AHA! Island is a new project that uses animation, live-action videos, and hands-on activities to support joint engagement of children and caregivers around computational thinking concepts and practices. This research is intended to examine the extent to which the prototyped media and activity sets support the project’s learning goals. Education Development Center (EDC), WGBH’s research partner for the project, conducted a small formative study with 16 English-speaking families (children and their caregivers) to test out these media and activity set prototypes. During the in-person video
This proposal, the "Dan River Information Technology Academy (DRITA)," is a request for a three-year program for high school students from underserved populations who are interested in pursuing IT or STEM careers. The overall goal of DRITA is to provide opportunities for promising African American or Hispanic youth to (1) develop solid Information Technology skills and (2) acquire the background and encouragement needed to enable them to pursue higher education in STEM fields, including IT itself and other fields in which advanced IT knowledge is needed. A total of 96 students will be recruited over the course of the three years. Each DRITA participant will receive 500 hours of project-based content. The project includes both school-year modules and a major summer component. Delivery components will include a basic IT skills orientation; content courses in areas such as animation, virtual environment modeling, advanced networking, programming, GIS, robotics, and gaming design; externships; a professional conference/trade show "simulation," and college/career counseling. Parent involvement is an integral part of the program and includes opportunities for parents to learn from participants, joint college visits, and information sessions and individual assistance in the college admission process.
DATE:
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Julie BrownElizabeth NilsenMaurice Ferrell