What's New

ITEST projects are informed by career education theory and engage students in experiences that: (1) increase student awareness of STEM and related careers; (2) motivate students to pursue the education necessary to participate in those careers; and/or (3) provide students with technology-rich experiences that develop their knowledge of related content and skills (including critical thinking skills) needed for entering the STEM workforce. Below are selected resources to help you learn more about workforce development in STEM education.

Coinciding with the release of the new NSF Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) grant proposal solicitation (NSF 15-599), we recently expanded our popular September 2014 highlight (ITEST Proposal Development: Tools and Resources), hence the notation of 2.0.

ITEST project proposals are required to include a communication strategy for disseminating their findings. The National Science Foundation places a particular emphasis on these communications reaching broader audiences including scholars, practitioners, policymakers and the public.As the ITEST Resource Center, STELAR is charged with synthesizing and disseminating projects’ findings nationally, in order to inform and influence a national community

Cyberlearning is about designing new kinds of applications and technology rich experiences, learning how to use them well to foster and assess learning, making the experiences work for particular disciplines and populations, and putting them in place in the world in ways that make a difference. The cyberlearning researchers come from a variety of disciplines and are working together to design and develop innovative learning technologies that

All ITEST projects are expected to produce empirical findings and/or research tools that contribute to knowledge about which models and interventions with K-12 students and teachers are most likely to increase capacity in the STEM workforce of the future.

A look at mentoring projects and resources from 2015.

The Hour of Code is upon us! This national campaign is designed to encourage students around the world to try their hand at computer programming. Below are selected computer science-focused projects, resources and publications that provide a rich history of what the ITEST program has achieved in this area.

This month, we highlight resources that offer guidance in recruiting and retaining diverse participants in STEM programming. Three webinars -- Strategies for Increasing Diversity in STEM Learning Environments (2014), Research and Strategies for Engaging African American and Latino Families in Informal STEM Education (2012), and Engaging Diverse Learners in STEM Education (2008) -- highlight specific strategies, successes, and challenges related

The deadline for submitting ITEST proposals to NSF is coming up – November 6, 2014. Below we feature some resources and links that might be helpful to you as you prepare your proposal.NSF program officers regularly provide information and tips about preparing successful proposals via webinars sponsored by STELAR; links to the most recent ITEST Solicitation webinars are included below. If you are looking for partners, whether evaluators

A key component of the technical support offered by STELAR (and by the LRC from 2003-2012) has been in helping projects to develop rigorous and relevant project evaluations that can provide formative and summative feedback to project leaders to improve their project and determine impact. The resources collected here include a guide on evaluation, targeted to project directors, that helps build common understanding between project implementers and