Design Squad, produced by WGBH-Boston (http://www.wgbh.org), premiered on the Public Broadcasting Service in October 2009. Design Squad is a reality television series that encourages kids ages 9-12 years to “show off their smarts as they design and build working solutions for real-world clients—people who are hungry for clever ideas from a new generation of innovators.” Each season, the series culminates in a final episode when the top two scorers compete for a $10,000 college scholarship from the Intel Foundation. The underlying educational goals of Design Squad are to: (1) Increase students'
In 2006, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Information/Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) division to create the Dan River Information Technology Academy (DRITA) for under-served high school students in rural Virginia. The only program of its kind in Southern Virginia, the program was designed to provide participating students with competencies in information technology (IT) and workforce skills. In addition, the program seeks to encourage students to graduate from high
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Irene GoodmanLorraine DeanMiriam KochmanHelena PylvainenColleen ManningKaren PetermanInstitute of Advanced Learning and Research
August, 2009 Communities of Effective Practice, 2008-2009 Evaluation Abstract: The Communities of Effective Practice (CEP) project is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to develop a professional development model for supporting math and science instructional practices that are culturally responsive within American Indian communities. This report summarizes findings from the Year 3 evaluation (conducted during the 2008-2009 academic year) and discusses these findings within the context of the Years 1 and 2 evaluations. It presents key considerations for developing a Community
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Gina MaghariousKasey McCrackenUtah State University
The Living on Earth's Ecological Literacy project (ELP) offers a comprehensive, flexible curricular framework that includes an integrated approach to field-based environmental studies, investigative journalism and computer-based radio production and engineering in middle and high school settings. The 2002-03 school year marked Year Three of the three-year, NSF-funded Ecological Literacy Project. Rockman et al, an educational research firm headquartered in San Francisco, conducted an independent evaluation of the ELP Year Two program activities (Char and Rockman, 2002), and continued evaluation
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Saul RockmanWorld Media FoundationCindy Char
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer received a three-year National Science Foundation grant from Fall 2003 to Spring 2006 to develop, produce and air science reports during the regularly televised news program. The Online NewsHour Web site extends the reach of the science reports by housing the broadcast transcripts of the science reports, as well as information, graphics, and links that enhance the televised segments. In addition, EXTRA, a feature within the Web site designed for teachers and students, provides lesson plans and resources to support the use of the science segments in the classroom
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Rockman et alMacNeil/Lehrer Productions
WGBHs third season of the PBS Design Squad reality series, designed to inspire a new generation of engineers, got teenagers to think smart, build fast, and contend with a wild array of engineering challenges for real-life clients. Targeted to 9- to 12-year-olds, and fun for people of all ages, this fast-paced TV series is the fuel behind a national, multimedia initiative to attract kids to engineering. The project expaned its reach into the middle school classroom to create the first online community where kids can share their real-world engineering projects and provide a richer video viewing experience with embedded "pop-up" commentary.
This white paper is the product of the CAISE Formal-Informal Partnerships Inquiry Group, which began work during a July 2008 ISE Summit organized by CAISE. Their examination of what the authors call "the hybrid nature of formal-informal collaborations" draws on relevant theoretical perspectives and a series of case studies to highlight ways in which the affordances of formal and informal settings can be combined and leveraged to create rich, compelling, authentic, and engaging science that can be systematically developed over time and settings.
Rhode Island Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (RI-ITEST) is a comprehensive ITEST project for high school students and teachers. The goal of RI-ITEST is to prepare students from diverse backgrounds for careers in information technologies by engaging them in exciting, inquiry-based learning activities that use sophisticated computational models in support of a revolutionary science curriculum. It advances science education by enhancing the Physics First initiative in Rhode Island through the use of NSF funded student materials based on molecular modeling and promotes IT education by teaching modeling skills and providing students with career and vocational information on the use of computational models. The project provides over 120 hours of credit-bearing activities for 100 teachers and full support for classroom implementation. RI-ITEST is developing an optimal placement of the interactive materials from CC's Science of Atoms and Molecules project in the Physics First courses in Rhode Island; developing IT materials that are coordinated with the student materials that emphasize modeling skills and the career and vocational dimensions of computational modeling; preparing100 diverse Rhode Island science teachers in two cohorts to offer a course in the Physics-Chemistry-Biology sequence; developing materials and supports for using molecular dynamics and related IT materials for teachers in Rhode Island and elsewhere who are not ITEST participants; generating evidence for the effectiveness of the IT-enhanced project materials for increasing student learning and changing student attitudes about science, mathematics, and technology careers; reaching parents, guidance counselors, school administrators, and business partners with information about the project, student productions, and evidence for effectiveness; disseminating materials and findings to other teachers, programs, and districts nationwide.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Daniel DamelinGerald KowaiczykJames Magyar
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences plans to conduct a 5 year project to train 150 mentor teachers (30 teachers/year) and their principals, who will then train the remaining 1100 elementary teachers in the Buffalo Public School System. The training would include two 5-week summer sessions (in a Magnet school that is physically incorporated into the Buffalo Museum of Science) and 4 in-service workshops during the academic years following each of the summer workshops. This innovative leadership project is a collaborative effort between the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences (including both education and curatorial/science staff persons) the Buffalo Public Schools, and individuals from local colleges and universities. The setting of the project is enhanced by a Science and Math Magnet School which is housed within the museum, and by the school/museum's location in a largely inner city environment with easy accessibility to minority persons. The project is designed to provide mentor teachers with a strong science background in pedagogy and content over a two-year period of summer and academic-year workshops, and to prepare and support these mentors as they inservice their colleagues. Project staff from the museum, public schools, and the academic community will provide strong support through academic-year workshops, site visits and telecommunications networking. Principals will be appropriately involved, and will work with mentors to develop a science inservice program tailored to meet the needs of their individual schools; as a consequence, virtually all of the 1100 K-6 classroom teachers of science in the Buffalo Public Schools will have been prepared to teach investigative, hands-on science to their students. Non-NSF cost sharing is approximately 27.9% of the amount requested from NSF.
In several primarily Hispanic, low socio-economic school districts of the southwest in partnership with local institutions of higher learning, this 48-month project will develop programs and materials to attract parents of children of all grade levels and make them active supporters of a system that promotes good mathematical learning for their children. These programs and materials will help them become aware of what is happening in their children's classroom; offer them occasions to take on leadership roles in working with teachers, administrators, and other parents; and provide them opportunities for in-depth experiences with school mathematics. The materials will be initially developed and piloted in the Sunnyside School District. After revision from the pilot project, the project will be implemented in several other school districts.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David GayMarta Civil
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education (NSEE) Center for Learning and Teaching (NCLT) would focus on the research and development of nano-science instructional resources for grades 7-16, related professional development opportunities for 7-12 teachers, and programs infused with nano-science content for education doctoral students. The Center would bring together educators and scientists from several areas of nano-science and engineering research to collaborate with science teachers and doctoral candidates in education on both the development of the resources and research on their efficacy. The PI has prior experience as director of the Materials World Modules project, an NSF-funded curriculum currently in use in several secondary schools across the country. Lead partners in the proposed Center are Northwestern University, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Additional partners include Argonne National Laboratory, West Point Military Academy, Alabama A & M University, Fisk University, Hampton University, Morehouse College and University of Texas at El Paso. The additional partners will widen the geographic range of the project, expanding opportunities to reach a diverse and currently underrepresented population of graduate students, teachers and ultimately students. STEM and Education faculty and researchers from the partner institutions would participate in interdisciplinary teams to address the Center's mission: Provide national education leadership and resources for advancing NSEE Create and implement professional development programs in NSEE Use innovative ideas in learning to design instructional materials for grades 7-16 Conduct research relating to integration of NSEE into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
R. P. H. ChangThomas MasonNcholas GiordanoJoseph Krajcik
The Franklin Institute proposes to establish the Science Learning Network (SLN), a unique online collaborative of science museums, industry and schools to support the teaching and learning of science, mathematics and technology (SMT) in grades K-8. The SLN will integrate the educational resources offered by science/technology centers with the power of telecomputing networking to provide powerful new support for teacher development and science learning. By December 1997 the SLN will develop and evaluate the following: UniVERSE - an online SMT database and software package which will provide interactive capabilities to actively and intelligently assist K-8 classroom teachers in their Internet explorations, much like an electronic "librarian." Online Museum Collaborative - a national consortium of science museums (The Franklin Institute, the Exploratorium, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Science - Boston, and Science Museum of Minnesota) that will pool their resources and expertise to create online assets and provide ongoing professional development on telecomputing networking for precollege SMT teachers. Online Demonstration Schools - a network of K-8 schools, working in collaboration with consortium museums and Unisys Corporation volunteers as demonstration sites for online teaching and learning in SMT. Over the course of three years, the SLN will provide direct support to 180 teachers and 3,000 K-8 students in the online demonstration schools. Through existing teacher networks, each museum will offer professional development for an additional 200 teachers each year. The Urban Systemic Initiatives in Philadelphia and Miami offer the potential for broader, systemic impact in those cities. By the end of the grant period, the SLN will provide field- tested models of a new kind of online SMT community through the collaboration of science museums with industry and schools. The sustainable impact of the SLN will be assured by UniVERSE's status as a publicly accessible database and software package and the development of the national consortium of online museums, whose network resources will be made available on an ongoing basis to educators. The three-year formative development of the online demonstration schools will contribute vital data to precollegiate school reform in SMT, showing how schools build capacity to become members of the online community and demonstrating how teaching and learning are enhanced by online resources. Unisys Corporation has pledged its support to this project and will provide matching funds for up to 40% of the total NSF award.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephen BaumannWayne RansomPaul Helfrich