Engineering Experiences: Research on Student Competency, Motivation and Persistence in STEM for Underserved Youth

2015 - 2019

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that develop students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by providing engineering experiences in atmospheric and related sciences to 112 middle school students. The collaborative project is dedicated to helping low-income youth achieve a brighter future through long-term, comprehensive educational enrichment activities.

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Building Enhanced Scientific Thinking through Modeling Ecosystems

2015 - 2019

An ongoing collaboration between the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). Specifically, this project will explore how a modeling-based curricular approach advances 4th and 5th grade students' understanding of science as a way of knowing.

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From Data To Awesome (D2A): Youth Learning to be Data Scientists

2015 - 2018

Increasingly, the STEM workforce requires knowledge of data science and data analysis including representations of data for public use such as in media outlets. The project will be a partnership between a non-profit organization and a university in order to engage youth in data science projects as they produce interactive media for local and national audiences. The technology platform, Local Ground, allows youth to collect, map and visualize data.

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The Youth Digital Storytelling STEM Academy

2015 - 2019

The project will develop a student-directed intervention that leverages research on motivation to encourage student interest and engagement in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-related field of climate science. The intervention is designed to give students the opportunity to use video storytelling to tell their own stories in a meaningful way for their communities. Through this experience, students will develop competencies in climate science, engineering design, media technology, and communications including storytelling.

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Zipping Towards STEM: Integrating Engineering Design into the Middle School Physical Science Curriculum

2015 - 2019

This project will advance efforts to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics through the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program. It will integrate engineering design principles into Akron Public School district's curriculum unit on force and motion for 1800 underrepresented eighth grade students across 12 schools and 98 classrooms.

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ET-ECS: Electronic Textiles for Exploring Computer Science with High School Students and Teachers to Promote Computational Thinking and Participation for All

2015 - 2019

This project advances efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM by producing empirical findings and/or research tools that contribute to knowledge about which models and interventions with K-12 students and teachers are most likely to increase capacity in the STEM and STEM cognate intensive workforce of the future.

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Soft Robotics to Broaden the STEM Pipeline

2015 - 2019

This project aims to increase female interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers through the emerging field of soft robotics. Soft robotics diverge from other robotics in that they leverage materials science (understanding how materials stretch and deform), chemistry (polymer synthesis), and biology (bio-inspired design) to provide aids for human needs.

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LinCT: Linking Educators, Youth, and Learners in Computational Thinking

2015 - 2019

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by producing empirical findings and/or research tools that contribute to knowledge about which models and interventions with K-12 students and teachers are most likely to increase capacity in the STEM and STEM cognate intensive workforce of the future.

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