2012 — 2014 |
Black, Rebecca Hertz, Garnet [⬀] Hayes, Gillian (co-PI) [⬀] |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Ise Pathways: Repurposing Obsolescence: Teaching Diy Science, Technology and Engineering Practices to Adolescents in Underserved Communities @ University of California-Irvine
This pathways project will design, develop and test Do-It-Yourself, (DIY), hands-on workshops to introduce and teach middle school females in underserved Latino communities computing and design by customizing and repurposing e-waste media technology, such as old cell phones or appliances -- items found in the students homes or neighborhoods. The major outcome of the project will be the creation of a workshop kit that covers the processes of DIY electronics learning taking place in the workshops for distribution of the curriculum to after school programs and other informal science venues.
The PIs have implemented three pilot projects over the last three years that demonstrate the ability of hands-on DIY electronics curricula to motivate and encourage students and to enable them to acquire a deeper understanding of core engineering, mathematics and science concepts. This project would extend the approach to underserved Latino youth, particular girls of middle school age. This audience was identified because of the historically low rate of participation in STEM fields by people in this group and the particular challenges that females have in acquiring knowledge in technical STEM areas. The proposal suggests that the approach of using hands-on workshops that rely on low technical requirements -- essentially obsolete or discarded electronic equipment, primarily from homes of participants -- will encourage the target audience to experiment with items they are familiar with and that are culturally relevant.
The hypothesis of the project is that this approach will lower barriers to experimenting with "circuit bending" - the hand-modifying of battery-powered children's toys to build custom electronic instruments and lead to greater participation and success of females in the target group. The project will provide free workshops in two neighborhood locations and be supported by undergraduate student mentors and volunteers and staff of two community groups that are part of the project, Machine Project and Girls, Inc. Participants will demonstrate the finished projects to the workshop group, mentors and parents. Each participant will receive a copy of the workshop handbook in both English and Spanish to take home so that parents, members of the community and caregivers can supervise and participate in future projects.
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2016 — 2019 |
Warschauer, Mark (co-PI) [⬀] Black, Rebecca Van Es, Elizabeth Richardson, Debra [⬀] Simon, Elizabeth |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Cs10k:Cs1c@Oc-Building a Local Area Network of Computer Science Teachers @ University of California-Irvine
The University of California Irvine (UCI) project, called CS1C@OC, will provide in-service teachers in Orange County (OC), California a program of study that will satisfy California's new teacher certification pathway in Computer Science. Despite the demonstrated need for students to learn foundational computer science skills, few K-12 students have access to rigorous CS courses. CS remains privileged knowledge, and improving access to this knowledge is one of the major economic security and social justice issues of the 21st century. The CS community has struggled to overcome issues of access and equity, although some enormous strides have come in teaching tools, pedagogies, and standards. But none of these accomplishments can be broadly implemented or sustainable without certification pathways for CS teachers and teacher preparation programs, especially for those teaching in underserved communities. CS1C@OC will develop such a CS teacher preparation program, specifically for California's new CS Supplementary Authorization.
CS1C@0C aims to (1) increase in-service teachers' CS content knowledge and their competence and confidence in evidence-based pedagogical practices for teaching computer science to diverse learners; (2) increase diverse students' knowledge and skills in computational thinking and computer science principles as well as their interest in taking more CS courses; and (3) increase the capacity of Orange County schools to provide CS courses. CS1C@OC will recruit and train 100 secondary school teachers--our share of the CS10K project (OC has approximately 10% of the nation's population)--largely from low-income communities serving underrepresented populations, with preference given to teachers who, along with their school, make a commitment to teach Exploring Computer Science (ECS) and/or Computer Science Principles (CSP). UCI will provide summer courses in CS content and pedagogy that will satisfy the requirements for California's newly-approved Computer Science Supplementary Authorization (which PI Richardson proposed and developed along with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing) while emphasizing CS instructional approaches that have proven successful with females and students from low-income, underrepresented communities. The project will also develop a hybrid professional learning community (PLC) for participating teachers and including existing OC CS teachers, so they can share information and experiences, continue to learn from each other, and have further opportunities to develop themselves both personally and professionally throughout the school year. The project will evaluate impact on teacher learning and development as well as impact on student learning and attitude changes.
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