Probes and Models Across the Curriculum: Information Technology in Science Instruction (IT-SI)

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The goal of this three-year, comprehensive ITEST project is to prepare diverse middle- and high-school students for careers in information technologies (IT) by engaging them in designing inquiry-based science activities that use computational models and real-time data acquisition and analysis. The project provides 126 hours of lab-based, credit-bearing activities for 90 teachers and support for classroom implementation. Participants meet for two weeks in the summer of 2007, twice face-to-face plus online during the academic year, and again the following summer for one week. The program is offered at three sites, each supporting 30 participants: Desert Sands, CA; Olathe, KS; and Boston, MA. The three sites were selected to give the project a national reach by including geographic and ethnic diversity from the start. The schools participated in the development of the project and intend to continue and expand it post-funding. Additional dissemination efforts, including a project website and publication in the Concord Consortium's biannual newsletter, will reach many more. Participating teachers learn basic electronics, programming and design skills that will enable their students to install, configure and use a wide range of sensors for measuring experiments with computers. They also learn to teach students to use, modify and create computational models. The team designing these activities provides a nationally recognized leadership in the use of probes and computational models in education. The skills teachers learn in this program enhance science teaching while giving students a solid foundation for IT-based careers in computer hardware and software engineering. The project will make its materials widely available to students, teachers and professional development trainers.