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.
Creating a story for a science or engineering video
Curricular MaterialsStudents will learn vocabulary about storytelling and through this storytelling vocabulary learn about the most challenging aspect of making a video: Creating an engaging story that is short and effectively conveys a message. Students will watch a short video, identify aspects of it that support their understanding of storytelling vocabulary (video, story, setting, characters, plot, conflict, theme, and solution) and the environment (environment, invasive species, cargo ship, ballast water). They will practice using these words and thinking about these concepts by reading a short story, using
Museum Makers: Designing With Data
Curricular MaterialsThis guide describes what took place during NYSCI’s Big Data for Little Kids workshop series, Museum Makers: Designing With Data. In addition to detailed outlines of the activities implemented during the program, this guide includes a glossary of recurrent terms and resources used throughout the workshops.In 2017, as part of a National Science Foundation funded project, the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) set out to teach Big Data concepts to children ages 4 – 8 years old. NYSCI developed and piloted an after-school program for families to utilize the data cycle as a method of informed
Drones: Summer Engineering Experience for Kids Aeronautical Engineering Engineering Design Challenge
Curricular MaterialsOver the course of a week, your young engineers will be taking on the Drone Challenge.Engineers will work in teams of 4-5 to apply the Engineering Design Process (EDP) and the scientific concepts related to simple machines, force, energy and motion. Below you will find your week-at-a-glance, a materials list, and some background information that will help you prepare for the challenge topic area. Also included is a copy of the challenge letter as well as the end of week challenge expectations.Student Challenge Letter: Dear Young Engineers,Drone Flight Incorporated, a leader in the development
SEEK18 Cybersecurity Module Teacher Guide
Curricular MaterialsOver the course of a week, your young engineers can take on the Cyber Security Challenge.Engineers will work in teams of 4-5 to apply the Engineering Design Process (EDP) and the scientific concepts related to simple 4 machines, force, energy and motion. Below you will find your week -at-a-glance, a materials list, and some background information that will help you prepare for the challenge topic area. Also included is a copy of the challenge letter as well as the end of week challenge expectations.Student Challenge Letter: Dear Young Engineers, Recent hacking activities in Cyberspace have
Environmental Education Activities for Teacher Educators: A Sampling from Wisconsin
Curricular MaterialsThese environmental education activities have been created for teacher educators by teacher educators. Through a grant from the National Science Foundation (DRL 1638420), members of Wisconsin’s higher education programs were invited to participate in two workshops that provided professional development and time to create these activities. The teacher educators have also implemented these activities in their own courses.The resource includes 34 activities that could be used to teach a range of disciplines and licensure levels. Additionally, they are aligned with the Professional Development of
Veteran's Maker Workshop Featuring Bioinspired Robotics
Curricular MaterialsThis project will use Maker pedagogy to develop workshops to test its potential for improving the effectiveness of learning pathways in STEM disciplines for military veterans. The workshops will provide training and educational awareness in engineering topics and will include computer-aided design (CAD), rapid prototyping, 3D printing, fundamentals of bio-inspired robotics, and additive manufacturing technologies.
Learn ArcGIS: Guided lessons based on real-world problems
Curricular MaterialsGuided lessons based on real-world problems. Learn to make maps with these ArcGIS applications.
Proceedings of the 47th ACM Technical Symposium on Computing Science Education
PublicationIn order to affect career decisions, it is important to reach youth at early ages. While some have focused on using mentors in order to successfully teach mentees, few have focused on the benefits to the mentors themselves. To our knowledge, no other research has been conducted on the effect that serving as a near-peer mentor has on increasing the mentors' interest, self-efficacy, value-beliefs, and skills in computer science. Our paid mentorships provided youth two weeks of participation in computer science camps using App Inventor. The mentors in our pilot study increased self-efficacy and
How Mother and Father Support Affect Youths' Interest in Computer Science
PublicationParental support is a predictor of children's career interest and aspirations. However, mother and father support affects youth career choices differently. To understand how perceived mothers' and fathers' support affect career interest in computer science (CS), we developed two path models using both mother and father support gains to predict youths' interest in CS. We hypothesized that perceived father's and mother's support would relate to youths' interest in CS via youths' perception of CS utility value as a mediator. We found that both mother and father support leads to interest in CS
Impact of an Authentic Environment on Learning of Math and Science
PublicationThe paper provides details of a teacher professional development workshop on an authentic learning environment incorporating lessons based on hands-on activities on a flight simulator. The workshop design was based on best practices for teacher Professional Development (PD). The attitudes of teachers towards the use of technology were measured during the PD and are shared in this paper. Subsequently, a summer camp using the same learning environment was conducted for middle school students to learn selected math and science concepts. The results of the impact on the student participants of the