I-Corps L: A Scalable Online Education Model for STEM Teacher Training

在线教育最近取得了重大进展，几个大学团队和初创公司向上网学生提供互动在线内容和评估。一个具有巨大商业潜力的尚未开发的市场是基于网络的，为初中生和高中生提供分级入门工程教育，作为大学预科课程(以及潜在的高级学分)。然而，要使这种方法有效，学校教师需要熟练地理解在线材料，并使用相同的在线资源来指导和评估学生。拟议工作的目标是使用可扩展和经济上可行的在线模式在K-12学生中促进高级工程教育，这些模式侧重于培训高中STEM教师。拟议的项目代表了一种在K-12学生中进行工程教育的独特和可扩展的方法。它试图解决大多数在线教育方法的两个重要局限性：(A)可扩展的在线教育倾向于消除课堂上的互动、指导和反馈；(B)在线教育不包括在工程学科中必不可少的真正实践经验。该项目的目标是开发一种分级的K-12工程教育方法，包括以下组成部分：纳米技术内容、可扩展的STEM教师培训和为学生提供可扩展的动手体验。拟议的计划应该以各种方式在初中和高中产生巨大的吸引力，包括创建标志性课程和/或选修课；可以获得大学学分的预修高中课程；以及纳入现有数学和科学课程的内容。

Online education has recently made significant advances with several university teams and start-ups delivering interactive online content and assessment to web-enabled students. One untapped market that has huge commercial potential is web based offering of tiered introductory engineering education to middle and high school students as preparatory courses (and, potentially advanced credit) for college. However, for this method to be effective, school teachers need to be adept at understanding online material and guide and assess the students using the same online resources. The goal of the proposed work is to promote advanced engineering education amongst K-12 students using scalable and economically viable online models that focus on training high school STEM teachers. The proposed project represents a unique and scalable approach to engineering education among K-12 students. It seeks to address two important limitations of most online education approaches: (a) Scalable online education tends to eliminate in-class type interaction, mentoring and feedback; and (b) Online education does not include true hands-on experience that is essential in engineering disciplines. The goal of this project is to develop a tiered approach to K-12 engineering education that involves the following components: Nanotech content, Scalable STEM teachers' training, and scalable hands-on experience for students. The proposed program should lead to significant traction with middle and high schools in a variety of ways including creation of signature courses and/or electives; advanced placement high school courses that can receive college credits; and content incorporated into existing math and science courses.