We create and study virtual simulations of peer collaboration in STEM fields, designed for youth in informal learning environments. Practice with the simulations will help teens from underrepresented groups build collaborative skills and career interest in STEM fields, especially those that use mathematics and require strong teamwork.

We are co-designing and piloting a 9-week AI elective for Georgia middle school students with 8 teachers. Our co-design process is scaffolding our ability to truly design curriculum collaboratively. Through this project we aim to understand the types of resources teachers need to confidently teach AI and how to scaffold student learning and create engaging AI learning experiences. 

Building on the foundations set by the AP Computer Science (CS) Principles course, this project seeks to dramatically expand access, especially for high school girls, to the most exciting and emerging frontiers of computing, such as distributed computation, the internet of things (IoT), cybersecurity, and machine learning, as well as other 21st century skills required to productively leverage computational methods and tools in virtually every profession.

This project is a multiyear study of the impact of an enrichment program that the US National Science Foundation (NSF) managed in the 1990s. The Young Scholars Program (YSP) involved around 18,000 7th–12th grade students and 600 separate grants between 1989 and 1996. The purpose of YSP was to introduce high-achieving middle and secondary school students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields to encourage their entry into those fields and thus increase the size and quality of the nation’s STEM workforce.

The future workforce is being drastically reshaped by artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The advancement in AI theories, algorithms and practices has not only created great demands for AI scientists, engineers, technicians and entrepreneurs but also reformulated the nature of work in almost all industries. Importantly today's students must gain a fundamental understanding of AI in order to be prepared to enter the workforce of the future.

We will develop a unique community-based ecosystem for teaching high school students about how the intersection between rapidly developing technologies such as data science and machine learning impact critical healthcare decisions. Students will learn and apply technological skills valued for high-paying jobs within our workforce and proving the importance of diversity.

EdAI investigates how best to prepare teachers to implement the Developing AI Literacy (or DAILy) curriculum in regular school day classrooms. We seek to understand what supports and teaching practices are effective and necessary for middle school teachers to implement the curriculum and positively impact student’s learning if AI.

This Synthesis project uses meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis to examine the effects of integrating innovative technologies into K-12 STEM education on students’ STEM career-related outcomes, and if and in what ways intervention characteristics and educational settings moderate these effects.