Resources included in these libraries were submitted by ITEST projects or STELAR and are relevant to the work of the NSF ITEST Program. PDFs and/or URLs to the original resource are included in 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. Permission for use must be requested through the publisher or author listed in each entry.
STELAR Webinar - Developing the Next Generation of Talent: Perspectives from the Field on Equity and the Future of Work
VideoOn June 30th STELAR introduced an informative report that extends prior reports on the Future of Work to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in light of recent historical events. Read the report here View webinar slides here
Conducting STEM Industry Internships while Sheltering in Place: The Biotech Partners Experience
PublicationsBefore the shelter-in-place orders began, Biotech Partners (BP) was already engaged in contingency plan- ning with its school and industry partners in an effort to mitigate potential disruptions caused by the looming health crisis. For 25 years prior, BP had successfully mentored and prepared underrepresented high school students to complete profes- sional internships at diverse STEM institutions. Often working in a laboratory or pharmaceutical manufacturing setting, the internships allowed students to apply bioscience, biotechnology, and professional career skills developed in school within
Telerobots for informal learning in schools
PublicationsIn the pre-pandemic world, it was estimated that 2.5 million children in the US were restricted to their homes due to medical risk. Sadly, in the COVID-19 (C-19) world and post C-19 world this number is expected to be much larger. As communities and schools return to in-person gatherings, many children will not be able to return to in-person school either due to their own health risks or the health risks of a family member. Awareness of this global reality highlights the urgent need to explore the use of inclusive technologies beyond the static screens of Zoom and online schools. As in-person
Leveraging the U.S. Army JROTC Program to Increase the STEM Workforce Pipeline
PublicationsThe JROTC program was established in 1916 and is a jointly funded program between the federal government and local school districts. The program’s goals include reducing the high school drop-out rate, improving school attendance and academic achievement, and preparing young people for careers in the military. With more than 500,000 participating students, JROTC is the largest youth training and development program in the United States. The character development education offered by the JROTC program is especially effective with at-risk youth and the program has higher-than average
Computer Forensics Summer Academy & STEM CareerBuilder
Curricular MaterialsThe STEM CareerBuilder research and development (R&D) project aims to (1) explore what strategic government-university-industry partnerships and (2) study how technology-enriched interventions can encourage and support high school students with their pursuit of STEM education and careers. Multi-tier interventions with age-appropriate, interdisciplinary content, real-word context, and co-educational curricula include: Computer Forensics Summer Academy, mentoring, job shadowing, internships, research fellowships, and professional development.ActivitiesCrime Scene InvestigationFingerprint
ASSISTments Assignments
Curricular Materials"Stories of Algebra" is a series or activities in the ASSISTments platform where students pose, solve, and share algebra problems related to their interests. Stories of Algebra created an experience where students receive activities personalized to their career interests (e.g., healthcare, IT), and/or personalized to their everyday interests (e.g., sports, video games). They have created these activities to a wide variety of types of mathematical functions - including linear, exponential, logarithmic, and power - and have targeted their activities to algebraic courses from 8th grade math, to
GIS-Infused CTE Business Course: Mapping My Community
Curricular MaterialsYour mental map is a representation of your own personal geography that you carry around with you and draw on as you make everyday decisions about where to go and how to get there. Everyone’s mental map is different. Mental maps reflect the spatial information we use in our daily lives, like where we know and where we don’t know, and they are influenced by things like personal experiences, transportation, safety, and accessibility.Maps are models of the world around us. Creating a map requires selecting what information is important, filtering out what is not important, and simplifying how
Teacher Training Guide: Problem-based Learning in STEM
Curricular MaterialsProject STEMulate utilizes a Problem-based Learning model and approach to stimulate STEM interest, knowledge and skills of Hawai’i’s high school students. Specifically, providing a STEM curricula that actively engages students in real-world, technology-based problem solving and learning. Project STEMulate seeks to transform the learning experience for high school students to motivate and prepare them for the STEM careers of tomorrow by supporting today’s teachers.Project STEMulate created, implemented, and iterated the design of a Problem-based Learning in STEM Professional Development and
Make Way for Trains! Holding Back Earth Materials
Curricular MaterialsA Community-Connected Elementary Geotechnical Engineering UnitIn the “Make Way for Trains” unit (MWT), students explore key concepts of geotechnical engineering in the context of a train track expansion for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA): as railway corridors are widened, the sloping earth material surrounding the tracks must simultaneously support existing structures and not fall onto the tracks. Developed specifically for the Boston, Massachusetts, context, the unit begins with a look at how MBTA workers employ science and engineering for the geotechnical support for
Teaching Coding in Grades 5-8 with Scratch Encore
Curricular MaterialsOverview: This course prepares learners to teach coding in grades 5-8 with the Scratch Encore curriculum and was designed to be completed over the course of 6 weeks. Each week learners are introduced to a new computer science concept and the Scratch Encore module that teaches that concept. Many coding and debugging scaffolds that have been used and refined in classrooms are introduced.Week 1: Scratch Basics Introduction to the Scratch Encore curriculum, the Scratch programming environment, and the Scratch Basics moduleWeek 2: Events Introduction to the Events module, helpful Scratch skills