This paper describes the integration of handheld computer technology into an existing web-based educational platform, the Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) and the synergy it produces. This solution facilitated a research program that explores how handheld computers (PDAs, palmtops, etc.) can expand the scope and functionality of inquiry activities in K-12 science and mathematics curriculum. The paper presents the WISE software and curriculum and explains how combining it with handheld technology creates unique educational opportunities. It then goes on to describe the system that
The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), in collaboration with O\'Reilly Media will host a two-day workshop to explore the potential for the kinds of making, designing, and engineering practices celebrated at Maker Faire to enrich science and math learning. The purpose of this workshop is to identify and aggregate successful programming strategies that increase student engagement and proficiency in STEM, with a focus on students underrepresented in STEM careers. The meeting will be organized around three main ideas: catalyzing a national Maker movement; dissemination and scaling of design principles; and assessment of impacts on STEM learning and attitudes. The convening highlights the capacity of making activities to impact student motivation, attitudes, and conceptual understanding in STEM in both informal and formal learning environments. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the World Maker Faire at NYSCI on September 18-19, 2011. The World Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-it-Yourself or DIY movement and brings together a broad community of professionals and laypersons with a common interest in technology-based creativity, tinkering, and the reuse of materials and technology. The proposed workshop extends the work of the previous Maker Faire workshop (DRL 10-46459) by identifying initiatives that bridge the Maker and STEM communities while building students' foundational STEM knowledge and engaging audiences underrepresented in STEM careers. This workshop will accommodate approximately 50 local and national scientists, engineers, learning science researchers, educators, policymakers, and philanthropists. Select participants will present detailed case studies of maker programs, design principles, assessments, and measured outcomes in STEM attitudes and learning. Key elements of successful programs and assessment strategies will be identified across the case studies in brainstorming sessions and roundtable discussions. Following the workshop, a subset of the case studies will be compiled into an edited volume, indexed by the dimensions of student learning in the National Research Council publication, "A Framework for K-12 STEM Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas." This project uses the momentum of the popular Maker Faire movement, based in design, engineering and technology concepts, to connect to STEM education while capitalizing on the strengths of informal learning environments. The workshop provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with an aggregated collection of program design principles and reliable metrics for documenting changes in preK-20 STEM attitudes and learning. The edited volume has the potential to advance the understanding of how to bridge formal and informal learning environments, while also fostering research on the affective dimensions of making in diverse audiences.
After-school programs are a source of powerful, positive experiences for an estimated eight to ten million youth, especially those in low-income, under-represented populations (the majority of youth in these programs). Through this conference grant, TERC, along with the Exploratorium and the Lawrence Hall of Science, proposes to launch a national initiative to create, support and sustain engaging, research-based science and mathematics activities in the after-school community. This planning conference will bring together the leaders and experts who run exemplary after-school programs, create quality science and mathematics materials, and provide effective staff training to identify the challenges, goals and questions of greatest interest and value to the national community. Intellectual merit and broader impact are evidenced by the gathering of key players, promotion of dialog and the facilitation of connections between developer and after-school communities.