App Maker Pro (AMP): Motivating STEM Study through App Development

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，以更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学，技术，工程，或数学（STEM），通过产生经验发现和/或研究工具，有助于了解哪些模型和干预措施与K-12学生和教师最有可能提高未来STEM和STEM同源密集型劳动力的能力。AMP项目（App Maker Pro）是亚利桑那州立大学与亚利桑那州钱德勒、希格利、梅萨和凤凰城公立学校的合作项目，将评估设计村（社区）项目对高中生技术兴趣和才能的有效性。教师将提高他们的技术专业知识和技术应用知识，以增加STEM专业的数量。在设计村，高中学生和高中STEM教师团队将研究现有的应用程序，然后开发（或修改现有的）应用程序，包括那些专注于游戏和建筑设计的应用程序，以解决各种STEM和相关领域的问题，例如城市规划，生态友好型建筑，教育，金融，营养/健身/医疗保健和旅行。AMP的方法，其设计村的科学家和行业专家，教师和学生，谁合作，以确定和解决具有挑战性的问题，在干领域通过开发的应用程序，将立即有用的公众，不仅增加了高中学生的数量做好准备，中学后教育在干领域，但也可能被证明是招募高中毕业生进入STEM领域的工具。AMP产品，包括有效的课后AMP方案课程，有助于在全国范围内推广这一战略。应用程序和软件设计程序将遵循非正式的敏捷开发方法，该方法通过快速循环迭代从原型到中间到最终版本的需求，设计规范，实施和验证。在增加了自己在设计和开发方面的专业知识后，教师和高中生团队将为学校的其他学生和教师创建和开展课后AMP项目。设计村将由大学和工业科学家领导，并由本科软件设计和编程专业的学生协助。每个设计村将由10个团队组成，每个团队由5名村民（3名学生和2名教师）组成。在项目实施过程中，将举办三个设计村，涉及90名高中生、60名高中教师和15至45名导师。评估将侧重于学生和教师。主要目标将包括：1）增加学生在高中学习STEM科目的兴趣和承诺; 2）增加在高中以后的教育环境中报名并坚持STEM课程的学生人数; 3）增加教师对使用软件开发的兴趣和承诺，作为吸引学生解决现实世界问题的工具;以及4）提高教师的才能，以成功地为课后或校内项目规划和提供软件设计和应用程序开发课程。评估结果将增加有关学生课程和项目选择和职业选择动机的知识，以及提高教师技术人才和STEM职业知识的专业发展方法。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by producing empirical findings and/or research tools that contribute to knowledge about which models and interventions with K-12 students and teachers are most likely to increase capacity in the STEM and STEM cognate intensive workforce of the future. Project AMP (App Maker Pro), a partnership between Arizona State University and the Chandler, Higley, Mesa, and Phoenix, Arizona public schools, will gauge the effectiveness of a design village (community) program on the technology interests and talents of high school students. The teachers will enhance their technology expertise and knowledge of applications of technology, as a way to increase the number of STEM majors. In design villages, teams of high school students and high school STEM teachers will study existing apps, and then develop (or modify existing) apps, including those focusing on games, and architectural designs, that address problems in the various STEM and related fields, as for example, city planning, eco-friendly construction, education, finance, nutrition/fitness/healthcare, and travel. The AMP approach, with its design villages of scientists and industry experts, teachers and students, who collaborate to identify and address challenging problems in STEM fields through development of apps that will be immediately useful by the public, not only increase the number of high school students well-prepared for post-secondary education in STEM fields, but may also prove to be a tool for recruiting high school graduates into STEM fields. AMP products, including curricula for effective after-school AMP programs facilitate replication of this strategy nationwide. The app and software design program will follow an informal agile development methodology which moves through rapid-cycle iteration from prototyping to intermediate to final versions of the requirements, design specifications, implementation and validation. After increasing their own expertise in design and development, teams of teachers and high school students will create and conduct after-school AMP programs for other students and teachers in their schools. Design villages will be conducted and led by university and industry scientists, assisted by undergraduate software design and programming majors. Each design village will consist of 10 teams of 5 villagers (3 students and 2 teachers). Over the course of the project, three design villages will be conducted, involving 90 high school students, 60 high school teachers, and from 15 to 45 mentors. Evaluation will focus on both students and teachers. Major goals will include: 1) Increase in student interest in and commitment to study STEM subjects in high school; 2) Increase in the number of students who enroll in and persist in STEM programs in education settings beyond high school; 3) Increase in teacher interest in and commitment to use of software development as a vehicle for engaging students in solving real-world problems; and 4) Increase in teachers' talents to successfully plan and offer software design and app development courses for after-school or in-school programs. Results from the evaluation will add to knowledge about motivation for student course and program selection and career choice, and professional development approaches that enhance teacher technology talents and knowledge of STEM careers.