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

通过国家科学基金会创新团队学习计划(i-Corps L)，该项目将开发各种方法来扩大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，越来越多地为我们的生活增加信息和指导；然而，许多人并不知道这一点，也不知道传感器具体是如何工作的。学生支持的使用创新技术的环境传感器网络(Sense IT)计划为教师和学生提供了一个机会，通过构建、测试、编程和部署他们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STEM项目专注于传感器的使用；然而，Sense IT的独特之处在于，说明涵盖了传感器的设计概念、结构、校准和编程以及部署和使用。该项目通过以下方式为未来的STEM劳动力培养和激励年轻人：1)提供一个学习各种STEM主题的激励、有意义和动手的情景；2)生物、物理和社会科学之间引人入胜的联系；3)直接进入课堂的尖端科学和工程研究范例。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)的制造和分配，以提供构建传感器所需的材料。其他工作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，以成功地指导学生完成传感器构建、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Maker和其他DIY运动在全国范围内越来越受欢迎，Sense IT将成为完全集成的STEM体验的典范，利用可互换的技术资源来解决NGSS。如果成功，一种完全虚拟的专业发展模式将惠及不能出差或无法从学校休假的教师，这代表着现有专业发展计划的扩大。通过这些成就，Sense IT将创造一种成本更低、更广泛获得的STEM实践教育体验，为21世纪STEM教育机会的民主化做出贡献，并增加对STEM相关职业感兴趣并为其做好准备的学生数量。

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.