SBIR Phase I: Middle School Teacher- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Expert Mobile Matching Software Application

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will produce an online Matching Tool for Middle School teachers to connect with Science, Math, Engineering and Technology (STEM) experts and find STEM Project-Based-Learning (PBL) products. With this Matching Tool, teachers will be able to connect virtually with diverse STEM experts for teacher and student mentoring, virtual discussions and presentations; find PBL products for individual and group projects; and locate diverse STEM experts who are familiar with PBL products and projects. STEM experts will be recruited during the project with an emphasis on women, people with disabilities, underrepresented minorities and veterans. Middle School is a key stage in children's education and aspirations. The broader impact of the project is to bring real-time, diverse faces of STEM experts both to the teacher and into the classroom thus increasing children?s self-esteem and interest in STEM by using the "if you can see it, you can be it" truth in education. The central goal of this project is to create strong and measurable links between STEM experts and Middle School teachers and students, thus inspiring America's next generation of STEM experts and teachers. This Matching Tool addresses a validated teacher need to connect industry and university STEM experts to Middle School teachers and students. The Matching Tool also provides matches to PBL products and projects, thus easing the adoption of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) standards that require project-based learning. The easy-to-use expert matching program will also provide a video portal for diverse STEM experts to pop up via video on classroom computer and mobile devices. The backend NGSS tagging system will aggregate and measure expert knowledge transfer from the STEM community directly to Middle School teachers and students. The Matching Tool will include two Dashboards for Teacher/School reporting and Corporate/Foundation reporting. With widespread commercialization of the tool, the resulting connection between industry experts, teachers and students should provide industry STEM mentors to over 12,000 middle school teachers via a network of over 100,000 STEM experts in the first two years. The resulting impact will be to inspire students to study STEM fields and eventually secure STEM jobs. The resulting market impact is an increase in locally grown STEM employees, thus leading to an increase in American innovation and global competitiveness in many key areas of our economy.