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2024 NSF ITEST PI Meeting Project Summaries
Welcome to the ITEST Project Summaries Library! These one page artifacts were created to share information and unpack project work across the three ITEST pillars 1) Innovative Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 2) Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation, and 3) Strategies for Equity in STEM Education.
We invite you to search, filter, and explore these pages—and add comments to engage with your colleagues!
The project developed an after-school program aimed at boosting the STEM career interests of Native American middle-school students. Leveraging digital technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D printing, students tackled spatial design challenges through culturally responsive modules. A co-design process with educators, community members, and students helped integrate cultural knowledge into learning environments relevant to Native American youth. The program…
Aquaculture is historically significant to Native Hawaiians. Fishponds were essential for food production and held special cultural significance. This project will study integration of sustainable aquaculture practices embraced by Native Hawaiians for centuries with emerging agricultural technologies (AgTech) focused on sensors, measurement, and data science literacy. Students will use smart farming technologies focused on data science to make decisions on growing limu (seaweed). The Institute…
ITEST supports projects to build capacity and interest in STEM. By furnishing innovative experiences for teachers and students now, ITEST hopes to improve lives and the nation’s STEM enterprise in the future. ITEST also supports one retrospective study to envision the future by informing from the past. It asks alums of an “ITEST-similar” program – NSF’s 1990s era Young Scholars Program (YSP) – to reflect on how that NSF support shaped their future. How do their reflections inform ITEST PIs…
ESTRELLA draws from an interdisciplinary research team with areas of expertise in electrical and computer engineering, bilingual education, and mathematics education. The team collaborates with middle and high school teachers to co-design lessons that advance student understanding of mathematics through computer programming of visual representations. Teachers conduct action research projects to study topics of interest to them as they implement this integrated curriculum. For example, the…
This project builds on the successful Geospatial Semester (GSS) high school course to explore how to infuse a powerful STEM tool into Career and Technical Education (CTE), computer science and social sciences courses in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and schools in Puerto Rico. Our work builds on the core strengths of GSS by providing students with a robust introduction to GIS tools using ArcGIS Online, which is available for free to schools and the lessons are designed to be accessible for…
The CISTEME365 initiative is in its 6th year of implementation, and despite contextual changes that occurred over the years, this project has remained true to its three pillars of engagement: (1) building a professional learning network for school-based teams made up of counselors, teachers, and other relevant school stakeholders with professional development aimed at providing more equitable and inclusive STEM environments, (2) supporting the implementation of STEM-enrichment clubs at each…
The NeuroVivid project is developing an innovative maker curriculum aimed at strengthening and broadening the talent pool of the future STEM workforce. NeuroVivid empowers a middle-school aged neurodiverse student population from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds by helping them build their own simple EEG circuits to understand and interact with their brain activity. The project leverages low cost simple BCI tools to design an adaptable BCI experience in makerspaces to increase…
Centered around principles of universal design, designing for accessibility, and engineering with empathy, the Build a Better Book Teen Internship program examines how teen interns’ perceptions of engineering and self-identities as engineers are formed and cultivated as they design and create more accessible products for authentic community clients who are blind or have low vision. Many teens have a limited understanding of what engineering is and what engineers do, and often their perceptions…
This collaborative research project aims to foster STEM identity development among historically underrepresented Latinx middle school youth by integrating STEM skill-building with personalized career exploration and planning. The study involves a collaboration between Sociedad Latina, a youth-serving organization, and Boston University to provide students with culturally responsive network science and career development curricula in after-school and summer program settings. Using career…
This DTI ITEST project is a research practice partnership (RPP) among teachers, administrators, community business partners and other stakeholders, education researchers, and University of Maine STEM and STEM education faculty. Together, we are developing and refining a model to bring authentic coastal monitoring and research experiences to middle level and high school students in rural coastal Maine communities. Their investigations will be used to inform community policy decisions and…