ITEST Projects

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 University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Hall of Science plans a five-year project to investigate the capacity of a previously developed clean energy-focused intervention model to affect positive learning outcomes and greater career awareness among a broader audience of under-represented group students aged 14-16.

Nationwide, middle-school youth from underrepresented communities have few opportunities to engage in authentic STEM investigations that build on the students' intrinsic interests in space science and robotics to increase their interests in both ICT and STEM careers.

Involving more students from urban and rural areas in STEM fields and careers has been at the forefront of national STEM education reform efforts for decades. Research shows that engaging these students in STEM activities relevant to their everyday lives is critical to increasing their motivation, interest, learning, and participation in STEM.

The main goal of this Strategies project is to experiment with new content and methods for engaging students who are underrepresented in STEM fields in the computing sciences via a place- based curriculum that asks students critical questions about the environment and culture of their own region.

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 FUSE Studios project seeks to engage youth in meaningful ways on sustained pathways towards STEM-related careers and involvement in science in later life. FUSE Studios are organized around sequences of interest-driven challenges involving both digital and hands-on activities that are informed by authentic STEM occupations and practices, and linked together in a progression modeled after computer-game sequences.

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.

Given recent advancements in geospatial technologies and the expanding geospatial technology industry, this project is timely in its focus on spatial thinking and strengthening geospatial technology skills among high school students.

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.