CI-TEAM Implementation Project: Computing MATTERS: Pathways to Cyberinfrastructure

近十年来，在美国国家科学基金会、私人和企业基金会的资助下，达勒姆及其附近的学生受益于Shodor提供的讲习班、学徒和实习机会。Shodor是计算科学教育方面的国家资源。来自CI-TEAM、ITEST和NSDL项目的资金为Shodor提供了“冒险资本”，以尝试新颖的推广工作，以激发和吸引学生考虑在科学、数学和医学领域学习和就业。其结果是“计算问题”，这是一个从小学高年级到大学的课外活动的连贯连续体，学生们可以通过网络基础设施技术体验发现的兴奋、探究的力量和学习的乐趣。利用这种经过测试和验证的模式，结合了教师和近同伴探索领导者的培训，为各级学生提供有效的STEM教育经验，将来自不同背景的学生提升到领导职位，以及持续的指导，Shodor与大学，社区中心，学区和Sigma Xi建立了合作伙伴关系，将计算事务扩展到广泛的地理区域，到达研究三角的各个角落。然后跨越北卡罗来纳州。在Computing MATTERS中，“MATTERS”本身就是一个首字母缩略词，它本身就有意义：通过研究和服务的经验指导学术转型。该计划结合了Shodor从一开始就沿着CI-TEAM目标发展的工作坊，学徒和实习的最佳努力。我们帮助中小学生在高中阶段培养并保持对科学、数学和技术的兴趣，并帮助高中生看到自己在STEM领域的大学学习和职业生涯中取得成功和快乐，同时为大学生提供实习机会，作为项目的开发人员和导师。我们希望建立自给自足的当地基础设施，适应Shodor当地倡议的最佳特征，同时扩大导师基础，包括在北卡罗来纳州生活和工作的学院和大学以及Sigma Xi的成员。智力优势：计算“很重要”，因为定量推理、计算思维和多尺度建模是21世纪科学的智力“核心和灵魂”，因此是21世纪劳动力的基本技能。计算机之所以“重要”，是因为它让那些被别人认为“有风险”的学生，让那些自认为“有能力、有能力、有动力、有工作能力”的学生产生了共鸣。计算“很重要”，因为我们可以展示交互式计算的力量，以帮助加深对数学和科学的理解，同时使科学“思想”和“实践”。这个实施项目将检验Shodor框架在可持续推广方面的可行性。更广泛的影响：计算探索提供了丰富的背景经验，吸引了其他代表性不足的群体进入STEM领域。我们正在扩大我们的工作范围，证明Computing MATTERS在Shodor之外也能发挥作用，成为成功项目传播的典范。我们的目标是让北卡罗来纳乃至全国的学生，通过研究机会和服务，与肖铎家乡的学生一样，分享从兴奋到经验到专业知识的成长。材料将通过Shodor的计算科学教育参考台CSERD（国家科学数字图书馆的途径门户）采用的严格的验证，验证，认证（VVA）流程进行审查；研究和评估结果将刊登在《计算科学教育杂志》上。

For nearly a decade, supported with funding from NSF and private and corporate foundations, students in and near Durham have benefited from the workshops, apprenticeships, and internships offered by Shodor, a national resource in computational science education. Funding from CI-TEAM, ITEST and NSDL programs have provided the "AdVenture Capital" for Shodor to try novel outreach efforts to excite and attract students to consider study and careers in science, mathematics, and medicine. The result is Computing MATTERS, a coherent continuum of other than school-time activities from upper elementary grades through college for students to encounter the excitement of discovery, the power of inquiry, and the joy of learning enabled by cyberinfrastructure technologies. Leveraging this tested and proven model that combines training of teachers and near-peer exploration leaders, effective STEM education experiences for students at all levels, advancement of students from diverse backgrounds to positions of leadership, and continuous mentoring, Shodor has developed a partnership with universities, community centers, school districts and Sigma Xi to extend Computing MATTERS first to a wide geographic area reaching the very corners of the Research Triangle, and then to span the state of North Carolina. In Computing MATTERS, "MATTERS" is itself an acronym and has meaning in its own right: Mentoring Academic Transitions Through Experiences in Research and Service. The program combines the best of Shodor's efforts from workshops, apprenticeships and internships that have developed along the lines of the goals of CI-TEAM from the beginning. We help elementary and middle school students build and sustain an interest in science, mathematics, and technology through their high school years, and help high school students to see themselves being successful and happy pursuing studies in college and careers in STEM areas, while offering internships for college students to serve as developers and mentors in the program. We want to build self-sustaining local infrastructures, adapting the best features of Shodor's local initiatives, while expanding the mentor base to include colleges and universities and members of Sigma Xi living and working in North Carolina. Intellectual Merit: Computing "matters" because quantitative reasoning, computational thinking, and multiscale modeling are the intellectual "heart and soul" of 21st Century science and therefore are the essential skills of the 21st Century workforce. Computing "matters" because it moves students others have identified as "at risk" to students self-identified as "competent, capable, motivated, and employable." Computing "matters" because we can demonstrate the power of interactive computing to help reach a deeper understanding of math and science, while making the science "minds on" as well as "hands on." This implementation project will test the viability of the Shodor framework for sustainable outreach. Broader Impact: Computational explorations provide the context-rich experiences that attract otherwise underrepresented groups into STEM areas. We are scaling our work by demonstrating that Computing MATTERS works beyond Shodor, serving as a model for dissemination of successful programs. Our goal is to enable students all over North Carolina, and the nation eventually, to share the same growth from excitement to experience to expertise through research opportunities and service as students in Shodor's hometown. Materials will be vetted through the rigorous Verification, Validation, Accreditation (VVA) process employed by Shodor's Computational Science Education Reference Desk CSERD, a Pathway portal of the National Science Digital Library; research and evaluation results will be featured in the Journal of Computational Science Education.