The Role of Federal Agencies in TSTEM Centers Design

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The Role of Federal Agencies in T-STEM Centers
Design

• Leigh R. Abts, Ph.D.
• March 30, 2006

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Objectives

• Promote the informed utilization of Federal
  Programs.
• The development of strategies that leverage
  Federal Program resources.
• The enhancement of the collaborations that will
  define your TSTEM Center.
• The application of constructive frameworks to
  guide the development of your programs.
• The impact of Federal Policy.

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Why Federal Programs?

• Source of program or project specific funds.
• Resource for data and research from Federally
  funded exemplar practices and programs.
• Access to a network of expertise through prior or
  currently funded programs.
• Guidance and support for compliance on Federally
  mandated practices.
• Access to the policy makers that will impact your
  Center in the future!

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Alignment to RFA Guidelines

• Need for Proposed Project
• Magnitude or severity of the challenges to be
  addressed
• Specific gaps, barriers or weaknesses to the
  severity of the challenges
• Quality of the Project Design
• Address the needs of the targeted population
• Program activities .supportive learning
  environment.student support system.rounded
  course of study.todays work environment.ability
  of students to earn college credit.teacher,
  leader, and school development program.
• Design of program reflects up-to-date knowledge
  from scientifically-based research and effective
  practice
• Quality of Project Services
• scope to ensure equitable access
• Quality Management
• qualifications, experience and certifications of
  project personnel
• Quality Project Evaluation
• methods of evaluation provide for examing the
  effectiveness of the project strategies.

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The Embedded Challenges in these FRA
Guidelines

• A move from disciplinary to transdisciplinary
  approaches in teaching and learning - development
  of hybrid lesson plans and curriculums.
• The need to integrate Standards across
  disciplines and curriculums - NSTM, ITEA, AAAS,
  etc.
• The potential for modifications to current
  assessment practices - open ended and
  constructive.
• The transition from reductionist to systems
  thinking!

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Federal Programs can Align

• National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department
  of Education Math and Science Partnerships.
• NSF Engineering Research Centers - Organizational
  Models.
• Department of Energy and NSF summer Research
  Experiences for Teachers programs - Federal,
  University and Secondary School Partnerships.
• NSF Centers for the Science of Teaching and
  Learning Research.
• And many more examples.

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ExampleThe ERC Team Model

• Provides infrastructure support for the
  integration of activities across institutions.
• Acts as a facilitator between the scientific,
  education, engineering,and industrial
  communities.
• Provides a vehicle to disseminate and sustain
  outcomes across institutions.
• (ERC - www.erc-assoc.org)

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ERC Performance Review CriteriaSupport the
Model for the Integration of research and
Education

• Students work in cross-disciplinary teams.
• Students interact with industry.
• The research impacts educational materials.
• Educational materials are implemented, assessed
  and disseminated.
• Engineering (STEM) concepts into the K - 12
  classroom.
• Proactively increasing the gender, racial and
  ethnic diversity of the engineering workforce.
  and
• The inputing lead and partner institutions
  benefit.

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Possible Pathways of Aligning TSTEM Center Design
to Federal Agency Programs

• Systemic Gap Analysis - identification of
  programmatic gaps in funding that can partners
  can collaborate within a Federal Program.
• Opportunistic - Current Federal program fits
  within the mission and vision of the Center or
  one of its projects.
• Targeted - Program specifically tailored or
  earmarked for a Center or one of its projects.

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Use the Logic Model to Identify Gaps and
Opportunities for Federal Program Involvement

• By aligning and analyzing partners (inputs)
  strengths and weaknesses to Centers proposed
  programs.
• By studying and reviewing relevant programs at
  Federal Agencies in relation to the Centers
  proposed programs.
• By citing research funded and reported by the
  Federal Agencies.

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The Application of a Logic Model

• Federal Programs can be used to fund activities
  between inputs (partners) - Math Science
  Partnerships (MSP - http//mspnet.org/) .
• Federal Programs can be used in citations to plan
  and to justify activities based on peer reviewed
  research as referenced to prior funded programs
  that have led to certain Outputs and Outcomes in
  Teacher Professional Development - Multiple
  funded programs within the NSF Division of
  Education and Human Resources and Research
  Experiences for Teacher Programs in the
  Engineering Directorate (www.nsf.gov).
• Federal Programs can be used as models in
  development of a management and organizational
  structure - NSF Engineering Research Centers (ERC
  - www.erc-assoc.org) and the NSF funded Network
  for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES -
  www.nees.org) that link industry, education and
  research. Especially useful insightful is the
  NEES Education, Outreach, and Training Strategic
  Plan, January, 2005.

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Through the Partnerships (Inputs) Develop Funding
Opportunities

• Use Federal funds to foster partnerships and
  strategic relationships to bring together
  institutions as inputs into proposals.
• Use Federal Funds to form University or Federal
  laboratory partnerships to support activities.

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Examples

• Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)
• Inventors of the Future Program (IF)
• GK - 12
• Regional Initiatives

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JHU NSF fundedResearch Experiences for
Teachers (2001 - 2005)

• NSF funded through both peer reviewed and
  supplemental grants to principle investigators
  (PIs) within higher education.
• PIs from 11 universities brought teachers into
  their research laboratories.
• 150 high school science and mathematics teachers
  from 10 districts.
• Teachers were from mostly urban schools with
  diverse student bodies - Baltimore, Washington DC
  and Pittsburgh.
• 4 to 5 week summer program with workshops,
  seminars, a research project and a final report
  presented to their peers.
• Activities were developed based on the research
  that could be transferred back into the
  classroom.

Jan Morrison Demonstrating Field Activities for
the Classroom
NSF 0212217 - Ms Mary Poats PD
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RET Program Goals

• Use the research experience as a catalyst to
  promote systemic change in the secondary and
  higher education cultures.
• Professional development of the teachers ACT 48
  for Pittsburgh teachers partnered with the CMU.
• Promote engineering and science as education and
  career options for K 12 students through the
  teachers summer experiences.
• Develop protocols and building blocks to both
  facilitate dissemination and sustainability.
• Perform formative and summative evaluations to
  determine programmatic strengths and weaknesses
  to enhance the partnerships between pre-college
  schools and higher education.

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RET Elements of Summer Program
Tutorials from specialists
Field trips to local Companies
Teachers work to integrate activities into lesson
plans
Teacher are formed into teams to facilitate the
development of transdisciplinary teaching and
learning
Teachers practice the craft of research
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Inventors of the Future (IF)

• JHU partnered with National Inventors Hall of
  Fame (NIHF).
• Engage students and teachers from NSF Urban
  Systemic Cities - Baltimore and Washington DC.
• Within the context of a Quality of Life for the
  Future theme.
• Develop research and invention concepts around
  the theme with the assistance of mentors.
• Students work with mentors and teachers to
  develop the concept through physical practice,
  storybooks, and logs.
• Present and demonstrate their concepts to their
  peers and experts.

Al Langer and Jim West, inductees in the NIHF,
and Joyce Ward, from the US Patent Office, ask
the student inventors questions about their
innovations and their ideas on how to take to
market.
NSF ESI-0451266 Dr. Joseph Reed PD
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NSF GK - 12 Graduate Students (GS) collaborate
with K - 12 Teachers

• JHU partnered with American Indian Science and
  Engineering Society - MN MSP, National Federation
  of the Blind, National Inventors Hall of Fame and
  the American Association for the Advancement of
  Science.
• Teachers and work with GS interns in Baltimore
  and Washington DC and rural Native American
  schools
• GS work with from across engineering disciplines
  work in Elementary, Middle and High School
  classrooms.
• GS learn K - 12 to connect STEM concepts across
  curricular standards.
• GS learn how to work with children of different
  learning styles - i.e. NFB.

Dwight Gourneau - AISES project Director, Chair
of Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian
and TRIBES MSP PI
NSF 0440217 - Dr. Sonia Ortega PD
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Partnered with the Teaching Relevant Inquiry
Based Environmental Sciences (TRIBES) Minnesota
Math Science Partnership

• TRIBES is designed to increase Environmental
  Science content knowledge using regionally
  relevant topics.
• TRIBES is designed to integrate native content
  and perspectives.
• TRIBES strives to increase all students and
  especially native students interest and
  performance in science.
• TRIBES invests in teachers as the primary
  knowledge carriers in the schools.

The TRIBES Year 2 Teachers
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Sensors will be deployed along Shorelines - Lakes
in Minnesota and Rivers and Bays in Maryland
Photos Courtesy of Jessica Routt JHU
Undergraduate, JHU Assistant Professor Lian Shen
Advisor - JHU Civil Engineering
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Potential Sensor Measurements

• Soil
• Ambient temperature
• Ambient humidity
• Light reading
• Soil temperature
• Soil moisture
• Soil pH

• Water Quality, Dynamics of Fluid Motion, and Gas
  Transport Processes
• Temperature - air and water
• Dissolved O2
• Dissolved CO2
• Wind Speed
• Water depth
• Humidity
• Wave Velocity
• Water Depth
• Turbidity
• pH

Potential to correlate readings to indicator
species - Earthworms, Bacteria, Caribou
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The NSF Regional RETs

• JHU and Howard Community College host NSF funded
  researchers from regional Universities.
• February 23, 2002 - Mid-Atlantic.
• March 1 2003 - Southern California.
• September 28, 2003 Illinois.
• Nearly 300 Teachers paired with 150 NSF
  Researchers.
• Teachers participate in RET programs coordinated
  by JHU.

NSF Grants 9731748, 0327667, and 0353188 Ms. Mary
Poats PD
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STEM Summits National And Regional Collaborations
Collaboration Existed

• SUMMIT held at the National Academy of
  Engineering in Feb. 2006 - get local Societies /
  Foundations to host.
• Supported provided by the NAE, NSF, Foundations,
  Universities and Industry - becomes a rallying
  point for cooperative funding.
• Attendees from the public and private sectors
  involved engaged and committed to STEM Education
  - develop collaborative relationships to impact
  local, regional and national public policy.
• Teams being formed across the country with follow
  up meetings already held in California, Ohio and
  Maryland - form teams around each of the Centers
  affiliated Academies.

NSF 0212217 - Ms Mary Poats PD
NSF Core ERC Grant 9731748 - Dr. Rajinder Khosla
PD
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Include Local and National Policy Makers

• The National STEM Education Coalition - Is your
  local associations national headquarters a
  member? If not contact the National Science
  Teachers Association for more information - Ms.
  Jodi Peterson (jpeterson_at_nsta.org)
• The House and Senate STEM Ed Caucuses - the House
  Caucus Web site
• (www.StemEdCaucus.org)
• - go to the above site to see if your local
  Congressional Representative has joined the
  Caucus, over 100 members to date!
• Local Chapters of Engineering, Science and
  Education Associations Advocacy Groups.

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The Energy Policy Act of 2005, Conference Report,
Section 983and HR 610, House Report 109-216 Part
1, pages 82 and 83,Revised 8-26-2005

• The Science and Engineering Education Pilot
  Program (SEEPP) is a proposed summer program for
  science and math teachers to engage in
• Professional development workshops.
• Applied research experiences in government and
  higher education laboratories.
• The deployment of experiential and lesson plans
  representative of the integration of STEM
  concepts back into middle and high school
  classrooms.
• Evaluations of the effectiveness and efficacy of
  the programs through longitudinal tracking using
  an electronic portfolio.

These Partnerships moved this now
Authorized Activity in the Department of Energy
through Congress in 5 Months!
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You will become the Agents of Change!

• Thank You -
• Any Questions