PPD: SUCCEED-HI: Stimulating Understanding of Computational Science through Collaboration, Exploration, Experiment and Discovery for Hearing -Impaired students

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Students with hearing impairments and their teachers are in significant danger of being left behind with regard to technology innovations, especially in the rapidly emerging area of computational science (computer modeling and simulation). The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G) Education of Deaf Children program, The Central North Carolina School for the Deaf (CNCSD), Interpreters, Inc., and the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID), proposes a demonstration project entitled "Project SUCCEED-HI: Stimulating Understanding of Computational Science through Collaboration, Exploration, Experiment and Discovery for Students with Hearing Impairments." SUCCEED-HI builds on the success of an existing Shodor SUCCEED program to introduce middle and high school students to the technologies, techniques, and tools of computational science. The goal of this project is to develop quality materials - case studies, enhancement/enrichment activities, supplemental labs, projects for independent group research, science fair ideas, summer camp activities -- that all include one or more of the computational components. These materials will enable teachers to integrate computational science into the instructional programs of students with hearing impairments. Products to be developed in the project include grade and language appropriate materials for the use of computational science in science, mathematics, and the social sciences; supporting materials, such as technical signs for computational science: a report summarizing the results of pilot testing; and evaluation tools for use in continuing studies. Shodor's participation in the National Computational Science Alliance will ensure widespread dissemination of products, approaches, methods, and "lessons learned" through the appropriate national educational communities. The project methodology calls for the collaboration of pre-service and veteran educators of the hearing- impaired, computational scientists, and sign language experts, and the pilot-testing of materials and teaching strategies in a variety of in-school and extracurricular arenas. Shodor will make the process work by ensuring that continuous support for materials development, the collection, evaluation, and recording of technical signs, access to computing resources, and evaluation are coordinated and enabled by using collaborative tools and electronic networks. The major impact of this project will be the appropriate and authentic access to science and mathematics activities for students with hearing-impairments and their teachers. The development of curricular and technical signs for use in computational science will occur only with a concerted effort on the part of experienced and dedicated scientists and educators. Shodor and its partners are uniquely positioned, with the necessary expertise in both computational science education and education of the hearing-impaired, to ensure the success of this materials development effort. When completed, the result of these efforts will be teachers of students with hearing impairments who can master the computational science learning with competence and confidence.