The Bio-ITEST program is a model designed to provide secondary science teachers with the knowledge, skills, and resource materials to engage their students in the newly developing fields of bioinformatics and computational biology, ensuring that students will be able to participate in these important new workforce areas.

WestEd and the University of California-Berkeley are improving student learning and workforce preparation in science as well as information and communication technology by embedding the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program into curricula of selected high school-level green energy career academies in California. Embedding GLOBE within California's green energy academies will pave the way for broader GLOBE implementation in California and other states.

The Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology (SENSE IT) project will integrate STEM skills into a robust interdisciplinary curriculum and teacher development effort by teaching 3,000 high school students to design, build, test, deploy and interpret their own environmental sensors. SENSE IT will span three distinct residential regions in New York's Hudson and St. Lawrence River valleys, as well as a diverse socioeconomic and racial spectrum.

The Network Science project is a three year ITEST strategies project designed to engage 120 disadvantaged high school students (grades 10-11) and up to 30 high school STEM teachers from Boston and New York urban schools in a network science research based program, using cutting edge computer modeling research technology.

Digispired ii encourages seventy students to investigate mathematics, science, and engineering principles such as kinematics and kinesthetics related to the use of game controllers like wiimotes and dance pads in the process of creating games using a professional game authoring system. Building on a previous successful ITEST Strategies project, some of the students will be followed for an additional three years in high school and compared with similar students who participate for only three years. Students broaden their view of STEM and expand their thinking about STEM careers.

Digispired (Digitally Inspired) is a three-year project to provide 90 urban and rural low-income middle school students with opportunities to learn computer programming (i.e. C++), computer animation and digital imaging to create interactive games. Students will be recruited from Halifax, Hopewell and Prince Edward Schools of the Southside Virginia Regional technology consortium. Students will receive 144 hours of instruction per year (80 hours in the summer and at least 64 hours on Saturdays during the school year).

The COMPUGIRLS Scale-Up project utilizes a culturally relevant technology (CRT) program to prepare girls ages 13-18 from the Phoenix high needs district to enter the STEM workforce. This project builds on the successful NSF-funded COMPUGIRLS award (DRL 08-33773), which uses social justice-based multimedia projects to engage young women in activities that increase knowledge, understanding, and awareness of careers in STEM and information and communications technology (ICT).

The proposed project is a three-year, longitudinal, multiple-method study that addresses questions about high school students' course-taking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or information & communication technologies (ICT). In particular, it focuses on the effects of STEM/ICT academies--secondary schools that specialize in these subjects. The project will contribute greatly to our understanding of factors that may support or hinder students' interest and persistence in STEM/ICT courses.

The Wildlife Conservation Society and Good Shepherd Services (a youth development and education agency) are implementing and evaluating a school-to-career model program that consists of afterschool and weekend programming for high school students at four New York City area zoos and an aquarium, followed by post-participation tracking, support, and mentoring. The goal is to promote affective, cognitive and behavioral outcomes among 150 low-income minority youth necessary to pursue careers in the wildlife sciences.

Integrating Science into Afterschool, an ITEST Strategies project, builds upon prior NSF-funded work to develop a three-dimensional (3-D) strategy for engaging underserved youth, families, and afterschool facilitators in year-round science learning and exposure to careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project leverages community partnerships in urban Philadelphia, including The Franklin Institute, public sector entities and community organizations, to deliver the STEM education experience in the multiple access points of afterschool, home, and community.