As part of an overall strategy to develop understandings of best practice factors, contexts and processes contributing to K-12 students' motivation and participation in STEM, the ITEST Program funds foundational and applied research projects that build student awareness of STEM and STEM-related careers. This ITEST Strategies project, Supporting Collaborative Inquiry, Engineering, and Career Exploration with Water (Water SCIENCE), engages middle school students in project-based learning around their community's water resources.

Building on the highly energized national Maker's Movement involving government offices, schools, and businesses now sweeping the country, this project will explore ways to engage more children in the effort and become motivated and interested in STEM. The project will target 200 children at grades 3-5 to involve them in the "Maker's mindset" from an early age. The goal is for children to develop strong self-identities in STEM areas through their involvement in arts, crafts, and narrative storytelling.

Educational Pathways Into College and Career is a multi-faceted summer program designed to equip students from low-performing schools, low-income families and ethnic/racial groups underrepresented in STEM fields with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to succeed in STEM majors and pursue STEM-related careers.  Students, through the course of learning about innovative technologies, will develop a project that can transform the lives of a community.

The SPARCS project will support 72 teachers of grades 7-9 to integrate computer science into their science and math instruction.

STEM Career Clubs builds on a successful and research-based Strategic Teaming Model to increase the likelihood that participating students will pursue STEM majors and careers.

This project innovatively aims to motivate early teens to pursue careers in engineering and computer science through an afterschool program. This program combines these subjects with business entrepreneurship by engaging students in designing computer science and engineering products. Students will learn not only about these subjects, but also about the design process and business. The design process will be guided by two principles--intelligent fast failure and lean start-up--which emphasize planning for and capitalizing on short feedback loops.

Project ReCharge will engage middle school and high school students as energy detectives in their schools. Using tablet computers to collect data on school energy use, students will learn to track electrical loads in their buildings. A problem-based and inquiry-focused curriculum will engage students in learning about the energy consumption of various appliances as well as school lighting, heating, cooling, and hot water systems.

Research studies, commissioned reports, and national and international tests of educational progress in STEM fields show that a large gap exists, in interest and achievement, between underrepresented students and their counterparts. The exclusion of these currently underrepresented students from STEM education and STEM careers will likely impact the Nation's scientific and engineering status in the world, as their diversity of perspectives, which is essential in innovation, is largely absent from the STEM workforce.

There is a growing recognition of the need to engage youth in meaningful experiences with computing. This ITEST Strategies project will create a partnership of the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML), the Tri-City Technology Education Collaborative Inc. (TRITEC), and the urban school districts of Medford and Everett, MA to bring project-based, socially-relevant computing experiences to district middle school students. The project will have immediate impact on the Medford and Everett districts' students and teachers.

This collaborative project between the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Georgia Technical Institute, and Georgia State University will develop and test a model curriculum for grades 3-6 that aligns with ISTE's standards and computational thinking goals. The strategy is to leverage three existing computational environments (Scratch, Alice, and MAD-learn) to build upon the activities and materials for them that exist, to create an elaborate curricular guide.