The Paleo Exploration Project has provided training in paleontology and geospatial analysis to 52 K-12 math, science, and technology teachers and over 80 middle school students from rural eastern Montana, an area that includes five of the state’s seven Indian reservations. Through a series of two-day weekend workshops, participating teachers learned about Montana's geologic history and fossil record, and were trained in the use sophisticated geospatial technologies to plan and conduct field-based geological investigations.

The goal of this three-year, comprehensive ITEST project is to prepare diverse middle- and high-school students for careers in information technologies (IT) by engaging them in designing inquiry-based science activities that use computational models and real-time data acquisition and analysis. The project provides 126 hours of lab-based, credit-bearing activities for 90 teachers and support for classroom implementation. Participants meet for two weeks in the summer of 2007, twice face-to-face plus online during the academic year, and again the following summer for one week.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in partnership with Nebraska 4-H, is building upon an existing collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University and Carnegie's Robotics Curriculum program to produce an innovative program focusing on Robotics, Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), as applied to the domain of precision agriculture and environmental science. The program aims to improve STEM learning outcomes, attitudes towards science and career path development of rural youth ages 12-15.

This proposal, "Students Investing in Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (SIMET)," is a request from Jackson State University for a three-year project that outlines a year-round program that includes: Saturday sessions, online/telephone homework support by a college-age mentor, a two-week summer residential camp, workshops for parents and internships. The program will serve a total of 90 underrepresented students over three years, with 15 students each year in 7th, 8th, and 9th grades and 15 students each year in 9th, 10th, and 11th grades.

“TechMath: Real World Math, Technology, and Business Connections” is a three-year program linking businesses, teachers, students, and higher education to enhance rural, underserved student career potential in northeastern North Carolina (NC). TechMath addresses the current educational gap between real-world business and secondary education by arranging partnerships between local business and high school mathematics and science teachers. The tangible products of these partnerships are instructional modules incorporating local, real-world business problems into mathematics instruction.

The "TechREACH" project is designed to reach underserved middle school students and teachers in rural, eastern Washington. The project goals are to increase interest in STEM and IT, build the capacity of school and community audiences, and increase the number of students pursuing STEM careers. Project partners include Washington State University MESA, Digipen Institute of Technology, and the Red Llama software company.

This project targets approximately 75 STEM teachers (one cohort of 25 teachers each year) and 150 grade 7-12 students over three years, focusing on the Squeak media authoring tool as a modeling environment to infuse IT skills into the core STEM curriculum. Using Squeak allows STEM teachers to create 'virtual laboratories' in which to engage students in inquiry-based learning. The project is proposed as collaboration with New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick County Schools -- all Southeastern North Carolina (SENC) school systems heavily populated by rural, underserved students.

The ITEST Learning Resource Center at EDC hosted a convening designed to develop a theoretical framework to guide future research on youth motivation in STEM with a particular emphasis on populations most underrepresented in STEM. Two guiding questions were be the focus of the event: What is currently known about motivation in STEM for underrepresented youth? What can be done to cultivate new research around STEM motivation for underrepresented youth?

This project, "Highly Interactive, Fun Internet Virtual Environments in Science (HI-FIVES): Using Web–based Gaming to Improve Student Comprehension of Information Technology in Science," will give teachers experiences using web–based gaming and simulation software. Teachers will use authoring systems to develop educational games and try the games out in their classrooms. In the process, they will be learning content as well as programming and technology skills. Teacher participants will be recruited from an existing NSF–funded teacher fellowship program at North Carolina State University.

Photonics Leaders is a year-round science and information technology program for tenth and eleventh grade students from across North Carolina. The program goal is to guide and prepare minority students for success in STEM higher education programs and careers. In three years, nearly 80 underrepresented students of diverse backgrounds have participated in 300 hours of investigations and internships focused on electronics, optics, computer hardware and software at North Carolina State University and the Research Triangle Park.