The curricular materials below have been developed by ITEST projects and shared for dissemination to broader audiences through STELAR’s resource library. ITEST projects work with PreK-12 youth in a variety of STEM disciplines and settings. Additional information is included within each entry, including information about the project’s focus and audience, as well as PDFs and/or URLs to the original resource. These materials are made available for public use through the National Science Foundation’s public access policy, which encourages funded projects to share all materials generated over the course of the grant. Unless otherwise noted, these curricular materials are free to use with appropriate credit to the organization/authors.
AOLME Level 1 Curriculum
Curricular MaterialsExpand Latinx Learners’ Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming The curriculum was designed for and renovated through the participation and feedback of middle school students. It integrates basics of Computer Programming and Mathematics concepts and activities needed to represent digital video and color images. It draws on the almost natural motivation of users, middle school students, with digital image and video. The curriculum contains two Levels. Level-1 introduces the concepts of image and video representations. Level-2 takes these basic concepts to a next step by introducing object
Rock ‘n’ Soul Plane (Grades 5-8)
Curricular MaterialsEssential Question: How can I increase students’ knowledge of mathematics, music, and STEM careers by using music and/or poetry as the context for learning? Learning Objectives: Students will be able to develop listening, reading, and comprehension skills by hearing and reading stories about the history of music in Memphis and learning about famous musicians. Students will learn mathematics by examining rhythms and beats in various genres of music. Students will learn mathematics through music by writing their own song, rap, or poem and using an app to set it to music.
IDEAS Maker Program
Curricular MaterialsThe IDEAS Maker Program is a curriculum for an informal maker program that engages middle school students with a range of abilities in engineering design activities. It culminates in a project based on their own interests, which they create with a computer-aided design software called TinkerCAD and print on a 3D printer. The program is based on the Make Academy summer camp, held at New York Hall of Science’s Makerspace. With funding from the National Science Foundation, a collaborative team redesigned that museum-based program so that it could be run in schools by teachers. The design team
iDigFossils
Curricular MaterialsEngaging K-12 Students in Integrated STEM via 3D Digitization, Printing and Paleontology The goal of this Strategies project is to expand and extend our understanding of integrated STEM learning by designing and testing a model for K-12 STEM engagement using a highly relevant but unexplored educational pathway to K-12 STEM – paleontology. Paleontology, or the scientific study of fossils, is a broad, interdisciplinary field that spans biology and geology, and harnesses the resources provided by advanced technologies and modern statistics. Our team of K-12 teachers, museum professionals, 3D
Computational Thinking Classroom Resources: CT-Integrated Storyline Units
Curricular MaterialsProgrammable Sensor Integrated Storyline Units 3D prosthetics 3D Printing Storyline Unit Teachers working on sensor immersion All Available SchoolWide Labs Curricula The SchoolWide Lab middle school curriculum units are anchored in phenomena, aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards(NGSS) and purposefully integrate Computational Thinking (CT). To date, four units have been developed by a team of researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with middle school teachers from Denver Public Schools. The teachers also piloted the units and have taken part in the
Integrating Computer Science for All with Music - iCS4ALL Music
Curricular MaterialsIntegrating Computer Science for All with Music in Three Rural Eastern North Carolina School Districts Curricular Activity System Instructional Elements Musical Literacy Essential Standard 8.ML.2 Interpret the sound and symbol systems of music Clarifying Objective 8.ML.2.1 Interpret standard musical notation for whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted note and rest durations in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/8, and alla breve meter signatures. Essential Standard 8.ML.3 Create music using a variety of sound and notational sources Clarifying Objective 8.ML.3.2 Construct short pieces within
SageModeler
Curricular MaterialsSimple Systems Modeling Free, web-based, and open-source software to engage students in systems thinking through designing, building, and revising models. An easy to use drag-and-drop tool for basic diagramming of the structure of a system or creation of static equilibrium or time-based dynamic models.
Project AIM: Helping Teachers Promote Mathematics Discourse for All Learners
Curricular MaterialsProject AIM, a partnership between the NC State College of Education and Horizon Research, Inc., is a year-long professional development program that helps elementary school teachers learn to promote mathematics discourse for all learners using techniques adapted from literacy instruction to mathematics. Through three main modes of engagement delivered through a hybrid model, teachers who participate in Project AIM: Advance their own mathematical understandings of the content and pedagogy needed to improve the quality of mathematics discourse in their classrooms Learn how to adapt literacy
Exploring Waves Through Sound
Curricular MaterialsEach of the lessons linked below can be explored independently or within a larger unit of sound/waves. The order below is a recommended learning sequence in exploring the basics of soundwaves. This lesson sequence uses the anchoring phenomenon of a deaf person claiming he can feel music. Throughout each lesson, students will have to use evidence from their activities to explain this phenomenon.
Math and Science Learning Modules Using a Flight Simulator
Curricular MaterialsFLY HIGH YOUR MATH AND SCIENCE SKILLS The project, Fly High Your Math and Science Skills, aims to introduce math and science teachers to an exciting and innovative teaching approach that will have a significant impact on the performance of their students. The project team consisting of faculty from mathematics, aerospace engineering, mathematics education and an instructional designer (consultant), has developed learning modules for 7th and 8th grade students using a flight simulation environment. The project team conducted one-week summer professional development for teachers at Tuskegee