Resources from STEM Smart Workshops

SimCalc has pursued a mission of “democratizing access to the mathematics of change and variation,” which translates to introducing students in grades 6–12 to the powerful ideas underlying calculus while simultaneously enriching the mathematics already covered at those grade levels. SimCalc signature MathWorlds software gives students the ability to sketch graphs and see resulting motions. In addition to MathWorlds, the digital textbook, Dynabook, combines elements from SimCalc, Geometer’s Sketchpad and data analysis software to teach core ideas of proportionality from algebraic, geometric, and statistical perspectives. In connection with paper curriculum materials, students learn to connect key concepts, such as rate, across algebraic expressions, graphs, tables, and narrative stories. The project results showed greater learning gains for students in classrooms implementing SimCalc, especially for more advanced mathematics concepts. The results were also robust in varied settings with diverse teachers and students. Across boys and girls, white and Hispanic populations, impoverished and middle-class schools, rural and suburban regions, and teachers with many different attitudes, beliefs, and levels of knowledge, students learned more when their teachers implemented SimCalc. New SimCalc designs aim to enhance student participation in SimCalc classrooms by allowing the teacher to easily distribute, collect, display, and aggregate student work over a wireless network. It also includes elements designed to help teachers see the connections among those uses of proportional reasoning and the ways that such tools can be used in classroom instruction with middle school students.

SpelBots are a team of female, African American students who conduct robotics research, compete in worldwide robotics and computer science competitions, and conduct K–12 outreach. The long-range vision of this project is to leverage the SpelBots activities to provide career role models in cutting-edge computer science and robotics from underrepresented communities. This project will bring attitude-changing computer science and robotics showcase presentations to underrepresented students and their teachers, and in conjunction with these showcases, promote the formation and mentoring of robotics and computer science clubs among K–12 students using social media as well as local workshops. The program aims to recruit, mentor, and train undergraduate African American women students in computer science and robotics research, outreach, and competition projects. In addition, this project provides advising for students at local historically black colleges and universities. The goals of the SpelBots are to (1) investigate the effectiveness of the showcase approach to exposing, exciting, recruiting, and mentoring underrepresented middle and high school students in computing, (2) study the impact of recruitment and retention activities in computer science among African American women, specifically, and underrepresented students, generally, in order to disseminate best practices, and (3) increase the amount of autonomous humanoid and mobile robotics research performed by African American undergraduate women.

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is a continental-scale ecological observation platform. NEON contributes to global understanding and decisions in a changing environment using scientific information about continental-scale ecology obtained through integrated observations and experiments. NEON is dedicated to engaging and supporting a variety of audiences in learning about and using ecological data. NEON’s education goals include (1) promoting and facilitating public understanding of ecological science, and (2) providing tools for students, educators, scientists, and decision makers to use NEON data to make informed decisions about ecological issues. Citizen science programs are uniquely positioned to meet the needs of both the science and education communities. NEON’s Project BudBurst (budburst.org) is a continental-scale citizen science project focused on plant phenology. The educational goals of Project BudBurst are to (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. Plants are readily accessible in nearly every neighborhood, park, and wild area across the continent, so people can make observations whether they live near an inner city park or in the rural countryside. Students have the opportunity to participate in data collection, data entry, simple analysis, and interpretation. Project BudBurst is Internet-based, and all aspects of the program—including data, educational resources, and training materials—are open and freely available to anyone that wants to participate.

This project introduces fourth- and fifth-grade students and teachers to engineering design and associated science and mathematics concepts by developing and implementing a new, scalable, personal fabrication laboratory—the Classroom FabLab—and supporting curricular activities. Cornell University is developing the Fab@School 3-D fabricator to support the project. The goal is to develop an open-source fabricator for schools that can be assembled in an afternoon for less than $1,000 in materials. Aspex and FableVision are developing design software for these students. Classroom activities are being developed by the University of Virginia and Hofstra University. The University of Virginia and the University of North Texas are using these resources to introduce personal fabrication to pre-service teachers. The pre-service teachers subsequently have the opportunity to work with collaborating teachers in classrooms in Virginia and Texas. Participants include teacher education faculty, pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and K–12 students. The Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE) is creating an online Digital Fabrication Library to house and disseminate the curriculum, activities, and digital designs.

Philadelphia AMP, now in its 17th year of operation, represents a diverse tri-state partnership of public and private, two- and four-year, research and non-research, historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and majority institutions. Established with funding from the National Science Foundation in 1994, the Alliance’s mission is to substantially increase the quantity and quality of African American, Hispanic, and Native American students earning baccalaureate and advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The participating institutions include Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, Community College of Philadelphia, Delaware State University, Drexel University, Lincoln University of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Temple University, the University of Delaware, and the University of Pennsylvania. Synergistic collaboration has been a unifying operational philosophy that informs practices across the Alliance with regard to minority undergraduate enrollment, retention, and the promotion of graduate study. As of June 2010, the Alliance has produced 8,400+ minority STEM B.S. degrees, 1,800+ minority STEM M.S. degrees, and 200+ minority STEM Ph.D. degrees since its inception. It has also moved six community college students to graduate study: two students have already received their Ph.D. degrees and have moved to post-doctoral appointments at the National Institute of Health and the University of Pennsylvania to continue their research in infectious diseases and neuroscience, respectively; two students have completed M.S. degrees and are employed in industry or educational research positions, and two students have attained Ph.D. degree candidacy status.

The Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch program focuses on increasing the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pipeline through an innovative underwater robotics program for middle and high school students. Students learn about STEM disciplines, with a focus on naval engineering, by building an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) called the SeaPerch. The culminating event is the Greater Philadelphia SeaPerch Challenge, jointly hosted by The American Society of Naval Engineers Delaware Valley Chapter, Drexel University, and NAVSEES Philadelphia. Students compete in a variety of robot performance challenges designed around a naval engineering mission. In addition to vehicle performance, students are challenged to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of STEM principles by communicating their design process and rationale to a panel of judges. Over the course of the past five years, the program has impacted over 1500 student from more than 150 teams, many of whom come from underrepresented backgrounds in urban school districts, representing four states. The foundation of this program is the partnership among academia, K–12 school districts, industry, professional societies, and federal agencies. This initiative is led nationally by Office of Naval Research (ONR) and The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME).

MSPGP worked with college faculty and expert teachers to design and implement comprehensive research-based strategies to improve learning for secondary and post-secondary students. Over five years, the MSPGP brought together 4,000 teachers and faculty from 46 school districts and 13 institutions of higher education in the Greater Philadelphia region. The MSPGP utilized a novel "Core Connector" organizational structure that provided a way to facilitate and grow partnerships between grades 6-12 teachers and administrators and college faculty. To design and assess the progress of mathematics and science programs and college/university pre-service programs, the MSPGP used a five-stage "On the Road to Reform" rubric for school districts and another specifically for colleges and universities to customize project activities to each circumstance. Aggregated data does not show an overall impact of MSPGP on its partner institutions; however, there were stunning cases of sustained personal and institutional transformations. The MSPGP research team has studied these in relation to the cultural rubrics and the implementation of the Core Connector model and learned important new lessons about school improvement K-16. Under the auspices of the newly formed non-profit corporation The 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education which arose directly out of MSPGP work, a variety of new projects and proposals have been developed which take lessons learned through MSPGP to a higher level of research and development.

TJHSST is the product of a partnership between Fairfax County Public Schools and local business to improve education in science, mathematics, and technology. This unique public school offers a comprehensive program that focuses on scientific, mathematical, and technological fields. The core skills and values infused throughout the curriculum emphasize and promote critical inquiry and research, problem-solving skills, intellectual curiosity, and social responsibility. Requirements for the TJHSST diploma include the completion of an original engineering or experimental research project in an on-campus laboratory or off-site through a mentorship program at a government, corporate, or university research laboratory. TJHSST’s science and technology research laboratories include Astronomy and Astrophysics, Automation and Robotics; Biotechnology, Chemical Analysis, Communication Systems, Computer Systems, Computer Assisted Design, Energy Systems, Microelectronics, Neuroscience, Oceanography/Geophysical Systems, Optics and Modern Physics, and Prototyping and Engineering Materials. Selected outstanding research projects are published in TJHSST’s student-produced research journal. As the regional magnet Governor’s School for Science and Technology in Northern Virginia, the school serves applicants from seven different participating school districts: Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, as well as the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.

Doppler On Wheels (DOW) is an educational and research facility funded by the National Science Foundation. DOW demonstrates how cutting edge meteorological systems are provided to educational and research projects. DOW provides mobile Doppler weather radars that explore rare, short-lived, and small-scale phenomena, focusing on severe weather including hurricanes, tornadoes, and lake-effect snows. The DOW systems include two mobile X-band Doppler on Wheels and the 6–12 beam “Rapid Scan DOW.” The systems are provided as a national facility to increase community access to mobile radar systems. The DOW mobile multiple-Doppler network has the potential to play a critical role in obtaining spatially and temporally fine-scale three-dimensional single-Doppler and multiple-Doppler vector wind fields and reflectivity fields in support of a variety of the NSF community’s scientific studies. Through this program, K–12 students can get a very hands-on experience by going inside the DOW’s mission control cabin, and operating the computers controlling the radar. Along with the DOW scientists, students have starred in television shows such as Discovery’s “Storm Chasers” and in several documentaries on National Geographic, PBS, History Channel, BBC, and NHK.

Computational thinking practices are critical to enable next-generation advances in all STEM disciplines. Yet, while STEM disciplines ubiquitously require core competencies, almost none do so in computing. The NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate supported the College Board in the development of a new Advanced Placement course appropriate for all STEM students: CS Principles. The curriculum targets students’ development of computational thinking skills by focusing on underlying principles of computation, including problem solving, abstraction, algorithms, data and knowledge creation, and programming. During 2010–2011, CS courses were piloted at five universities. The implementation of a pilot, with more than 1000 students, at UC San Diego utilized Peer Instruction—a best-practice pedagogy whereby passive lecture is largely replaced by an active learning environment driven by key conceptual questions. In the classroom, it involves a three-part process: (1) students attempt to answer a question individually (with a clicker); (2) in small groups, students practice explanation skills and hear what others thought about and how they analyzed the question; and (3) students vote on an answer and a class-wide discussion follows. The benefit of Peer Instruction for CS Principles is that it converts instructional time into time where students actively practice and get feedback on their computational thinking practices, not simply on their ability to get a computer to do something. It is the development of these deep understandings of how computers work that will serve students in their future careers, regardless of the new software package or technology du jour.