This project will host a workshop in order to identify and synthesize research findings from NSF awards that addressed the unanticipated effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on STEM teaching and learning. The interruptions from the pandemic had dramatic, widespread effects in education. Across the nation, teachers, students, parents, staff, and school administrators experienced extended school closures and a rapid and unexpected shift to virtual instruction.

The project will develop and research an after-school program that is designed to increase the STEM career interests and motivations of Native American middle-school students.  Students will use digital technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and 3D printing, to solve spatial design problems presented through the project’s culturally responsive, problem-based learning education modules.

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are less likely to start or graduate from a postsecondary educational training program than their peers. Additionally, they are routinely unemployed (or underemployed) as young adults. Consequently, there is an urgent need to create workforce development models that advance ASD students toward viable education and career paths. This project is a three-year project that will motivate and prepare high school students with ASD to enter postsecondary educational training programs and careers in geospatial and data science sectors.

This project will introduce young children to computational thinking, which involves breaking down complex problems into manageable pieces, identifying steps and sequences to solve the problem, and generalizing a solution to solve similar problems. Problem-solving skills are foundational and cut across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains and disciplines. The project will research and develop an innovative mixed reality (MR) learning environment combining visual displays and a robot with programmable movement.

The Morehouse College's Innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Work Force Development Project will engage minority male students in an active, inclusive learning community to enhance their interest in science and mathematics education and careers. The objective of the project is to shift from passive learning to active learning within the context of real-life problem-solving scenarios in order to promote academic success in middle school and high school and prepare students academically to attend a college or university.

The development of spatial orientation (SO) skills – the ability to identify the position of objects in space – is a strong predictor of math skills and later school success and academic achievement. However, even with the increasing evidence in the importance of SO skills for children, they are rarely included in kindergarten and primary school curriculum. This puts children at a severe learning disadvantage; children who lag behind their peers in school-entry mathematical skills are at high risk to continue to do so.

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). For these students with visual impairments (VI), the possibility of a future in astronomy, or any science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field, seems daunting.

This project will teach foundational computational thinking (CT) concepts to preschoolers by  creating a series of mobile apps to guide families through sequenced sets of videos and  hands-on activities.  To support families at home it would also develop a new library model to build librarians? computational thinking  content knowledge and self-efficacy so they can support parents? efforts with their children.

Augmented reality (AR) allows the real world to be enhanced, or augmented, by computer-generated objects that are “added” to the real world. For example, a clothing store may use AR to allow a customer to “see” how clothes would look on them before they are purchased. This project at University of California San Diego will use AR to create an environment in which students can practice pair programming in an AR environment. Pair programming is a software development technique in which two programmers work together at one workstation, on the same piece of code.

Wireless radio communications, such as Wi-Fi, transmit public and private data from one device to another, including cell phones, computers, medical equipment, satellites, space rockets, and air traffic control. Despite their critical role and prevalence, many people are unfamiliar with radio waves, how they are generated and interact with their surroundings, and why they are the basis of modern communication and navigation.