Fly High Your Math and Science Skills

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，以更好地了解和促进实践，通过参与现场实践、基于实验室/项目的创业任务和指导经验，提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力。塔斯基吉大学的这个ITEST项目将把飞行模拟作为一种积极的学习工具，激励和吸引7-8年级的75名学生学习和强化各种数学和科学概念。该项目还包括培训15名中学教师，让他们在教授STEM概念的同时融入创新、主动和体验式的学习技术。该项目使用商业现成的飞行模拟软件，成本低，并具有良好的物理逼真度的现象。该项目的目标是：(A)激励和培训中学教师在教授STEM概念时采用创新、积极和体验式的学习技术；(B)提高学生解决STEM问题的整体能力；以及(C)改善教师和学生对STEM概念教学和学习的态度。该项目团队由来自数学、航空航天工程、数学教育和一名教学设计师(顾问)的教师组成，将利用飞行模拟环境，基于阿拉巴马州的学习课程和下一代科学标准，为7年级和8年级的学生开发学习模块。他们将设计和实施干预策略，以增加学生的参与度，并随后通过三个部分提高学生对选定的数学和科学概念的理解：(1)为数学和科学教师举办为期一周的专业发展讲习班；(2)为7-8年级的学生举办为期一周的夏令营；以及(3)由教师在课堂上实施这一方法。总体目标是确定流行技术支持的创新学习方法是否影响数学和科学概念的学习。研究问题是：(A)一项基于物理模拟而不是“抽搐视频游戏”的动手活动是否会吸引中学生学习数学和科学概念？(B)这个项目中提出的暑期项目是否能提高中学生的数学和科学自我效能感？(C)在基于飞行模拟器的学习环境中，女学生是否与男学生一样投入学习；(D)农村学区的数学和科学教师是否接受和实施以技术为中介的教学方法，如基于飞行模拟的方法？评价计划将使用逻辑模型来评估项目活动。干预措施将通过几个事后工具进行评估，其中包括暑期计划期间对数学和科学内容知识的评估，他们对数学和科学的态度，以及自我效能感。

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 engaging in hands-on field experience, laboratory/project-based entrepreneurship tasks and mentorship experiencesThis Tuskegee University ITEST project will use flight simulation as an active learning tool to motivate and engage 75 students in grades 7-8 in learning and reinforcing various math and science concepts. The project also involves training 15 middle school teachers to incorporate innovative, active, and experiential learning techniques while teaching STEM concepts. The project uses commercial-off-the-shelf flight simulation software that is low cost and has excellent fidelity of the physics of the phenomenon. The objectives of this project are: (a) to motivate and train middle school teachers to incorporate innovative, active, and experiential learning techniques while teaching STEM concepts; (b) to improve the overall ability of students in solving STEM problems; and, (c) to improve the attitudes of teachers and students towards teaching and learning STEM concepts.The project team, consisting of faculty from mathematics, aerospace engineering, mathematics education and an instructional designer (consultant), will develop learning modules for 7th and 8th grade students based on the Alabama Course of Study and Next Generation Science Standards using a flight simulation environment. They will design and implement intervention strategies for increasing student engagement and subsequently their understanding of selected math and science concepts through three components: (1) a one-week professional development workshop for the math and science teachers; (2) a one-week summer camp for grade 7-8 students; and (3) the implementation of the approach by the teachers in their classrooms. The overall goal is to determine if an innovative learning approach supported by popular technology impact the learning of mathematics and science concepts. The research questions are: (a) Does a hands-on activity that is a physics-based simulation and not a "twitch video game" engage middle school students in learning math and science concepts? (b) Does a summer program such as proposed in this project enhance the self-efficacy of middle school students in math and science? (c) Are female students as engaged as male students in a flight simulator based learning environment and (d) Do math and science teachers of a rural school district accept and implement a technology mediated pedagogy such as the flight simulation-based approach? The evaluation plan will use a logic model to assess project activities. The intervention will be evaluated through several pre-post instruments that will include the assessment of math and science content knowledge during the summer program, their attitudes towards math and science, and self-efficacy.