I-Corps L: SENSE IT - The Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology

通过NSF创新团队学习计划（I-Corps L），该项目将开发方法来增加教学系统的规模和影响，以帮助教师和学生创建和使用传感器来测量水质。传感器围绕着我们，并越来越多地为我们的生活添加信息和指导;然而，许多人并不知道这一点，也不知道传感器是如何工作的。学生启用网络传感器的环境使用创新技术（SENSE IT）计划为教师和学生提供了一个机会，通过构建，测试，编程和部署自己的水质传感器网络来学习核心科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）知识。还有其他专注于传感器使用的STEM课程;然而，SENSE IT的独特之处在于该指令涵盖了传感器的设计概念，构造，校准和编程以及部署和使用。该项目准备和激励年轻人为未来的STEM劳动力提供：1）一个激励，有意义的，动手的场景，学习广泛的STEM主题，2）生物，物理和社会科学之间的联系，和3）科学和工程研究的前沿例子，直接进入课堂。 I-Corps for Learning项目将增加现有SENSE IT计划的可访问性和广泛使用。该项目将解决传感器套件（温度、电导率、浊度和深度）的制造和分销问题，以方便获得构建传感器所需的材料。额外的努力将包括提供在线课程和在线专业发展，为教师提供主题专业知识，以成功地引导学生完成传感器的构建，校准和部署过程。随着下一代科学标准（NGSS）的实施，将工程融入科学课程，以及全国各地越来越受欢迎的Maker和其他DIY运动，SENSE IT将成为完全集成的STEM体验的典范，通过可互换的技术资源解决NGSS问题。如果成功的话，一个完全虚拟的专业发展模式将覆盖那些不能旅行或不能从学校请假的教师，这代表着现有专业发展计划的扩展。通过这些成就，SENSE IT将创造一个成本更低，更广泛的访问，动手STEM教育经验，有助于21世纪STEM教育机会的民主化，并扩大对STEM相关职业感兴趣和准备的学生数量。

Through the NSF Innovations Corps for Learning Program (I-Corps L), this project will develop ways to increase the scale and impact of an instructional system to help teachers and students to create and use sensors to measure water quality. Sensors surround us and increasingly add information and guidance to our lives; however, many people are not aware of this or specifically how sensors work. The Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology (SENSE IT) program provides an opportunity for teachers and students to learn core science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) knowledge through building, testing, programming, and deploying their own water quality sensor networks. There are other STEM programs that focus on the use of sensors; however, SENSE IT is distinctive in that the instruction covers design concepts, construction, calibration, and programming of the sensor as well as deployment and use. The project prepares and motivates young people for the future STEM workforce by providing: 1) a motivating, meaningful, and hands-on scenario for learning a wide range of STEM topics, 2) an engaging link between biological, physical, and social sciences, and 3) a cutting-edge example of science and engineering research, delivered directly into the classroom. The I-Corps for Learning project will increase the accessibly and widespread use of the existing SENSE IT program. The project will address the manufacturing and distribution of sensor kits (temperature, conductivity, turbidity, and depth) to provide easy access to the required materials to construct the sensors. Additional effort will involve providing access to the online curriculum and online professional development to provide teachers with the subject matter expertise to successfully lead students through the sensor construction, calibration, and deployment process. With the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) infusing engineering into science classes and increasingly popular Maker and other DIY movements across the country, SENSE IT will serve as a model for fully integrated STEM experiences addressing NGSS with interchangeable technology resources. If successful, a fully virtual professional development format will reach teachers who cannot travel or cannot get leave time from school, representing a expansion of available professional development programs. Through these accomplishments, SENSE IT will create a lower cost, and more widely accessible, hands-on STEM educational experience, contributing to the democratization of 21st century STEM education opportunities and expanding the number of students interested in and prepared for STEM related careers.