Nebraska Wearable Technologies (WearTec)

研究、委托报告以及STEM领域教育进展的国家和国际测试表明，在代表性不足的学生与同龄人之间，在兴趣和成就方面存在巨大差距。将这些目前代表性不足的学生排除在STEM教育和STEM职业之外，可能会影响美国在世界上的科学和工程地位，因为他们的观点多样性对创新至关重要，而这在STEM劳动力中基本缺失。内布拉斯加州WearTec项目将通过在正式和非正式学习环境中提供高质量的STEM学习活动来解决这一差距。该项目将针对来自内布拉斯加州城乡30所学校的至少900名未被充分代表的4至6年级学生。该项目将测试一种基于混合问题学习方法的工程设计教学模式。课程模块将侧重于将电气、电路和计算机编程与时尚（可穿戴技术）和美学相结合的工程设计过程。整个项目将为90名教师和校外教育工作者提供专业发展讲习班和活动指南。这些人将监督学生参与真实体验的情况，这是由内布拉斯加大学林肯分校、内布拉斯加大学奥马哈分校和内布拉斯加州教育部的21世纪社区学习中心（CCLC）项目（联邦政府资助的全州资助项目，旨在支持建立社区学习中心，为就读高需求学校的学生提供服务）共同努力的结果。WearTec将使用2009年国家研究委员会关于工程教育的综合报告中的建议作为该项目的框架。WearTec将在正式的课堂环境中对可穿戴技术进行初步的重新设计，然后在课外环境中进行更广泛的迭代设计，以提供沉浸式扩展活动所需的灵活性和自由度。这些活动将包括在线和基于印刷的形式，旨在改变对教学方法的理解，培养动机、兴趣和知识获取，激励和准备学生从事STEM职业；从而对STEM劳动力产生积极影响。准实验研究设计将用于检查参加WearTec干预的学生与未参加干预的对照组在工程设计方面的知识和兴趣之间的差异。该项目将使用专门用于测量工程设计和知识以及STEM学生兴趣和动机的仪器，这些仪器之前在美国国家科学基金会和美国教育部资助的先前研究中进行了有效性和可靠性测试。

Research studies, commissioned reports, and national and international tests of educational progress in STEM fields show that a large gap exists, in interest and achievement, between underrepresented students and their counterparts. The exclusion of these currently underrepresented students from STEM education and STEM careers will likely impact the Nation's scientific and engineering status in the world, as their diversity of perspectives, which is essential in innovation, is largely absent from the STEM workforce. The Nebraska WearTec project will address this gap by providing high-quality STEM learning activities in both formal and informal learning environments. The project will target at least 900 underrepresented youth in grades 4 through 6 from 30 schools in urban and rural Nebraska. The project will test a teaching and learning model based on a hybrid problem-based learning approach to engineering design. Curriculum modules will focus on engineering design processes that merge electricity, circuitry, and computer programing with fashion (wearable technologies) and aesthetics. Professional development workshops and activity guides for 90 teachers and out-of-school-time educators will be provided throughout the project. These individuals will oversee student engagement in authentic experiences supported by a collaborative effort involving the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and the Nebraska Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) program (a federally funded statewide grants program designed to support the establishment of community learning centers serving students attending high-need schools). WearTec will use recommendations from the 2009 National Research Council's comprehensive report on engineering education as the framework for this project. WearTec will employ initial redesign of wearable technologies in formal classroom settings followed by more extensive iterative design in out-of-school-time environments to provide the flexibility and freedom required for immersive extended activities. The activities will include both online and print-based formats that will be designed to transform understanding of instructional methods that foster motivation, interest, and knowledge acquisition to inspire and prepare students to pursue STEM careers; thereby positively impacting the STEM workforce. A quasi-experimental research design will be used to examine differences between knowledge and interest in engineering design of students who participated in the WearTec intervention and a comparison group who did not participate in the intervention. The project will employ instruments specific to measuring engineering design and knowledge as well as STEM student interest and motivation previously tested for validity and reliability in prior studies funded by NSF and the U.S. Department of Education.