The Urban Community Project to Stimulate Interests in STEM Careers (U-CPS)

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The Urban Community Project to Stimulate Interests in STEM Careers (U-CPS) project of Fisk University is a three-year project designed to provide challenging and stimulating learning experiences to middle school students by providing high quality professional development experiences for three cohorts of 15 middle and high school teachers through the development of learning modules. Teachers will conduct research by testing and refining these modules and operate as facilitators initially in pre-existing 8-weeks boys' (THURST) and girls' (GUSTO) summer science camps, and then modify them for use in science classrooms during the academic year. The project provides an after-school teachers' training program focusing on the utilization of robotics, rocketry, computers and ICT programming skills in urban classrooms in the Metropolitan Nashville Public School System. The goals of the project are to: (1) Improve pedagogy among public school science teachers by providing a professional development program for middle and high school science teachers to assist them in developing and integrating innovative teaching methods in their science curricula; (2) Enhance science and math summer science programs to prepare students from underrepresented groups for academic achievement and careers in STEM/ICT disciplines; (3) Use structured interactive and hands-on activities in rocketry and ICT in the classroom to enhance teaching competencies and student learning.