The project will develop, implement, and assess an initiative to promote robotic design and entrepreneurship experiences among students and teachers.
The proposed project, Preparing African American Males for Energy and Education (PAAMEE), is an ITEST Strategies project designed to expose, motivate and prepare African American males for technical careers and post-secondary education in the Power Generation and Renewable Energy industries.
This project will employ mobile technology to help up to 530 teachers and more than 9,000 students use proven retrieval experiences to improve STEM learning.
The project will develop and research an innovative credentialing process called Design League Badge Portfolios. (A digital badge, like a badge earned in a scout troop, is a validated indicator of accomplishment or skill that is housed and managed online and can be earned in informal or formal environments.)
This project is a collaborative effort involving scientists, educational researchers, and computer programmers from the Center for Translational Science Education at the Tufts University School of Medicine and teachers and biotech researchers in the Boston metropolitan area.
The Chief Science Officers (CSO) program expands on the student government model to select one or several youth at each participating middle or high school who would champion campus-wide interest, engagement and communication in STEM. On campus, CSOs would identify opportunities for speakers, field trips, and science nights. Off campus, CSOs participate in community forums and function as the point person for community initiatives in STEM.
The Detroit Public Schools will collaborate with the Belle Island Aquarium to develop a field-trip program that will enrich learning in biology, with cross-curricular impacts on chemistry, physics, business, literacy and the arts.
Upper elementary students will use digital data collection tools to map biodiversity in local neighborhoods, and the project will interweave the biodiversity activities with career awareness and mentoring opportunities.
Middle and high schools students from groups underrepresented in science, including visually impaired students, will digitally design and fabricate 3D-printed tactile storybooks for young children with visual impairments.
Education Connection's Center for 21st Century Skills, in collaboration with a consortium of education and industry partners, will develop an online open source platform with an integrated incubator curriculum that engages high school students, teachers, and mentors in synergistic collaborations to advance students' competencies and skills via the design and launching of STEM-related products and services.