ITEST Projects

This project aims to expand the implementation of a NSBE-supported program, "Summer Engineering Experiences for Kids" (SEEK), from 14 sites in 2016, to 31 by 2019; from 3,825 3rd-5th grade African American, Hispanic, and female students in 2015, to cumulative 27,000 across the nation over the three-year duration of the project.

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

This project is a collaborative effort involving scientists, educational researchers, and computer programmers from the Center for Translational Science Education at the Tufts University School of Medicine and teachers and biotech researchers in the Boston metropolitan area.

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

This project will create a hybrid formal/informal program that prepares middle-school students with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for careers as inventors, designers, and engineers.

The project will develop and research an innovative credentialing process called Design League Badge Portfolios. (A digital badge, like a badge earned in a scout troop, is a validated indicator of accomplishment or skill that is housed and managed online and can be earned in informal or formal environments.)

The Literacy for Engineering Access and Participation Conference (LEAP) would convene researchers and teachers from the engineering education, literacy education, equity and other stakeholder areas to establish a research agenda and gather resources related to the literacy considerations for informal and formal learning settings. The conference participants will learn about engineering and literacy perspectives that impact students' learning with a particular emphasis on multi-lingual students and engaging a more diverse student population in engineering.

This project will develop an extensive professional development to 15 school teachers and engage 250 underrepresented inner-city 4th-6th grade students with agricultural life sciences experiences that connect to real issues in food science, health, environment, and energy.

There is a growing need for citizens to be able to work with data and consider how data is represented. This work employs a design, make, play framework to create data modeling learning experiences for young children and their caregivers in an informal setting. The project will develop and test a curriculum for a workshop series for 5-8 year old children to engage them in playful exploration of data modelling. Children will engage in data collection, data representation and data analysis drawing their own experiences of the world.

The proposed project, Preparing African American Males for Energy and Education (PAAMEE), is an ITEST Strategies project designed to expose, motivate and prepare African American males for technical careers and post-secondary education in the Power Generation and Renewable Energy industries.