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Welcome to the ITEST Resource Library
The curricula, instruments, and publications included in this library were submitted by ITEST projects and are relevant to the work of the NSF ITEST Program. Use the filters to the right to find relevant materials. A PDF and/or URL to the original resource are included within the resource description whenever possible. In some cases, full text publications are located behind publishers’ paywalls and a fee or membership to the third party site may be required for access.
Please note: permission for the use of instruments must be requested through the publisher or author listed in each entry, and cannot be granted by STELAR.
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The Design & Pitch Challenges in STEM: A Theoretical Framework for Centering Mathematics Learning in Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions
Publications Solving many of the pressing issues facing the world today will require a deep and integrated understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To prepare today’s K-12 students to tackle these challenges, STEM education must create opportunities to learn disciplinary content while inventing actionable solutions to messy, interdisciplinary problems. Learning frameworks, such as Project-Based Learning (PBL), Design-Based Learning (DBL), and Entrepreneurial-Based Learning (EBL), could support this reconceptualization of STEM education. New approaches are needed that
Designing to transform: High school students’ reasoning with geometric transformations in an authentic real-world project
Publications As educators pursue more authentic and relevant approaches to mathematics instruction, it is essential to understand how students reason mathematically in innovative learning environments. This study examines students’ reasoning with geometric transformations during a summer camp, in which they used dynamic geometry environments (DGEs) to design transforming, multi-functional products. Student artifacts were analyzed using two frameworks on reasoning in transformational geometry. taxonomy of transformational reasoning. Findings show that students’ reasoning was closely tied to their product
Algorithms, spreadsheets and functions: exploring middle graders’ functional reasoning during a STEM entrepreneurial pitch competition
Publications This paper reports on a five-day study exploring six middle school students’ developing understanding of algorithms and functions during the Building Algorithms challenge, an entrepreneurial Design & Pitch Challenge in STEM. Students proposed businesses and built automated spreadsheet algorithms to inform users’ decision making by assigning ratings to objects (e.g. videos, music, racetracks) based on their preferences. Part of a larger NSF study of students’ participation in entrepreneurial experiences with mathematical connections, the study used a design-based research methodology
Amplifying Mathematics Learning Through Teacher Discourse Moves: Investigating Teachers' Personal Practical Knowledge Within an Entrepreneurial Design Projects
Publications This study investigates how teachers facilitate small-group mathematical discourse during Design & Pitch (D&P) Challenges in STEM, an experiential framework combining entrepreneurial, project-based, and design-based learning. By examining teacher interactions, we explore how educators draw on their personal practical knowledge to support student thinking and navigate the unpredictable nature of student-generated ideas in these innovative learning environments. This exploratory study investigates how teachers drew on their personal practical knowledge during group check-ins, leveraging teacher
Computational Thinking Without Writing Code: What’s Next for Computational Modeling?
Publications Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) introduces exciting new possibilities and challenges to the established field of computational modeling education. The ten posters in this symposium provide different perspectives on the changing landscape and present examples of educational programs, professional development strategies, pedagogical approaches, and digital tools that have helped learners and educators develop the skills needed to interrogate and cocreate scientific computational models with AI. The posters address each stage of computational modeling education, including reading and
Study of an Effective Machine Learning-Integrated Science Curriculum for High School Youth in an Informal Learning Setting
Publications This study evaluates the effectiveness of a machine learning (ML) integrated science curriculum implemented within the Science Research Mentorship Program (SRMP) for high school youth at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) over 2 years. The 4-week curriculum focused on ML knowledge gain, skill development, and self-efficacy, particularly for under-represented youth in STEM. Suggested citation: Rabinowitz, G., Moore, K.S., Ali, S. et al. Study of an effective machine learning-integrated science curriculum for high school youth in an informal learning setting. IJ STEM Ed 12, 23 (2025)
Design of a Science Integrated Secondary School AI literacy Curriculum: A youth & AI expert guided design-based research approach
Publications Educators are facing the challenge of redesigning curricula to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) methods in a way that is relevant and engaging to youth. Design-based research (DBR) presents a unique opportunity to conduct iterative re-design of these curricula while incorporating feedback from stakeholders including youth and professionals in the field. In this paper we present a mixed methods analysis of the iterative design of an informal science-integrated ML curriculum for high school youth enrolled in a four-week summer program. Each step of the two year
Incorporating Teacher Effect When Modeling Student Engagement in Smart STEM classrooms: A Cluster Analysis
Publications Student engagement during learning serves as a critical predictor of academic success and plays a pivotal role in nurturing interest and readiness for future careers. As digital platforms become increasingly important to learning, it is essential that we understand how the interactions that students have with them reflects their engagement with learning. Previous research has often modeled engagement in a fully online context, where students pursue lessons independently and outside the influence of the classroom, paced and structured by digital systems. However, in STEM (Science, Technology
Healthcare Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning: Exploring Context-Based Learning for High School Students
Publications This paper reports perspectives of high school students and their teachers on how context-based learning can support students with varied educational and vocational aspirations to engage with and learn about emerging fields. Specifically, through analyses of qualitative data from student and teacher interviews, this study explores how a healthcare context-based curriculum featuring in-class activities and an out-of-class datathon can introduce students to core concepts, practices, and the role of fields like data science, AI, and ML. Suggested citation: A.D. Bopardikar, M. Cassidy, A. Gardiner
Increasing Data Literacy in High School Students Through Data Science and Healthcare: Part 1 of 2 Leading to AI Instruction
Publications High school science and biomedical pathway teachers need effective strategies to build student data literacy and prepare them to conduct experiments. This first article of two presents the data collection, visualization, and analysis lessons (Lessons 6–10) from the Data Science, AI and You (DSAIY) in Healthcare curriculum, co-developed and tested by teachers in diverse classroom settings using the Scoutlier online learning platform. The lessons guide students in collecting and visualizing data (Lessons 6–7) and in more advanced data interpretation, analysis, and application (Lessons 8–10)