Fostering Interest in Information Technology
OPTIONAL OPTIONAL
LOGO HERE htt://fit.umd.umich.edu LOGO HERE
Mesut Duran
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Abstract Activities Events Follow-on Activities
project is designed to provide opportunities for The project concentrates on all four areas of STEM. The The project will sponsor two cohort groups, each participating for two Through several follow on initiatives and alumni activities, the
underrepresented and underserved high-school students, science component will concentrate on three different but related consecutive years. Each design team’s members will participate in project will enable continued communication, networking, and
particularly those from disadvantaged urban communities in the applications of IT in the sciences; measurement, modeling, and several year-round project activities that will create IT enrichment collaboration among project participants after they complete the
Southeastern Michigan to learn about, experience, and use IT mapping. The technology component will focus on technological experiences within the context of STEM and explore related 21st project’s planned activities. We will advise project graduates to
within the context of science, technology, engineering, and tools and languages for designing and developing Web applications century education and career pathways. The project will also participate in nationwide competitions with their projects during
mathematics (STEM). such as Web-based games and chat-rooms The engineering distribute online learning activities using the project’s Web site, blog, their senior year of high school. We will also provide assistance to
The project will accomplish its goal through the creation of a component will emphasize the basics of robotics and its applications and podcasting sites, and will thus establish a culture of students who wish to take pre-college classes related to IT-STEM
“Community of Designers”—an environment where high-school as related to IT, including modeling robots, programming robots, and collaboration and discourse that extends participation outside the areas. Students will also receive continued assistance with their
students, K-12 STEM teachers, undergraduate/graduate student integrating robots into an application environment such as a confines of the formal scheduled events. college applications. Students from the first cohort will be invited
assistants (U/GSAs), and post-secondary STEM content experts manufacturing system or a medical application. The mathematics to mentor students in the second cohort with their design projects.
work together. component will focus on statistical science with applications in three Figure 1: Project Events in Each Two-Year Cycle When participating teachers return to their schools, the project
The project will establish and facilitate four project-based increasingly important areas of scientific investigation: public health, leadership and participating faculty members will assist them to
design teams, each focusing on an IT-intensive STEM area. Each environmental issues, and manufacturing reliability and safety. assume leadership roles in their respective school districts and
design team will consist of 10 high-school students, one school deliver IT-STEM intensive courses and course materials for K-12
teacher, one U/GSA, and one post-secondary STEM content area IT-STEM students. We will administer an alumni meeting at the end of the
expert. The overarching task of each design team is to learn three-year project inviting all past and current project participants,
about, experience, and use IT within the context of STEM and parents, and partnering university, business, industry, and
explore 21st century career and educational pathways. Each government sectors to discuss the influence of the project on the
design team's members will participate in several year-round, two- students’ education and career.
year IT enrichment experiences and opportunities.
The project calls for the investment and robust participation of Dissemination
students and parents, area school districts, the University of
Michigan-Dearborn (UM-D)'s colleges and schools, and the
region’s business, industry, and government sectors. Year One: Capacity Building
Goals & Objectives The year will start with a preparation activity involving a summer
course for K-12 STEM teachers, followed by a kickoff meeting as the
The project seeks to achieve the following six objectives: school year begins, a set of IT intensive STEM area workshops for
students during the year, and seminar meetings near the end of the
Objective 1: To provide high-school students access to year- fall and winter semesters. The year will conclude with real-world The project will create a Web site, project blog, and podcasting site
round, two-year IT enrichment experiences and opportunities to field-based experiences during the following summer providing to disseminate its products such as learning resources, student
learn about, gain hands-on experience, and use IT within the opportunities for students to work directly with IT and STEM projects, teacher developed Curriculum Guide (STEM guide book),
context of STEM. professionals and see examples of real-world workplace and faculty developed IT-STEM course syllabi and materials. The
Objective 2: To increase K-12 STEM teachers’ ability to design applications. project will be linked to the ITEST Learning Resource Center Web
and deliver IT/STEM enrichment experiences and opportunities for Year Two: Design site for wider dissemination of the project’s events and products as
their students. well as collaborative exchange with other ITEST grantees. The
Objective 3: To develop a series of learning resources and project’s participating students and teachers will be involved in the
Aligned with the cyclic inquiry model’s 5 major steps—Ask,
deliverables that models the uses of IT within the context of STEM. dissemination of the products of the project to a statewide
Partnership Investigate, Create, Discuss and Reflect, the design year will involve
Objective 4: To form a self-sustaining professional development audience in their schools and school districts. Student projects will
five segments, each including multiple site-based sessions. The
network among high-school students, K-12 STEM teachers, be displayed at the techno/career fair. Exemplary projects will be
overarching task of each design team in this year is to design
U/GSAs, and post-secondary STEM content experts to reach and The project approaches the 21st century skilled IT workforce nominated to participate in Michigan’s science fair and the
inquiry-based authentic projects that are of at least science fair
use IT resources for their further professional development. issue as a community-wide responsibility. The project calls for the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). The project
quality using one or more content-specific IT tools explored during
Objective 5: To increase post-secondary faculty members’ ability investment and robust participation of UM-D’s colleges and schools, leadership will participate in national and international
the previous capacity building year and stimulating ideas and
to design and deliver IT/STEM enrichment experiences and area school districts, the region’s business, industry, and government conferences, and write for scholarly publications.
experiences gained during the field trips. The design year will end
opportunities for K-12 STEM teachers. sectors, and parents and volunteers. with a techno/career fair during the following summer.
Objective 6: To research and disseminate the processes and the Aligned with this notion, partnership of the project include (a) UM- Contact information
impact of the planned IT enrichment experiences and opportunities D’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, the College of Figure 2: Five Major Steps of the Cyclic Inquiry Model Mesut Duran
for high-school students and school teachers. Arts, Sciences, and Letters, and the School of Education; (b) Detroit University of Michigan-Dearborn
Public Schools; (c) Survivability Technology Area of the US Army’s
Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center
(TARDEC), Treeflow Technologies, Dassault Systèmes’/DELMIA School of Education Tell: 313.593.0981
Corporation, FANUC Robotics, Inc, Barbara Ann KARMANOS
Fairlane Center South Fax: 313.593.9961
Cancer Institute, Systems Analytics and Environmental Science
Department at Ford Motor Company, Advanced & Manufacturing 19000 Hubbard Dr. Email: mduran@umich.edu
Engineering Quality Department at Ford Motor Company, and The Dearborn, MI 48126 URL: http://soe.umd.umich.edu
21st Century Digital Learning Environments.