Resources

The ITEST LRC asked four ITEST projects a series of questions about technology use and teaching methods in summer program activities in order to capture insights that can inform program design and practices in other ITEST projects and beyond.

Enhancing student learning and understanding by combining theories of learning with the computer’s unique attributes.In “Computational Thinking,” Jeannette Wing struck a chord that has resonated strongly (generating positive as well as negative responses) with many computer scientists and non-computer scientists. In this article, Cooper et al. reframe the way computational thinking is conceptualized and present a new model for computational learning in K-12 education.

The Build IT project is a university-school collaboration to increase precollege student interest and achievement in engineering, science, mathematics, and information technology through a novel underwater robotics project that utilizes LEGO Mindstorms kits, the NXT programmable brick, and related equipment. The project is being implemented in 36 socio-economically and academically diverse schools for students in Grades 7-12. Through a series of increasingly complex challenges, Build IT exposes students to science, mathematics, and engineering concepts such as buoyancy, Newton’s Laws, momentum

The WGBH Educational Foundation and the Education Development Center, Inc. collaborated to create a series of six individual ITEST project profile videos and multiple video clips submitted by projects and edited by WGBH. The full collection is hosted on the STELAR Vimeo Channel and includes:Bioinformatics: the Rutgers Initiative in Teacher Enhancement (BRITE)Build IT: Girls Building Information Technology Fluency Through DesignCatfish Environmental Monitoring (CEMO)Community for Rural Education, Stewardship and Technology (CREST)Green Energy Technologies in the City (GET City)Urban Ecology

EcoScienceWorks (ESW) is an ecology curriculum that includes targeted simulations and a code block programming challenge developed through an NSF-ITEST grant.

Using May 2009 data from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, this visual essay takes a closer look at STEM occupations.

The focus of this literature review is out-of-school time activities in informal environments, a “vastly understudied” set of experiences (Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development 1992), and the role these experiences can have in shaping the direction of youth to pursue STEM careers.

This report outlines the discussions and outcomes of the Advancing Research on Youth Motivation in STEM Convening held at Boston College (Chestnut Hill, MA) in September 2011. The convening was hosted by the ITEST Learning Resource Center (LRC) at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC).The Convening focused on two overarching questions: (1) What is currently known about motivation around STEM for underrepresented youth? and (2) What can be done to cultivate new research on STEM motivation for underrepresented youth? It brought together youth participants and principal investigators (PIs)

The fourth annual MIS report, a program-wide summary of ITEST projects, was released in January 2013. This report, prepared with data from the fourth annual ITEST Management Information System (MIS) administration in 2012, describes who ITEST projects served, how many participants they served, the structure of the project, their intended outcomes, and how those outcomes were measured.

The second annual MIS report, a program-wide summary of ITEST projects, was released in July 2011. This report, prepared with data from the second annual ITEST Management Information System (MIS) administration in 2010, describes who ITEST projects served, how many participants they served, the structure of the project, their intended outcomes, and how those outcomes were measured.