Design Tools

Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM: Merging Entrepreneurship and Mathematics Learning

Kissy Canela — Thu, 20 May 2021 19:00:27 +0000

Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM: Merging Entrepreneurship and Mathematics Learning

Kissy Canela Thu, 05/20/2021 - 15:00

Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM: Merging Entrepreneurship and Mathematics Learning

Description

To compete in a continually changing and increasingly technology-focused career landscape, students will need a deep, conceptual, and applied understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, many students, especially students from underrepresented populations, perceive STEM to be disconnected from their interests and career aspirations. New curricular approaches are needed, especially in mathematics, that increase students’ career interest and engagement in STEM, while also supporting the learning of rich and targeted STEM content. In this project, researchers will develop and investigate nine design challenges built within a novel curricular framework for high school mathematics, the Design and Pitch Challenges in STEM. The Design and Pitch Challenges framework leverages entrepreneurial pitch competitions to support rich mathematics learning. Students work collaboratively to 1) build, test, and refine prototype STEM products; 2) design business plans to demonstrate product viability; and 3) pitch their products to a panel of judges. To support implementation, researchers will also build and investigate an online professional learning network for teachers. This project will explore whether and how entrepreneurship, through its flexible and interest-focused approach to career applications, can be an effective means for supporting the learning of targeted mathematics content and building career connections in the mathematics classroom. The project will also investigate how to best provide ongoing support to teachers through an online professional learning network while they implement the Design and Pitch Challenges. The research team will create nine math-focused design challenges, using an iterative process in the first year, piloting the challenges with about 50-100 local students. In years two and three, the team will test the challenges more broadly through partners at the non-profit JASON Learning, implementing capstone events in which approximately 2,400 students and 30 teachers in eight diverse school districts will engage in school-wide pitch competitions. Once completed, the materials will be widely distributed through the JASON network and freely available online. Across these two phases of the study, the research team will collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to understand students' and teachers' experiences with the challenges and online professional learning network. This project aims to launch a new approach to the teaching and learning of high school mathematics through open-ended, entrepreneurial design challenges that allow students to explore the utility of mathematics while fostering students' career interest and engagement in STEM. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

WEBSITES

NSF Website(s)

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048332&HistoricalAwards=false

Social Media

PROJECT MEMBERS

Principal Investigator(s)

Erin Krupa

Co-Principal Investigator(s)

Evaluator(s)

Project Staff

Primary Contact

PROJECT DETAILS

Award Number

2048332

Project Duration

2021 - 2024

Middle School Teacher and Student's Experiences with Artificial Intelligence via Computational Cameras

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:22:21 +0000

Middle School Teacher and Student's Experiences with Artificial Intelligence via Computational Cameras

Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/15/2020 - 10:22

Middle School Teacher and Student's Experiences with Artificial Intelligence via Computational Cameras

Description

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology applied to images and video is transforming society with broad applications to many social and economic sectors. To develop a citizenry that will participate in this technological revolution, it is essential to develop learning experiences for K-12 learners on the foundations of AI literacy in order to adequately prepare the workforce of the future. Supporting the teaching of AI concepts in the K-12 curriculum requires integrating knowledge from multiple disciplines. This project will develop and implement technology-infused summer workshops for middle school students in grades 6-8 in the areas of computer vision and machine learning through a program called ImageSTEM. The program uses computational cameras to integrate computer science, math and design thinking in teaching visual AI concepts while also drawing inspiration from media arts to enhance science learning experiences. Learning technology modules to be developed include color and lighting for physics-based vision to understand the interface between the physical world and image sensing; image classification pipelines that teach the basics of visual feature extraction, machine learning classification, and the collection and training of data; and use of machine learning for synthetically-generated visual media. Underrepresented students, including predominantly Hispanic/Latino students from Phoenix, Arizona and African-American students from a rural area in Georgia, will gain understanding and explore future careers in AI and STEM. The ImageSTEM program will disseminate knowledge and research findings on necessary skills and factors that underlie image-based visual AI technology for future STEM workforce development in industry, education, transportation, and healthcare. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.

Researchers will investigate the design and deployment of computational camera technology into the science and math curriculum of grades 6-8. Project objectives include (1) conducting six workshops across the two collaborating institutions of Arizona State University and the University of Georgia, co-creating the curricular material for the workshops alongside 36 middle school teachers, (2) deploying and testing in both the on-site workshops as well as in teachers? classrooms during the academic school year, (3) gathering evidence to advance and deepen the field's understanding of students' development of computer science knowledge and practices in the areas of computer vision, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, and (4) assessing the impact of these experiences on the adoption and strengthening of STEM identities of teachers and students during the year after participation in the workshops. Research into the cognitive skills, scientific identity, and workforce development will be conducted for teachers and students participating in the ImageSTEM program using a mixed-methods approach. Affect control theory-based survey instruments, semi-structured interviews, teacher reflections, and researcher observations will be used to assess changes in STEM identities and STEM educational and career aspirations. The project outcomes include deployment of the workshop lessons into the middle school curriculum by teachers during the academic year, and contributions to teachers? knowledge of visual AI technology, and how students learn and engage in problem-solving activities through visual AI applications. The project team will disseminate learning modules based on findings in the workshops and research activities through online and multimedia formats to the broader community of schools and teachers for greater impact.

WEBSITES

NSF Website(s)

https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1949384&HistoricalAwards=false

Social Media

PROJECT MEMBERS

Principal Investigator(s)

Ramana Pidaparti

Suren Jayasuriya

Co-Principal Investigator(s)

PROJECT DETAILS

Award Number

1949493, 1949384

Project Duration

2020 - 2024

Network Science for All: Positioning Underserved Youth for Success in Pursuing STEM Pathways

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 14:19:12 +0000

Network Science for All: Positioning Underserved Youth for Success in Pursuing STEM Pathways

Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/15/2020 - 10:19

Network Science for All: Positioning Underserved Youth for Success in Pursuing STEM Pathways

Description

Boston University, in partnership with Sociedad Latina, will investigate the role that a middle school network science curriculum plays as both an input and outcome of science learning. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. The project team will focus on development of skills to investigate real-world problems that have meaningful consequences for humankind across social, technical, and scientific domains. This project will make use of publicly available data to allow students to be involved in project-based activities in and out of their classrooms that can have societal impact. The project team will leverage previously developed data-driven curriculum in the context of a network science lens, synthesize highly promising technical and STEM resources as well as in-school and out-of-school programs, and embed new education research advances on effective career development to evolve a construct that will best position underserved youth for future learning of science. The curriculum and career development resources will directly reach 600 principally Latinx students, 12 teachers, parents, and other key stakeholders. Project activities will be implemented in a range of in-school and after-school programs in Boston. Through a collective impact approach, the project will be replicable, scale to more schools throughout Massachusetts, inform related projects, and evolve to regional and national impact.

The project will create novel learning opportunities for middle school students to explore real-world project-based problems addressed through data analysis, data visualization and network modeling. This study will advance the field of interdisciplinary teaching and learning as well as strategies for supporting students and teachers through three interdependent strands: (1) Network Science for All workforce readiness curriculum modules, (2) applied evaluation metrics based on comparing students to peer groups through statewide data, and (3) sustainability and scalability embedded in the structure of the program. The project will be informed by several advisory boards aimed at leveraging the program in order to sustain and scale the effort. At Boston University, an internal advisory board will embed the project into the broad ecosystem of the university as part of a collective impact culture. A STEM advisory board will inform the science program. A formal independent external advisory board will guide the project?s efforts. Research will be conducted in two phases. In Phase 1, design-based research will be used to iteratively refine curriculum and programmatic interventions. In Phase 2, the research will examine the degree to which the program positions youth for success by examining the (1) varied acquisition of next generation STEM competencies for future workforce needs, (2) motivation and engagement of students and their support systems, and (3) impact on shifting STEM-related career goals and pathways to achieving these goals. All materials will be available in electronic forms on a Boston University project website, will be licensed under open-source code and open content licenses, and will be freely distributed to teachers, curriculum developers, and researchers. Research findings will be widely disseminated through publications and conference proceedings.