Using Flow-Based Music Programming to Engage Children in Computer Science

2023 - 2027

Achieving the goal of broadening participation in the computer science (CS) workforce will require that children have access to early opportunities to engage with CS. However, the reality is that most underrepresented children in elementary schools do not have access to CS at all. To remediate that lack of access, this project seeks to create a deeply engaging music-based CS education program and curriculum, M-Flow, that can be easily adopted by elementary schools.

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Puffins: Exploring how narrative, data science, and artificial intelligence enhance the study of ecology in middle school

2023 - 2025

The study of puffins can provide a fascinating subject area for the integrated learning of data and ecosystems. Once hunted to local extinction, puffins have made a dramatic yet fragile comeback and been re-established to historic nesting islands in mid-coast Maine. This project combines a scientific adventure story about puffin restoration with student-directed data investigations about the relationships between puffin health and environmental factors.

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Building STEM Skills by Integrating Data Literacy and Text Analytics in English Language Arts

2023 - 2026

Ubiquitous computing and new technologies are infusing fields that have not historically been identified as STEM-related, such as the humanities, with new tools and practices involving data. This data infusion is opening up new opportunities to use data literacy instruction to augment instruction already required for compulsory humanities subjects, such as English language arts. Additionally, the potential for improving students? data literacy through the analysis of textual data is directly relevant to increasing future participation and success in STEM fields and professions.

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Embodied Interactive Environment for Advancing Data Sensing and Computational Thinking Skills in the Built Environment

2023 - 2027

As the construction industry gears toward adopting data sensing technologies, there is a demand for creating and sustaining a workforce with skills for implementing the technologies and analyzing the resulting data to support decision-making. It is also essential to improve awareness of this Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) career option among all K-12 students, develop their understanding of the applications of data sensing technologies and improve their computational thinking skills in manipulating and using data.

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Developing Hands-on Virtual Reality Science Laboratory Experiences

2019 - 2024

This project addresses our nation's urgent need for an agile and diverse science and technology workforce by innovating cost-effective and scalable hands-on chemistry and biochemistry laboratory training using virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) educational technologies. Learning is optimized when theory and practice are seamlessly integrated and when multiple senses (sight, sound, and touch) reinforce each other to promote long-term knowledge retention.

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