Breakout Sessions

1^st Breakout Session: Thursday 6/13 @ 2:15 – 3:15pm

Technical Assistance Session: Logic Models
Although logic models are not required components of an ITEST submission, they are nonetheless helpful for many reasons. They help the PI team articulate and implement the educational and research components of their project in relation to anticipated outcomes; they clearly communicate a coherent rationale behind different project elements to reviewers; and they help the evaluators write useful formative and summative evaluations. In this interactive technical assistance session, which will be facilitated by a senior NSF advisor with expertise in evaluation, PIs and evaluators will explore the elements of a compelling and useful logic model, and they will discuss how logic models can be used to empower projects from their conceptualization to their dissemination. Session participants are encouraged to bring a logic model for a forthcoming project, and they will have opportunities to receive and provide feedback on this model and others based on the principles learned in this session.

Presenter: Sarah-Kay McDonald, National Science Foundation

What Does it Mean to be a Scientist? How Culture, Language, and Gender Affect Equity in STEM
How do we navigate learner-centric and culturally responsive strategies to improve equity and access in our projects? Listen to 5-minute presentation each from Keisha Varma, Jaymee Nanasi Davis, and Allison Master who are working with a diverse group of learners that include high school girls, Native Hawaiian and immigrant students and their families in HI, MN, and WA. Their presentations will be followed by short group discussions that will help explore what STEM means to the learners; what skills and knowledge learners bring that already align with STEM; and how to give agency and value to what learners already know. Furthermore, what challenges learners face will also be addressed.

Facilitators: Keliann LaConte, National Center for Interactive Learning C. James Liu, New York Hall of Science Presenters Keisha Varma, University of Minnesota Jaymee Nanasi Davis, University of Hawaii - Maui College Allison Master, University of Washington

How Technology is Used to Support Relationships with Partners
Technology is a key part of all ITEST projects, the presentations in this session will focus on the innovative ways that technology can be used to cultivate, support, and sustain relationships with project partners. Attendees will learn about the innovative use of technologies in presenting projects, have the opportunity to discuss the role of technology in their work, and think about how they can leverage technology to solidify partnerships in future work.

Facilitator: Helen Zhang, Boston College
Presenters: Jennifer Jocz, Education Development Center, David Reider, Education Design, INC., Lori Rubino-Hare, Northern Arizona University

Multiple Pathways to New Collar Jobs
What will the careers of the future look like, and how do we best prepare students for these “New Collar Jobs?” This session focuses on the growing sector of technology-based careers often attained through non-traditional educational pathways. Participants will hear brief presentations from projects highlighting workforce development initiatives, then will break into small groups to discuss innovations and challenges in meeting the needs of tomorrow’s workforce, including frameworks and practices that support increased engagement with underrepresented groups.

Facilitators: Stacey Forsyth, CU Science Discovery and Janelle Johnson, Metropolitan State University of Denver
Presenters: Berri Jacque, Tufts University Medical School, Connie Flanagan, University of Wisconsin Madison, Kristin Searle, Utah State University Elizabeth Radday, EdAdvance

Q&A with NSF Program Officers about 2019 Solicitation
This session provides attendees the opportunity to meet with NSF Program Officers to ask questions about the upcoming 2019 ITEST Solicitation. The session will be set up in an informal town-hall format. Note: this session is being offered twice, during Breakout Sessions 1 and 3 in order to allow attendees multiple opportunities to attend.

Facilitator: Becca Schillaci, STELAR
Presenters: Michael Ford and Ann Rivet, National Science Foundation

2^nd Breakout Session: Thursday 6/13 @ 3:45 – 4:45pm

Technical Assistance Session: Research and Evaluation
In this interactive technical assistance session, program officers will explain distinctions between evaluation and research in light of the new ITEST solicitation. The new solicitation encourages PIs to upload copies of evaluation reports as part of annual and final reports. This session will review the components of a quality evaluation plan and specify what might be included in evaluation reports. Discussion will also describe elements of a quality research plan, which is at the heart of all successful ITEST proposals. To prepare for this session, participants are encouraged to bring a 1-page outline of a research plan, describing the research question, data sources, and proposed analyses; as well as a 1-page outline of an accompanying evaluation plan, describing the types of questions the evaluators will ask, the evidence that will be gathered in relation to those questions, and how this evidence will provide formative feedback to the project efforts.

Presenters: Karen King and Michael Ford, National Science Foundation

Biohybrid Design: A New Era in Bioethics
The emerging field of biohybrid design, or building machines with partbiological and part-synthetic components, is interesting because it harnesses the dynamic adaptive behavior of biological materials to produce machines capable of complex functional behaviors such as self-assembly, selfmaintenance, and self-healing. This concurrently raises questions around the bioethics of building such machines, and the regulatory guidelines that must accompany their design, manufacture, and implementation. This workshop will introduce biohybrid design, present a few vignettes asking ethical questions related to this field, and drive an active and engaged discussion on how an interdisciplinary groups of scientists, educators, and policy makers can guide the safe, effective, and ethical use of this technology in the future.

Presenter: Ritu Raman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Removing barriers to STEM Success: Enhancing 3-D Spatial Skills
This workshop will begin with a brief presentation regarding the need for and impact of spatial skills training for success in STEM. The remainder of the session will include hands-on practice with a module from a curriculum designed to help students improve their spatial skills. The session will conclude with a brief discussion among participants regarding models for curricular implementation.

Presenter: Sheryl Sorby, University of Cincinnati

The Next Generation: Student Voices in STEM
In this student-led session, youth from the Chief Science Officers (CSO) project will present the changing dynamics of learning from a student perspective. CSOs will share their experiences in the program, including working with industry partners, STEM professionals and opportunities that encouraged them to visualize themselves as the future. They will share strategies on how PIs can include students in the planning process and curriculum development, and how PIs can create learning environments that place students in control of their efforts. They will also share how they are scaling up the program, and how projects can benefit from including students as partners for the impact to be more meaningful.

Facilitators: Jeremy Babendure, Institute for Learning Innovation Research Fellow and SciTech Institute Executive Director Kelly Greene, COO SciTech Institute and International Director of Student Success
Presenting Youth from Chief Science Officers: Caillou, Marissa, Moira, and Shalae

New Proposal Pitches: ITEST Shark Tank
Members of the ITEST community will give 5-minute “Shark Tank” style pitches of their ITEST project ideas to get valuable feedback from the ITEST community. Presenters will make their pitches in front of a panel of judges and an audience of their peers. Following each pitch, presenters will receive feedback from the judges. The session will conclude with informal Q&A from the audience.

Facilitator: Brianna Roche, STELAR
Judges: Monya Ruffin-Nash, Robert Russell, Chia Shen, and Michael Steele, National Science Foundation
Presenters: Joselina Cheng, University of Central Oklahoma, Alec Bodzin, Lehigh University, Eugene Cordero, San Jose State University, Mary Dussault, and Erika Wright, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

3rd Breakout Session: Friday 6/14 @ 1:45 – 2:45pm

Technical Assistance Session: Meeting the Solicitation-Specific Criteria
This technical assistance session addresses ITEST’s solicitation-specific review criteria, which review panels must consider in addition to the NSF-wide merit review criteria. These criteria represent a significant change from the previous solicitation in the sense that they emphasize the importance of strengths-based approaches to innovative technologies, instructional strategies, and research designs in projects whose goals are to broaden participation. In this session, led by two ITEST program officers, participants will read brief mock examples of educational activities and research plans that might be found in proposals, and they will evaluate and discuss these examples in relation to the solicitationspecific review criteria. This session is designed to increase PIs’ capacity to engage diverse populations in educational and research activities in rigorous and responsive ways. Given that ITEST is a program explicitly designated for broadening participation, this session will provide practical insights on communicating plans for working with groups who are underserved and underrepresented in STEM fields.

Presenters: M. Alejandra Sorto and Amy Wilson-Lopez, National Science Foundation

Building Equity in STEM by Cultivating a Lifetime of Learning Through Lasting Partnerships
Diverse community-based, government, and industry partnerships are essential for sustaining the impacts of STEM learning. Presenters Josie Cheng, Winnie Black, Martin Reardon and Anne Haugh will showcase innovative ways humans and technology converge, interact, and engage with young STEM learners in OK, NC and PA. Their 5-minute project overviews will provide examples of how learners are developing transferable technological skills to prepare them for an evolving workforce. Their presentations will be followed by group discussions that will help explore the challenges in bringing technologies to various audiences and generate strategies for engaging partners to achieve equity goals.

Facilitator(s): Kavita Mittapalli, MN Associates, Inc.
Presenters: Joselina Cheng, University of Central Oklahoma, Winnie Black, Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit - Center for Schools and Communities, Martin Reardon, East Carolina University, Anne Haugh, Duplin County Schools

How Technology is Used to Promote Student Engagement
Technology is a key part of all ITEST projects, the presentations in this session will focus on the innovative ways that technology can be used to attract, sustain, and deepen student engagement. Attendees will learn about the innovative use of technologies in presenting projects, have the opportunity to discuss the role of technology in their work, and think about how they can leverage technology to engage and retain students in future work. Facilitator Dana Franz, Mississippi State University Presenters Megan Littrell, CIRES Education and Outreach Stacey Forsyth, University of Colorado-Boulder Keliann LaConte, National Center for Interactive Learning, Space Science Institute Edison E Ethical and Social Considerations: What would, could, should you have done and why? This interactive session will engage participants of all experience levels in exploring how they can proactively incorporate ethical and social considerations into their ITEST projects. This session will go beyond content and mechanics and include the perspective of process.

Facilitators: Melissa Demetrikopoulos, Institute for Biomedical Philosophy, Lisa Kaczmarczyk, Lisa Kaczmarczyk PhD Consulting, LLC, Sharon Nelson-Barber, WestEd

Building Capacity to Support & Scale-up ITEST Projects
This session will explore current and alternative approaches to building capacity in ITEST projects, including ways to scale-up. Following three 5-minute ignitestyle presentations, participants will engage in an interactive discussion (called “World Cafe” activity) in order to share and harvest insights organized around three guiding questions: what are current approaches to capacity building? What alternative approaches should be considered? How to scale-up and sustain ITEST projects to support more equitable, localized ownership, and foster deeper partnerships to amplify outcomes?

Facilitators: Julie Poncelet, Center for Social Innovation Becca Schillaci, STELAR
Presenters: Janelle Johnson, Metropolitan State University of Denver James Van Haneghan, STEMWorksLLC Moses Ochanji, California State University San Marcos Jennifer Yu, SRI International

< BACK TO PROGRAM