Innovation New Jersey
  • Home
  • Our Coalition
    • Contact Us
  • News
  • Resources
    • State Supports
    • Federal Supports
    • Higher Ed Supports
  • Join Us

Innovation News

Everything Innovation. Everything New Jersey.
Follow us and stay connected.

Stevens Secures National Science Foundation Funding to Address Underrepresented Students in STEM

8/25/2017

0 Comments

 
Hoboken, NJ — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $450,000 to Stevens Institute of Technology for a two-year exploratory Discovery Research PreK-12 project, with the goal of developing a high school multimedia curriculum to increase the interest and knowledge of science and engineering, especially for young women and groups historically underrepresented in STEM learning and careers.
 
The project will build upon the Stevens Music and Technology bachelor’s degree program and summer pre-college multimedia intensive program for high school juniors, utilizing multimedia production as a rich problem-solving context to promote students’ understanding of engineering design and relevant physics concepts.
 
Stevens faculty and staff at the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) recently conducted a five-day orientation program for participating high school teachers from Hoboken, Union City, Weehawken, Paterson, Bayonne and Jersey City—neighboring schools that all serve ethnically and economically diverse students.
​“This is a great example of the way Stevens' research and pedagogy impact our local community,” said Dr. Kelland Thomas, dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Stevens. “By inspiring future developers, designers, computer programmers, engineers and doctors, this project can help to ensure New Jersey’s and the nation’s technological future.”
 
Developing Students’ Positive Attitudes Towards Science
 
According to the NSF, women remain underrepresented in the science and engineering workforce, and several racial and ethnic minority groups continue to be significantly underrepresented as well.
 
The Stevens Multimedia Immersion (MI) project ultimately hopes to pique underrepresented students’ interest in and use of music, technology and video to engage them in projects and topics that increase their science content knowledge and engagement level.
 
The project builds upon research that suggests a design-based learning approach enables students to transfer knowledge to another task, learn through collaboration, and develop positive attitudes towards science.
 
“These are kids who may not be interested in traditional math or science classes,” said Gail Baxter, who is a current co-director of CIESE, as well as the co-PI of this project. “But they know and love current music and video… they just don’t know that understanding of science and engineering are important aspects in the creation and production process.”
 
Industry associate professor Robert Harari, the PI on the project, has demonstrated this merger of technology and science with the arts at Stevens since he became a Music and Technology faculty member in 2005.
 
In addition to a 34-year career in music, Harari has created and taught myriad courses in sound recording and design as well as the Stevens pre-college multimedia summer program.
 
In that two-week program, high school juniors developed their own video or animation production, learning the physics of sound wave propagation, basic principles of 3D animation design through modeling, how to define problems and design solutions, and other STEM-rich concepts through an artistic and creative lens.
 
Coupled with CIESE’s nearly 30 years of experience at Stevens in STEM education at the K-12 level, the project’s conception blossomed into a stellar example of a holistic Stevens’ academic experience.
 
Baxter and fellow CIESE co-director and project co-PI Mercedes McKay have been focused on trying to strengthen STEM education and provide inspiration for students to pursue higher STEM education and careers, especially through CIESE’s strong relationships with NJ school districts who work with underserved populations.
 
“We’re planning to take what’s inside Professor Harari’s syllabus, mind and pedagogical style, and develop that into a set of lessons teachers can use for all high school students,” explained McKay, “and make sure it’s tailored to the resources that are readily available within NJ public schools.”
 
The teachers are introduced to the MI curricular sequence, and hands-on experiences and strategies for ensuring all students actively participate. In this condensed version of the Stevens multimedia course, particular attention will be paid to the relevant science content and engineering practices, as well as how to create a culture in the classroom in which all students participate and are engaged.
 
Several of those participating teachers will go on to work with the Stevens project team to develop and prepare curriculum materials that meet the content and practices required by the NJ Student Learning Standards for science, engineering and technology.
 
Teachers will then implement the curricular activities in the classroom in the spring of 2018, and project staff will collect student and teacher data, and make revisions and final changes for a second iteration of the curriculum in the fall of 2018.
 
“This project is going to help students start to see a context for applying physics and engineering concepts,” said Harari. “They don’t have to just learn this content in a vacuum, they can learn it with an end product in mind that’s something they know and enjoy, like music or art. If they can see themselves being creative while doing science and engineering, it’s going to inspire them to aim for STEM-related careers.”
 
 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Do not miss a single innovative moment and sign up for our newsletter!
    Weekly updates


    Categories

    All
    3D Printing
    Academia
    Acquisitions
    Aerospace
    Agriculture
    AIDS
    Algae
    Alumni
    Animals
    Architecture
    Astrophysics
    Autism
    Awards
    Big Data
    Bioethics
    Biofuel
    Biomedical
    BioNJ
    Bioterrorism
    Bit Coins
    Brain Health
    Business
    Camden
    Cancer
    CCollege
    Cellular
    Centenary
    Chemistry
    ChooseNJ
    Climate Change
    Clinical Trials
    Cloud Tech
    Collaboration
    Computing
    Congress
    Coriell
    Council On Innovation
    Crowdfunding
    Cybersecurity
    DARPA
    Defense
    Degree
    Dementia
    Dental Health
    DOC
    DOD
    DOE
    Drew
    Drones
    Drug Creation
    Einstein's Alley
    Electricity
    Energy
    Engineering
    Entrepreneurship
    Environmental
    FAA
    Fairleigh Dickinson
    FDA
    Federal Budget
    Federal Government
    Federal Labs
    Federal Program
    Finance
    Food Science
    Fort Monmouth
    Fuel Cells
    Funding
    Genome
    Geography
    Geology
    Global Competition
    Google
    Governor Christie
    Grant
    Hackensack
    HackensackUMC
    Healthcare
    Health Care
    HHS
    HINJ
    Hospitals
    Immigration
    Incubator
    Infrastructure
    International
    Internet
    Investor
    IoT
    IP
    IT
    Jobs
    Johnson & Johnson
    K-12
    Kean
    Kessler
    Legislation
    Logistics
    Manufacturing
    Medical Devices
    Med School
    Mental Health
    Mentor
    Microorganisms
    Molecular Biology
    Montclair
    NAS
    Neuroscience
    Newark
    New Jersey
    NIFA
    NIH
    NIST
    NJBDA
    NJBIA
    NJ Chemistry Council
    NJCU
    NJDOLWD
    NJEDA
    NJEDge
    NJHF
    NJII
    NJIT
    NJMEP
    NJPAC
    NJPRO
    NJTC
    Nonprofit
    NSF
    OpEd
    Open Data
    OSHE
    OSTP
    Parasite
    Patents
    Paterson
    Patients
    Perth Amboy
    Pharma
    POTUS
    PPPL
    Princeton
    Prosthetics
    Ranking
    Rare Disease
    R&D Council
    Report
    Resiliency
    Rider
    Robotics
    Rowan
    Rutgers
    SBA
    Seton Hall
    Siemens
    Smart Car
    Smart Cities
    Software
    Solar
    Space
    SSTI
    Startup
    State Government
    STEM
    Stevens
    Stockton
    Subatomic
    Supports
    Sustainability
    Taxes
    TCNJ
    Teachers
    Telecom
    Therapy
    Thermodynamics
    Transportation
    Undergraduate
    USEDA
    Verizon
    Video Game
    Virtual Reality
    Water
    WHO
    William Paterson
    Women In STEM
    Workforce Development

Home   Coalition   News   Resources   Events   Join Us
Picture
Innovation New Jersey Coalition
222 West State Street
Suite 302
Trenton, NJ 08608
732-729-9619