“It’s About Discovery” is a partnership between The Ohio State University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Fayetteville State University that engages high school students and their teachers in critical thinking skills focusing on STEM content areas. The Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (PAS) new science curriculum is the foundation for the project that includes students and teachers from Ohio and North Carolina.

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.

This project focuses on the critical drop-off point between elementary and middle school, often identified as the first major roadblock to the success and interest of students in STEM. To help elementary students successfully transition to middle school science, the Principal Investigator will design, implement and test a model after-school program (Middle School Science Readiness program) aimed at supporting science teaching and learning at this critical juncture.

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.

This project increases (STEM) skills through problem-based learning modules in which 9-12 grade students solve problems through data collection and analysis utilizing geospatial technologies. Professional development is provided for 40 secondary teachers in Career and Technical Education (CTE), mathematics, and science. Participants and researchers then examine the effectiveness of the modules on the learning and science and technology efficacy of 800 secondary students. The project has five objectives. 1.

The Education Foundation of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) is partnering with the Connecticut Science Center, Connecticut College of Technology, EASTCONN (a Regional Education Service Center), and CBIA member companies on an ITEST strategies project to encourage and prepare 9th and 10th grade minority and low-income, first-generation college students for enrollment in Advanced Placement courses in math, science and English in Project Opening Doors (POD) schools in Connecticut.

The Promoting Underrepresented Girls Involvement in Research, Science, and Energy (PURSE) program is a Strategies Project where Metropolitan Detroit high school girls in grades 9-11, participate in project based out-of-school time in space and engineering activities that teach concepts related to the production and storage of energy. The project is designed to advance knowledge and understanding about key mathematical and scientific concepts in areas of energy such as batteries and fuel cells, nuclear energy and alternative energy sources like wind and solar.

The Real World Externships project provides professional development for 150 mathematics and science teachers in grades 7-12 in Iowa. The teachers participate in externships with local science-based industries for six weeks during the summer. Teachers learn current applications of science and mathematics that they can use to enhance their teaching.

 The Science, Engineering, and Technology for Students, Educators, and Parents (SETSEP) program will provide K-3 students and their parents with hands-on, activity based instruction in science, engineering, and digital technology. Through its parent organization, the Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program Inc.