The project aims at helping middle school students understand the relationship between energy, economics, and climate change by monitoring home-energy consumption. Students use energy-monitoring equipment to assess the amount of stand-by power consumed by their home appliances and entertainment devices when these units are powered off. Service-Learning is the theoretical foundation underlying the project, which is based on a student empowerment model that values their contributions to solve problems.

The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center at the Monterey Community College in collaboration with Washington State University is engaging in a scale-up study of the remote operated vehicle (ROV) program to new audiences of middle and high school students and teachers. Using a train the trainers approach, the MATE ROV project is conducting at least 45 regional professional development workshops in 15 regions for a total of 500 teachers.

This Learning and Research Center will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by providing technical support to all ITEST projects, facilitating national dissemination of ITEST project outcomes, and further developing the ITEST research and development community.

Robotics and GPS/GIS in 4-H: Workforce Skills for the 21st Century is a-five year scale-up project to use 4-H clubs to prepare middle school youth for the STEM workplace. The project builds on and extends an existing research-based ITEST project by developing and testing new national curricula to introduce basic technology skills, foster problem solving and inquiry skills, and encourage teamwork.

The purpose of this project is to increase students' achievement and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or information and communication technology (ICT) careers. The project is working with four rural school districts to provide teacher professional development and implement research-based curriculum modules for two mathematics educational software packages in geometry (Geometer's Sketchpad) and statistics and probability (Fathom).

This project will enable high school and middle school STEM teachers and students to conduct environmental research aided by the analysis of images from digital cameras, scanners, and the Internet. The project explores how digital image analysis can be applied to environmental quality issues that can readily be introduced into STEM courses, engaging students and encouraging them to think about related careers. The project will develop research agendas that will employ a variety of image analysis tools.

The primary goal of the STEM Teams strategies project is to build a bridge from isolated middle schools in rural NC to the high tech resources at research universities, to effectively teach STEM (science, mathematics, & technology) content and instill an understanding of the potential of STEM careers. The middle school teachers in the selected schools will be supported by an administrative team to guide, coach, and empower the teachers to make the most of the resources.

A coalition of Carolina universities, school districts, state agencies, and businesses called the Carolinas Virtual World Consortium are promoting the use of 3 dimensional technologies in STEM education in middle schools through this ITEST strategies project. Middle school students attend summer workshops to learn about 3D modeling and design of virtual worlds, teachers join the students during the second week of workshops to learn about 3D technologies and how they can be implemented in the curriculum.

This is a proposal for a 3 year project to be conducted as a collaboration among 8 higher education institutions and several school systems across the country, with Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA serving as the lead institution (other collaborators are from Colorado School of Mines, Ithaca College, Santa Clara University, Duke University, the University of Mississippi, Columbia College, the University of Charleston and the Virginia Beach School System).

This North Carolina State University (NCSU) project entitled Photonics Leaders II (PL2) is a Strategies project for 80 underrepresented minority and rural 10th grade students, their parents or caregivers, and 60 teachers. The project nurtures interest in optics, electronics, computer hardware and software, while building the intellectual, communication and personal skills needed for success in the STEM workforce.