThoroughmanGregory DeAngelisRandy BucknerSteven PetersenDora Angelaki
"Local Investigations of Natural Science (LIONS)" engages grade 5-8 students from University City schools, Missouri in structured out-of-school programs that provide depth and context for their regular classroom studies. The programs are led by district teachers. A balanced set of investigations engage students in environmental research, computer modeling, and advanced applications of mathematics. Throughout, the artificial boundary between classroom and community is bridged as students use the community for their studies and resources from local organizations are brought into school. Through these projects, students build interest and awareness of STEM-related career opportunities and the academic preparation needed for success.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert CoulterEric KlopferJere Confrey
The National Science Festival Network project, also operating as the Science Festival Alliance, is designed to create a sustainable national network of science festivals that engages all facets of the general public in science learning. Science Festivals, clearly distinct from "science fairs", are community-wide activities engaging professional scientists and informal and K-12 educators targeting underrepresented segments of local communities historically underserved by formal or informal STEM educational activities. The initiative builds on previous work in other parts of the world (e.g. Europe, Australasia) and on recent efforts in the U.S. to create science festivals. The target audiences are families, children and youth ages 5-18, adults, professional scientists and educators in K-12 and informal science institutions, and underserved and underrepresented communities. Project partners include the MIT Museum in Cambridge, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The deliverables include annual science festivals in these four cities supported by year-round related activities for K-12 and informal audiences, a partnership network, a web portal, and two national conferences. Ten science festivals will be convened in total over the 3 years of the project, each reaching 15,000 to 60,000 participants per year. STEM content includes earth and space science, oceanography, biological/biomedical science, bioinformatics, and computer, behavioral, aeronautical, nanotechnology, environmental, and nuclear science. An independent evaluator will systematically assess audience participation and perceptions, level/types of science interest stimulated in target groups, growth of partnering support at individual sites, and increasing interactions between ISE and formal K-12 education. A variety of qualitative and quantitative assessments will be designed and utilized. The project has the potential to transform public communication and understanding of science and increase the numbers of youth interested in pursuing science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Loren ThompsonJeremy BabendureBen Wiehe
Media MashUp is an IMLS funded project (Grant LG-07-08-0113i) to help libraries build capacity to offer computer-based programs for youth that help foster 21st Century literacy skills. Twenty first Century literacy skills include traditional literacy skills like reading and writing, but also encompass collaborative problem solving, and computer-based skills. As such, libraries and other institutions that help foster a literate public need to adapt to this new reality. While the public audience for this grant is the youth who participate in the Media MashUp programs at these libraries, this
The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Machine Science Inc. propose to develop and to design an on-line learning system that enables schools and community centers to support IT-intensive engineering design programs for students in grades 7 to 12. The Internet Community of Design Engineers (iCODE) incorporates step-by-step design plans for IT-intensive, computer-controlled projects, on-line tools for programming microcontrollers, resources to facilitate on-line mentoring by university students and IT professionals, forums for sharing project ideas and engaging in collaborative troubleshooting, and tools for creating web-based project portfolios. The iCODE system will serve more than 175 students from Boston and Lowell over a three-year period. Each participating student attends 25 weekly after-school sessions, two career events, two design exhibitions/competitions, and a week-long summer camp on a University of Massachusetts campus in Boston or Lowell. Throughout the year, students have opportunities to engage in IT-intensive, hands-on activities, using microcontroller kits that have been developed and classroom-tested by University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Machine Science, Inc. About one-third of the participants stay involved for two years, with a small group returning for all three years. One main component for this project is the Handy Cricket which is a microcontroller kit that can be used for sensing, control, data collection, and automation. Programmed in Logo, the Handy Cricket provides an introduction to microcontroller-based projects, suitable for students in grades 7 to 9. Machine Science offers more advanced kits, where students build electronic circuits from their basic components and then write microcontroller code in the C programming language. Machine Science offers more advanced kits, which challenge students to build electronic circuits from their basic components and then write microcontroller code in the C programming language. Machine Science's kits are intended for students in grades 9 to 12. Microcontroller technology is an unseen but pervasive part of everyday life, integrated into virtually all automobiles, home appliances, and electronic devices. Since microcontroller projects result in physical creations, they provide an engaging context for students to develop design and programming skills. Moreover, these projects foster abilities that are critical for success in IT careers, requiring creativity, analytical thinking, and teamwork-not just basic IT skills.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Fred MartinDouglas PrimeMichelle Scribner-MacLeanSamuel Christy
Internet Community of Design Engineers (iCODE) program, which took an innovative approach to structuring self-directed learning – using a collaborative on-line environment to facilitate hands-on activities, was a three year program led by the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Machine Science Inc., Cambridge. The overall objective of this program, which involved after-school and summer sessions and was funded by NSF’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Program, was to increase the likelihood that participating middle school and high school students will
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Rucha LondheColleen ManningRachel SchechterLaura HousemanIrene Goodman
Equipping today's youth with the skills necessary to compete in the 21st Century workforce is a top priority of our nation's schools, communities, policy makers and businesses. This issue brief examines how afterschool provides kids with the opportunity to develop skills to help them succeed in an increasingly competitive labor market.
A program that teaches middle-school Latinas to program their own computer games seeks ways of overcoming the growing shortfall of both Latinos and women in IT education and careers.
Web 2.0 technologies have introduced increasingly participatory practices to creating content, and museums are becoming interested in the potentials of “Museum 2.0” for reaching and engaging with new audiences. As technological advances are opening up the ways in which museums share information about the objects in their collections, the means by which museums create, handle, process, and transmit knowledge has become more transparent. For this to be done effectively, however, some underlying contradictions must be resolved between museum practices, which privilege the account of the “expert,”
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ramesh SrinivasanRobin BoastJonathan FurnerKatherine Becvar
This report summarizes the results of a three-year ethnographic study, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings—at home, in after school programs, and in online spaces. The authors present empirical data on new media in the lives of American youth in order to reflect upon the relationship between new media and learning.
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University of California, IrvineMizuko ItoBecky Herr-Stephenson
Conventional wisdom about young people's use of digital technology often equates generational identity with technology identity: today's teens seem constantly plugged in to video games, social networks sites, and text messaging. Yet there is little actual research that investigates the intricate dynamics of youth's social and recreational use of digital media. This book fills that gap, reporting on an ambitious three-year ethnographic investigation into how young people are living and learning with new media in varied settings—at home, in after school programs, and in online spaces. By
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University of California, IrvineMizuko Ito
Arizona State University (ASU) in collaboration with Arizona Science Center, Boeing, Intel, Microchip, Motorola, Salt River Project, AZ Foundation for Resource Education, AZ Game & Fish Department, US Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, Mesa Public Schools, and Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley, offer a three-year extracurricular project resulting in IT/STEM-related learning outcomes for 96 participants in grades 7, 8, and 9. The project targets and engages female and minority youth traditionally under-represented in IT/STEM fields in multi-year out-of-school technological design and problem solving experiences. These include summer internships/externships and university research in the science center and industrial settings where participants develop socially responsible solutions for challenging real world problems. The program includes cognitive apprenticeships with diverse mentors, opportunities to practice workplace skills such as leadership, teamwork, time management, creativity and reporting, and use of technological tools to gather and analyze complex data sets. Participants simulate desert tortoise behaviors, research and develop designs to mitigate the urban heat island, build small-scale renewable energy resources, design autonomous rovers capable of navigating Mars-like terrain, and develop a model habitat for humans to live on Mars. Together with their families participants gain first-hand knowledge of IT/STEM career and educational pathways. In addition to youth outcomes, the adults associated with this project are better prepared to positively influence IT/STEM learning experiences for under-represented youth. The evaluation measures participant content knowledge, attitudes and interest in IT/STEM subjects, workplace skills and intentions to pursue IT/STEM educational and career pathways to understand participant reactions, learning, transfer and results. Informal curricula developed through this project, field-tested with youth at Boys & Girls Clubs and youth at Arizona Science Center will be available on the project website.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Tirupalavanam GaneshMonica ElserStephen KrauseDale BakerSharon Robinson-Kurplus