CI-TEAM Implementation Project: Computing MATTERS: Pathways to Cyberinfrastructure

近十年来，在NSF以及私人和企业基金会的资助下，达勒姆及其附近的学生从Shodor提供的研讨会，学徒和实习中受益，Shodor是计算科学教育的国家资源。来自CI-TEAM、ITEST和NSDL项目的资金为Shodor提供了“风险投资”，以尝试新的外联工作，激发和吸引学生考虑在科学、数学和医学方面的学习和职业。其结果是计算事项，从小学高年级到大学，学生们遇到的发现的兴奋，探究的力量，以及网络基础设施技术所带来的学习乐趣，而不是学校时间活动的连贯统一体。利用这种经过测试和验证的模式，结合了教师和近同行探索领导者的培训，各级学生的有效STEM教育经验，来自不同背景的学生晋升到领导职位，以及持续的指导，Shodor已经与大学，社区中心，学校区和西格玛Xi扩展计算事项首先到一个广泛的地理区域达到研究三角的非常角落，然后跨越北卡罗来纳州。在Computing MATTERS中，“MATTERS”本身就是一个首字母缩写词，并具有其自身的含义：通过研究和服务经验指导学术转型。该计划结合了Shodor从一开始就沿着CI-TEAM目标发展的研讨会，学徒和实习的最佳努力。我们帮助中小学生建立和保持对科学，数学和技术的兴趣，通过他们的高中生活，并帮助高中生看到自己是成功的，快乐的追求在大学和STEM领域的职业生涯中学习，同时为大学生提供实习机会，作为开发人员和导师在程序中。我们希望建立自我维持的地方基础设施，适应Shodor的地方举措的最佳功能，同时扩大导师基地，包括高校和Sigma Xi的成员生活和工作在北卡罗来纳州。智力优势：计算“重要”，因为定量推理，计算思维和多尺度建模是21世纪科学的智力“心脏和灵魂”，因此是21世纪劳动力的基本技能。计算机之所以“重要”，是因为它把别人认为“有风险”的学生转变为自我认为“有能力、有能力、有动力、有就业能力”的学生。“计算”很重要，因为我们可以展示交互式计算的力量，以帮助更深入地理解数学和科学，同时使科学“头脑”和“动手”。“这个实施项目将测试Shodor框架可持续外联的可行性。更广泛的影响：计算探索提供了丰富的上下文体验，吸引了其他代表性不足的群体进入STEM领域。我们正在通过展示Computing Matters在Shodor之外的工作来扩展我们的工作，作为成功计划的传播模型。我们的目标是使学生遍布北卡罗来纳州，并最终国家，分享相同的增长，从兴奋的经验，通过研究机会和服务的专业知识，作为学生在Shodor的家乡。材料将通过Shodor的计算科学教育参考台CSERD（国家科学数字图书馆的途径门户）采用的严格验证，验证，认证（VVA）过程进行审查;研究和评估结果将在计算科学教育杂志上刊登。

For nearly a decade, supported with funding from NSF and private and corporate foundations, students in and near Durham have benefited from the workshops, apprenticeships, and internships offered by Shodor, a national resource in computational science education. Funding from CI-TEAM, ITEST and NSDL programs have provided the "AdVenture Capital" for Shodor to try novel outreach efforts to excite and attract students to consider study and careers in science, mathematics, and medicine. The result is Computing MATTERS, a coherent continuum of other than school-time activities from upper elementary grades through college for students to encounter the excitement of discovery, the power of inquiry, and the joy of learning enabled by cyberinfrastructure technologies. Leveraging this tested and proven model that combines training of teachers and near-peer exploration leaders, effective STEM education experiences for students at all levels, advancement of students from diverse backgrounds to positions of leadership, and continuous mentoring, Shodor has developed a partnership with universities, community centers, school districts and Sigma Xi to extend Computing MATTERS first to a wide geographic area reaching the very corners of the Research Triangle, and then to span the state of North Carolina. In Computing MATTERS, "MATTERS" is itself an acronym and has meaning in its own right: Mentoring Academic Transitions Through Experiences in Research and Service. The program combines the best of Shodor's efforts from workshops, apprenticeships and internships that have developed along the lines of the goals of CI-TEAM from the beginning. We help elementary and middle school students build and sustain an interest in science, mathematics, and technology through their high school years, and help high school students to see themselves being successful and happy pursuing studies in college and careers in STEM areas, while offering internships for college students to serve as developers and mentors in the program. We want to build self-sustaining local infrastructures, adapting the best features of Shodor's local initiatives, while expanding the mentor base to include colleges and universities and members of Sigma Xi living and working in North Carolina. Intellectual Merit: Computing "matters" because quantitative reasoning, computational thinking, and multiscale modeling are the intellectual "heart and soul" of 21st Century science and therefore are the essential skills of the 21st Century workforce. Computing "matters" because it moves students others have identified as "at risk" to students self-identified as "competent, capable, motivated, and employable." Computing "matters" because we can demonstrate the power of interactive computing to help reach a deeper understanding of math and science, while making the science "minds on" as well as "hands on." This implementation project will test the viability of the Shodor framework for sustainable outreach. Broader Impact: Computational explorations provide the context-rich experiences that attract otherwise underrepresented groups into STEM areas. We are scaling our work by demonstrating that Computing MATTERS works beyond Shodor, serving as a model for dissemination of successful programs. Our goal is to enable students all over North Carolina, and the nation eventually, to share the same growth from excitement to experience to expertise through research opportunities and service as students in Shodor's hometown. Materials will be vetted through the rigorous Verification, Validation, Accreditation (VVA) process employed by Shodor's Computational Science Education Reference Desk CSERD, a Pathway portal of the National Science Digital Library; research and evaluation results will be featured in the Journal of Computational Science Education.