Rutgers University will provide a comprehensive project in molecular biology and bioinformatics that engages high school teachers and students in DNA sequencing research. More than 75 teachers will participate in the project and approximately 30 students per year will attend the summer program and 300 additional students will engage in the Project during each academic year.

I-C STEM In My FUTURE is a two-year, year-round, informal learning program for 80 students focusing on mathematics, the use of hand-held technology, computer literacy skills, technical training and career paths. The project will examine the impact of this technology-enriched intervention program on the STEM career interest of underrepresented minorities.

Tuskegee University proposes to use a low-cost flight simulation environment to enhance learning physics and mathematics for students in grades 8-12 in a rural community in Macon County schools in Alabama. It outlines a development strategy for module development that engages undergraduates and teachers in the development process followed by teacher implementation including teacher training and student workshops. The proposal design calls for adapting an innovative and successful strategy for engaging and teaching undergraduates to grades 8-12.

The goal of this ITEST scale-up project (ITSI-SU) is to address the need for research-based science materials and teaching techniques that generate demonstrable improvements in student science achievement in grades 3-12. The project will reach 264 teachers directly and 10,000 students in four states and has the capacity to reach another 1,500 teachers and 50,000 students nationwide in a dissemination phase, and still more if teachers and trainers adopt project-generated resources.

From 2003 to 2012, the ITEST LRC at EDC, now STELAR, served as the NSF ITEST program's technical assistance and resource center.  It implemented collaboration and support opportunities to connect youth-based and comprehensive ITEST projects and to leverage lessons learned into new knowledge that was shared nationally.  The LRC also worked to tightenen the research/practice cycle and promote data-based decision-making.  It helped to create a national presence for the ITEST program as a primary resource for learning about, experiencing and using IT in STEM ini

This project will use the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center's highly successful remotely operated vehicle (ROV) competition network to reach, engage, and support the participation of middle schools. They represent a critical point in the educational pathway where students, particularly from underrepresented groups, are most likely to lose interest in math and science. It will provide career information and guidance tools that enable students to make the transition from middle school through high school to college and into the workplace.

Model My Watershed is a three year project to develop, test and disseminate a watershed-modeling tool set for secondary students. It is designed to build on GoogleEarth and provide a dynamic interface where students can import as well as add data, modify both environmental conditions and underlying algorithms, work in a collaborative online learning environment, and be exposed to STEM careers. The design is based on the belief that students should have an authentic, exciting, intuitive and interactive tool set that allows them to investigate their own neighborhoods.

NanoExperiences: Pathways to Workforce Success is an out-of-school program that supports high school students in Career and Technical Education to prepare for post secondary education in multiple STEM career pathways related to nanoscale science and technology (NS&T). The project builds on NS&T instructional materials developed and tested by Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), and others, on professional development being developed by McREL and on recent recommendations for structuring academically-focused out-of-school programs.

Robotics and GPS/GIS in 4-H: Workforce Skills for the 21st Century is a-five year scale-up project to use 4-H clubs to prepare middle school youth for the STEM workplace. The project builds on and extends an existing research-based ITEST project by developing and testing new national curricula to introduce basic technology skills, foster problem solving and inquiry skills, and encourage teamwork.

This study by Worcester Polytechnic Institute will ascertain how well "disengagement" of students in mathematics can be determined from math learning software and how well it predicts later outcomes of STEM learning and career advancement. The study will use with metrics automatically extracted from a computer-based math learning tool in middle school to predict STEM workforce participation after high school.