The goal of this ITEST scale-up project (ITSI-SU) is to address the need for research-based science materials and teaching techniques that generate demonstrable improvements in student science achievement in grades 3-12. The project will reach 264 teachers directly and 10,000 students in four states and has the capacity to reach another 1,500 teachers and 50,000 students nationwide in a dissemination phase, and still more if teachers and trainers adopt project-generated resources.

Robotics and GPS/GIS in 4-H: Workforce Skills for the 21st Century is a-five year scale-up project to use 4-H clubs to prepare middle school youth for the STEM workplace. The project builds on and extends an existing research-based ITEST project by developing and testing new national curricula to introduce basic technology skills, foster problem solving and inquiry skills, and encourage teamwork.

This project will enable high school and middle school STEM teachers and students to conduct environmental research aided by the analysis of images from digital cameras, scanners, and the Internet. The project explores how digital image analysis can be applied to environmental quality issues that can readily be introduced into STEM courses, engaging students and encouraging them to think about related careers. The project will develop research agendas that will employ a variety of image analysis tools.

The collaborative MapTEACH team is developing a culturally responsive geoscience education program for middle- and high-school students in Alaska that emphasizes hands-on experience with spatial technology (GPS, GIS, and remote sensing imagery). The project draws upon the combined expertise of teachers, education researchers, remote sensing specialists, geoscience professionals, Native Elders, and others with traditions-based knowledge, and will be piloted in the Minto-Nenana, Nome, and Fairbanks areas.

This project expands, implements and conducts research on a previously developed framework for providing indigenous students with the workforce skills and knowledge needed for future Earth system science careers. The framework proven effective for Inupiat students during the NSF/ITEST-funded Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ESI-0525277) will be scaled up to develop culturally responsive STEM instruction for 1500 Yup'ik and Native Hawaiian middle school students and their 60 teachers.

The Barcode of Life Initiative (BOLI) is an international biodiversity collaboration that creates a genetic encyclopedia of Earth's plants and animals using short DNA sequences that uniquely identify species groups. The goal of this strategies project is to interest students in STEM careers by engaging them in an international project to provide identification of biological species.

The Arctic Climate Model Program (ACMP) is designed to improve student performance in the Bering Strait School District (BSSD); a school district that serves isolated indigenous communities in the northeastern peninsula of Alaska. The plan of action for this program is, by necessity, adapted to the lifestyle of the community at large. As the population primarily survives by subsistence living, the families must hunt and fish during the summer months so as to acquire sufficient commodities for the winter.

The goals of "CSI: Creating Student Investigators" (formerly CSI: Arkansas) are twofold: to improve the science pedagogy (including the use of technology) employed by mid-South Delta region high school teachers and to improve science and technology learning by students with a concomitant increase in the number of students who enter post-secondary education, particularly those who chose STEM/IT career preparation. Workshops for teachers and students will be presented using forensic sciences as an integrating theme.