This project addresses access to STEM educational experiences for rural students. Students from rural areas and small towns make up about 30% of the U.S. secondary school population but often lack inspirational STEM educational opportunities and experiences. This makes them less likely to pursue STEM majors in college, which is a potential loss of human talent in STEM innovation.

Sharks have ruled the Earth’s oceans for 400 million years, leaving behind a widespread fossil record. Inspired by the extinct 65-foot-long predator Megalodon, fossil shark teeth can spark student interest and curiosity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Machine Learning (ML), a branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is used in a variety of fields today and is broadly applicable for developing predictive models that drive research and development.

This project responds to the growing recognition that learners of all ages should have the opportunity to engage with and learn about artificial intelligence (AI). Of AI's many subfields, natural language processing (NLP) is one of the fastest growing. NLP focuses on how to automatically understand spoken or textual data, and billions of these textual or spoken exchanges are recorded online every day.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are fundamentally reshaping the workplace of the future and accelerating the demand for creating and sustaining an AI-literate workforce. This growing demand has highlighted the importance for all K-12 students to develop an understanding of AI to prepare them for future careers. Middle school years are crucial in shaping youth dispositions toward STEM.

The project will introduce and investigate an innovative model for using authentic community-relevant research to deepen students' STEM knowledge and skills, while building strong community connections between Maine's coastal school districts and their communities. The project will involve teachers and administrators, STEM and STEM education faculty, and business leaders and other community members in a research practice partnership.

This project will develop upper elementary school students’ abilities to work with Artificial intelligence (AI) in future careers. AI will be a critical tool for influencing and increasing productivity in the future of work. As such, it is increasingly important to introduce K-12 students to basic AI knowledge and skills, build familiarity with AI technologies, and train students to be competitive in the workforce. Through this project, a team of robotics and education researchers at Tufts University in Massachusetts and Maryville University in St.

This project will host a workshop in order to identify and synthesize research findings from NSF awards that addressed the unanticipated effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on STEM teaching and learning. The interruptions from the pandemic had dramatic, widespread effects in education. Across the nation, teachers, students, parents, staff, and school administrators experienced extended school closures and a rapid and unexpected shift to virtual instruction.

Over 2.5 million children in the US are medically homebound. They are socially isolated, physically segregated, and current educational practices largely exclude them from their school communities. Telepresence robots have emerged as a possible means to support these children to return to their local schools, however, it is not yet understood how homebound children can effectively use these robots for optimal learning and social development experiences.

The project will develop and research an after-school program that is designed to increase the STEM career interests and motivations of Native American middle-school students.  Students will use digital technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D printing, to solve spatial design problems presented through the project’s culturally responsive, problem-based learning education modules.