In 2012, the NSF funded the Advanced Manufacturing and Prototyping Integrated to Unlock Potential(AMP-IT-UP) project through its Math/Science Partnership program to develop a program to increase student interest in engineering and more deeply engage students in mathematics and science. The project, a partnership between Georgia Tech and the Griffin-Spalding County Schools, developed, implemented, and assessed manufacturing-focused curriculum materials that support engaging and rigorous STEM instruction, and implemented STEM-focused enrichment activities for both students and teachers. The central outcomes were 1) a thoroughly piloted and evaluated sequence of middle school engineering (STEM-ID) courses, 2) eighteen 1-week modules for core math and science instruction, 3) an online Engineering Design Process Log, and 4) a state-wide competition that promotes invention and entrepreneurship.
Our hypothesis was that applied engineering experiences, implemented in low-risk, connections-class environments, would lead to increased engagement and self-efficacy and would positively impact academic achievement and persistence in STEM. The published AMP-IT-UP research has demonstrated unequivocally that this is correct, as participation in STEM-ID significantly benefitted both students’ math and science academic achievement and their engagement in STEM. Research also demonstrated that across grade levels and schools, students were able to transfer knowledge between their engineering and their mathematics and science courses. After initial work with one school district, AMP-IT-UP materials have now been adopted by several of the largest school systems in Georgia and increasingly by schools across the country. All materials are available for free download at https://ampitup.gatech.edu/, and scaling and professional development efforts are continuing.
Mathematics, Science, Engineering
Georgia Tech
Advanced Technological Education (ATE), Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Math and Science Partnership (MSP), STEM + Computing Partnerships (STEM+C)
Related Content for AMP-IT-UP: Inspiring middle school teachers in STEM
Discussion from the 2020 STEM For All Video Showcase (32 posts)
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 4, 2020 | 03:30 p.m.
Welcome to the AMP-IT-UP video showcase!
I am a research faculty member at Georgia Tech and co-PI of the AMP-IT-UP project. This seven yearlong MSP project ended on September 2019. Our video highlights the middle school engineering courses (STEM-Innovation and Design (STEM-ID)), 1-week math and science modules, and the K-12 Challenge competition that were developed as part of the project. STEM-ID courses align with national math and science standards, promote the use of the engineering design process, introduce students to advanced manufacturing tools, incorporate engineering concepts, increase student awareness of career paths, and problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills.
The math and science modules align with best practices put forth in the Next Generation Science Standards and the Standards of Mathematical Practice and promote STEM learning by engaging middle school students in problem-based inquiry lessons that emphasize collecting, visualizing, interpreting, and communicating authentic and compelling data. Research results have shown that the modules have been effective in supporting teachers’ adoption of practices related to project-base and inquiry learning, and evidence suggests that the teachers are incorporating these pedagogical strategies into their other lesson plans. We have published numerous articles from this project and could be downloaded from the publication website.
The curriculum components that are described can be found at https://ampitup.gatech.edu/amp-it-brochure ,and they are free for download. Currently, we are working on disseminating and implementing the curriculum across Georgia and the United States. Dr. Marion Usselman, PI of the project, can provide more information about the dissemination efforts and teacher professional development.
We look forward to hearing your comments about the project.
A very exciting project to bring much-needed engineering design curricula to midde schools! And it's fantastic you're seeing evidence that teachers are using the strategies in other lessons. In what school systems did you first pilot the project? As you expand, have you gotten any feedback from teachers about the ease or difficulty of acquiring the needed materials?
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Meltem Alemdar
Marion Usselman
Co-Presenter CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
May 5, 2020 | 09:50 a.m.
The Griffin-Spalding County School system, which is a rural-fringe school system south of Atlanta, was our partner in the MSP project. Since that time we have expanded the project throughout Gwinnett County Schools, which is the largest school system in Georgia, Ascension Parish schools in Louisiana, and some small districts in rural GA. Fulton County Schools, another large system in metro-Atlanta, is adopting the STEM-ID courses combined with the math and science modules as a year-long math enrichment program to promote algebra readiness.
Materials for the math and science modules are generally readily available, and information about procurement is included in the materials download. A couple of the math modules require a 3D printed part, but the print file is included (if your school or district has a 3D printer), or we provide them at cost on our website.
The STEM-ID courses have more equipment needs, but if they are offered as part of a school's Career and Technical Education program, there are often Perkins funds available to support the costs. Generally the decision to adopt the engineering curriculum is made by the school system CTE administrators, not by individual teachers. We have some agreements in place with the equipment suppliers to try to decrease the costs. We are interested in talking to schools who would like to offer middle school engineering or integrated STEM courses. We have very strong research evidence that shows a significant beneficial effect on math and science achievement, particularly among weaker students, and a strengthening of student engagement with STEM and decrease in math and science anxiety.
Great to see a well-developed, tested, and packaged project so far along -- in dissemination and scaling up mode. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm a program evaluator working with TEEMS, which is in the first year of development and piloting a engineering curriculum resources using the tenets of Imaginative Education for use in middle school classrooms. Over the course of the year, we were refining and testing various measurement instruments to look at student engagement, STEM identity, efficacy, transfer knowledge, as well as conceptual understanding. Based on your work, I'd be interested in learning more about how you measured student progress and outcomes.Thanks for sharing your learning about what worked and what showed promise.
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Sumreen Asim
Becky Mazur
Meltem Alemdar
Catherine Jones
May 5, 2020 | 11:56 a.m.
AMP-IT-UP is fabulous! A few years ago, AMSTI specialists attended this PL to enhance their science coaching practices. AMP-IT-UP partners also attended the ACTM Fall Forum to present sessions to Alabama math teachers.
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Meltem Alemdar
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 5, 2020 | 12:04 p.m.
Thanks for visiting Kate. We have multiple instruments that were developed and tested as part of this project. The student survey focused on measuring engagement (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), academic self-efficacy, persistent in STEM, problem-solving, and communication skills. We also have a validated test measuring student's understanding of engineering design process. I am happy to share the instruments with you. Also, it is interesting that you mentioned the knowledge transfer. We conducted a qualitative study about how students were transferring the knowledge between math, science and engineering courses. It was evident that it was impacting their learning.
Let me know if there are other instruments. If you can share the student survey, that would be great. you can reach me at: klytton@collaborative.org. Thanks so much.
K. Renae Pullen
Facilitator Specialist
May 5, 2020 | 02:21 p.m.
What an awesome learning opportunity for students and educators! I'm excited that at its core, students engage in authentic engineering experiences that focus on real issues and phenomena. Where can I learn more about the student projects in the K-12 invention and entrepreneurship competitions? Thanks.
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Meltem Alemdar
Roxanne Moore
Co-Presenter Senior Research Engineer
May 5, 2020 | 02:56 p.m.
Hi there! You can learn more about the invention and entrepreneurship competition and see previous winners here:
k12inventure.gatech.edu
I direct the program and would be happy to answer any questions you may have. :)
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Great work, Meltem. As usual, your work focusing on the intersection of standards, teacher needs, and innovation via instruction lead to powerful outcomes that are immediately deployable and transformative. The entrepreneurship competition adds another layer of depth too, which I'm sure ignites the passion of additional students.
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Meltem Alemdar
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 6, 2020 | 08:57 a.m.
Thank you for visiting, Christine. NSF used to fund this type of five year-long, and large scale projects. It really helps to test the materials multiple times, and collect robust research data.
Margo Murphy
Facilitator Science Instructor
May 5, 2020 | 05:17 p.m.
I am very excited to learn more and share with middle schools in Maine. I am curious about your evaluation. You mentioned that teachers are able to transfer pedogogical practices to other areas. I would love to hear more about some of those practices that they implemented and were able to be transferred. Nice work!!
Marion Usselman
Co-Presenter CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
May 6, 2020 | 09:14 a.m.
Thanks for your interest, Mary. We would love to talk to you about ways we might promote use of our materials in Maine. Please send me an email at marion.usselman@ceismc.gatech.edu, and let's start the conversation.
Regarding transfer of pedagogical practices to their other units, teachers reported using more hands-on activities, group work, interdisciplinary connections, student-led learning, and real-world connection. The math teachers also talked about incorporating more chances for students to explore different ways that data is represented and how data drives decision making. We really try to give students opportunities to grapple with situations where the data isn't giving them an obvious answer--i.e. where they need to deal with trade-offs, and need to make an argument defending their decision.
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Becky Mazur
Margo Murphy
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 6, 2020 | 09:21 a.m.
Thank you, Mary. The one week long math and science modules are a set of STEM practices within the context of the appropriate grade-level content. These STEM practices are grouped into strands labeled Experimental Design, Data Visualization, and Data-Driven Decision Making; the emphasis of each of these practice strands is, respectively, the collection of data, the representation of data, and the use of data to support complex decision-making. Nine one-week modules were created in the science domain, one focused on each practice strand at grade levels 6, 7, and 8. A parallel set of nine modules in the math domain were also created, resulting in a total of 18 modules. These modules provide teachers to understand the practices. After implementing our modules, teachers also developed their own lesson plans that focus on the practices, which allowed them slowly change their classroom practice by developing more lesson plans. Their classroom pedagogy became more student-oriented due to their training and their experience in inquiry learning. Also, it helped that the modules were adapted at the district level. They sustain the project by building their own professional development, and making the module as part of their curriculum maps
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Margo Murphy
Lynda McGilvary
Facilitator Communications Director
May 6, 2020 | 03:07 a.m.
This looks like a wonderful program and I appreciate that it serves students in rural areas. Did the rural setting factor into any of the accommodations you developed for this project?
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Becky Mazur
Marion Usselman
Co-Presenter CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
May 6, 2020 | 09:27 a.m.
The school system partner in our program is a rural-fringe, somewhat depressed manufacturing area of GA, so all materials were developed with those students in mind. Because of our initial focusing on manufacturing, a number of the scenarios have manufacturing and entrepreneurship contexts. But we tried to be as inclusive in developing scenarios as possible.
The biggest issue we have with our rural settings is the lack of available engineering teachers. There is an extreme shortage of engineering teachers for both middle and high school statewide, but the rural counties have an even larger problem than the cities attracting them. For middle schools, our view is that if someone knows how to teach, then we can train them on the engineering content needed for our STEM-ID engineering courses. One of our best teachers was a former bank manager who wanted to teach, and the engineering class was the one available.
An additional problem is always funding, and the urban schools have more money available than the rural ones. However, we are working with 3D printer manufacturers and other equipment suppliers to try to locate used equipment and get deals, and we try to help systems identify other sources of funds. We'll work with any district to try to come up with a way to incorporate our materials.
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Great resource for schools and teachers! Can you expand a bit on the data types that you collect from/during/after the intervention (video, worksheets, assessments, etc.). The video mentioned higher participation in STEM and higher state test scores in science and math. Higher than previous years? Than a control group? As an in situ intervention, am very interested in the data collection and analysis. Thanks for sharing.
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 6, 2020 | 12:42 p.m.
Thank you, Michael. We have various data sources, including multiple years of student interviews, classroom observation (including fidelity of implementation research in engineering classrooms), student products, student achievement data, student surveys, teacher surveys etc. We also had control groups for the engineering classroom. Students are/were placed in the engineering class randomly every year, so a student can take the class 3 three years in a row through their middle school year, or twice or once, or none. Naturally, this created some control groups for our study. Please review our paper for data and groups, here is the link . You can also find download the paper in our publication site. It explains the details of the data and groups.
Kudos - Few such curricula have research results to show effectiveness of incorporation into teachers' practices, especially in terms of transferring to other lessons. Email me to see how AAAS can help share the materials via ARISE/Noyce.
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Becky Mazur
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 6, 2020 | 02:21 p.m.
Thank you, Jennifer. I will definitely email you with more information. Kathleen Bergin was our NSF program officer.
I want to echo what several other have said; it is great that teachers report adjusting their practices. That's such a powerful indicator of this project's success -- teachers are happy to adapt and adopt when they see good things happening for their students.
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This is a great opportunity to engage students in the love of STEM. The question is how can this program can be scaled up and made accessible to more underrepresented students in STEM? This project requires a lot of resources, something that students of low socioeconomic situation lack....I love the program for I am a supporter of project based programs...as well as inquiry based STEM... teaching and learning is more fun that way and it looks like the students are having fun while learning...
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 7, 2020 | 10:52 a.m.
Thank you, Hector. We are still learning from our dissemination experience in different school districts. I agree that the available recourses are always a challenge. However, we provide all possible information that might help them to start planning for it. Materials for the math and science modules are generally readily available, and information about procurement is included in the materials download. A couple of the math modules require a 3D printed part, but the print file is included (if your school or district has a 3D printer), or we provide them at cost on our website. The STEM-ID engineering courses have more equipment needs, but if they are offered as part of a school's Career and Technical Education program, there are often Perkins funds available to support the costs. In general, the decision to adopt the engineering curriculum is made by the school system CTE administrators, not by individual teachers. We have some agreements in place with the equipment suppliers to try to decrease the costs. I think all of these are at least an effort to bring the curriculum to underserved groups, point them to a positive direction.
I would love to learn more about the PD needed before implementation of units and the level and type of scaffolding provided to teachers in the materials themselves and while implementing. There is always a balance to find between preparing a teacher to work with new content and not overwhelming teachers and placing too many burdens on teachers who are already super busy. What are some key things you learned about finding the right balance in supporting teachers?
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Margo Murphy
Marion Usselman
Co-Presenter CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
May 8, 2020 | 09:51 a.m.
Hi Traci,
We have different training for the modules and the STEM-ID courses. For the modules, we generally offer a 2-day PD workshop for each content and grade level. E.g. for 6th grade science there are 3 modules. The PD includes a half-day background session on the philosophy and pedagogy common to all modules, and teachers then work through each of the 3 modules as a learner, spending a half day on each. Once teachers have become familiar with the flow of the modules and have implemented some, it is easier for them to pick up another, as the arc of learning and order of learning (using the basic 5E structure) are the same. Each module comes with a student booklet that fully scaffolds the unit, plus an annotated student edition that serves as a quick reference guide for the teacher, as well as extensive teacher preparation materials. All those materials are available for free download. You can currently download a zip file that includes all the materials and we are in the process of working on a better dissemination site.
We appreciate the balance between trying to move teacher practice and not overwhelming them. The AMP-IT-UP MSP project was long enough (5 years funded, plus 2 years no-cost-extension) that we were able to work with the teachers over multiple years. Generally we would ask the math and science teachers to try out the modules for the first time in late spring, after standardized testing had occurred. That way they could do it in a low stakes environment first, then implement in class the following year. It takes several years for teachers who are not familiar with constructivist teaching to feel comfortable using materials like this as the primary instruction, rather than just as a confirmational experience after direct instruction. It is only after they see the difference in student engagement and understanding that they start changing their regular practice.
The STEM-ID PD is a 4-day workshop as it needs to cover three different semester-long courses and teachers needs to experience the manipulatives, including some CAD and 3D printing instructions. The course materials themselves were built out as a website and are highly scaffolded, with all worksheets, videos, etc downloadable from the site. Engineering teachers are a very heterogeneous group, so the face-to-face PD format allows for more individual instruction. Because, unlike in math and science, there are no high-stakes tests associated with the engineering, teachers are under less pressure to get it perfect the first time. But even with pretty inexperienced teachers, we still see increases in student math and science achievement. It is testimony to the importance of letting kids have a low-pressure and engaging place to practice their math and science skills
Thanks for your detailed response. Your comments make a lot of sense. Wonderful that you were able to work with teachers over an extended period of time. It sounds like the impact goes well beyond a specific unit. In fact it seems that some of the most important professional learning happens as teachers use the materials. That is a take away we should all keep in mind as we develop materials. Great project!
I really appreciate your work. For over 4-years we at Bethune-Cookman University have been working with a neighboring middle school on the establishing a STEM Academy. The middle school sits in a majority African American community and resources and most importantly students and parents' disposition have been a challenge. We also have been encountering political challenges, district and school administration reorganizations, or constant changes of personnel. I would like to have a conversation with your team on how you are dealing with these and other challenges..
Job well done...Dr. Torres (Hector)
Marion Usselman
Co-Presenter CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
May 11, 2020 | 08:57 a.m.
Changes in school system personnel is a huge issue in these school systems. By the 3rd year of AMP-IT-UP, the superintendent and deputy superintendent had both left, along with 5 of the 6 middle and high school principals and a large percent of the teachers we had just trained. Luckily there were some wonderful people at the school system central office, like the curriculum director and science director, who were there the whole 8 years, which gave us some stability, and the school board strongly backed the project. Our partner school system was a rural-fringe district that had never had the opportunity before AMP to partner with a major university on a well funded project, and they really valued it so made sure that new personnel were on board. However, I sympathize with the challenges of partnering with fragile schools and school systems. It is incredibly difficult to effectively run a program in a school where 50% of the teachers and students are turning over each year, which is the case in many of our urban schools. In a previous project we found that our rural school partner was much more stable, even though it was very low income and academically low achieving. In the rural areas, people don't move around nearly as much, so the intervention had time to become established. We have realized that the "churn" index through a school is one of the most important indicators of success, so we look at it carefully before we choose a partner.
This is interesting work with promising results. Have you tested the effects of this applied activity in engagement and self-efficacy among students that are underrepresented in STEM fields, such as girls and students of color? Do you have an idea of long-term effects of this type of learning activity?
Meltem Alemdar
Lead Presenter Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
May 11, 2020 | 12:49 p.m.
Thanks, Lisa. If you review this paper, you will see the results of engagement and self-efficacy. You can also download it from our publication website in my original post. I am not sure what you mean by long-term effects but as you probably know, in applied research, it is hard to follow students long-time. Especially with the school district that has high-turnover. Once they move out of the school district, we cannot really follow them. But you will see in the paper that we have followed students through their middle school and the results show that students who had taken the engineering courses 2 or more times increased their test scores, also positive engagement. Additionally, the schools, where the study was implemented, were predominantly African-American students. Feel free to email me after you review the paper if you have more questions.
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Welcome to the AMP-IT-UP video showcase!
I am a research faculty member at Georgia Tech and co-PI of the AMP-IT-UP project. This seven yearlong MSP project ended on September 2019. Our video highlights the middle school engineering courses (STEM-Innovation and Design (STEM-ID)), 1-week math and science modules, and the K-12 Challenge competition that were developed as part of the project. STEM-ID courses align with national math and science standards, promote the use of the engineering design process, introduce students to advanced manufacturing tools, incorporate engineering concepts, increase student awareness of career paths, and problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills.
The math and science modules align with best practices put forth in the Next Generation Science Standards and the Standards of Mathematical Practice and promote STEM learning by engaging middle school students in problem-based inquiry lessons that emphasize collecting, visualizing, interpreting, and communicating authentic and compelling data. Research results have shown that the modules have been effective in supporting teachers’ adoption of practices related to project-base and inquiry learning, and evidence suggests that the teachers are incorporating these pedagogical strategies into their other lesson plans. We have published numerous articles from this project and could be downloaded from the publication website.
The curriculum components that are described can be found at https://ampitup.gatech.edu/amp-it-brochure ,and they are free for download. Currently, we are working on disseminating and implementing the curriculum across Georgia and the United States. Dr. Marion Usselman, PI of the project, can provide more information about the dissemination efforts and teacher professional development.
We look forward to hearing your comments about the project.
Meltem
Sharon Gusky
What a great project! I like your modular approach.Thank you for sharing your resources. The publication link is working but the brochure one is not.
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
It is also corrected in the post, thank you for visiting!
Sonia Ellis
A very exciting project to bring much-needed engineering design curricula to midde schools! And it's fantastic you're seeing evidence that teachers are using the strategies in other lessons. In what school systems did you first pilot the project? As you expand, have you gotten any feedback from teachers about the ease or difficulty of acquiring the needed materials?
Meltem Alemdar
Marion Usselman
CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
The Griffin-Spalding County School system, which is a rural-fringe school system south of Atlanta, was our partner in the MSP project. Since that time we have expanded the project throughout Gwinnett County Schools, which is the largest school system in Georgia, Ascension Parish schools in Louisiana, and some small districts in rural GA. Fulton County Schools, another large system in metro-Atlanta, is adopting the STEM-ID courses combined with the math and science modules as a year-long math enrichment program to promote algebra readiness.
Materials for the math and science modules are generally readily available, and information about procurement is included in the materials download. A couple of the math modules require a 3D printed part, but the print file is included (if your school or district has a 3D printer), or we provide them at cost on our website.
The STEM-ID courses have more equipment needs, but if they are offered as part of a school's Career and Technical Education program, there are often Perkins funds available to support the costs. Generally the decision to adopt the engineering curriculum is made by the school system CTE administrators, not by individual teachers. We have some agreements in place with the equipment suppliers to try to decrease the costs. We are interested in talking to schools who would like to offer middle school engineering or integrated STEM courses. We have very strong research evidence that shows a significant beneficial effect on math and science achievement, particularly among weaker students, and a strengthening of student engagement with STEM and decrease in math and science anxiety.
Kate Lytton
Great to see a well-developed, tested, and packaged project so far along -- in dissemination and scaling up mode. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm a program evaluator working with TEEMS, which is in the first year of development and piloting a engineering curriculum resources using the tenets of Imaginative Education for use in middle school classrooms. Over the course of the year, we were refining and testing various measurement instruments to look at student engagement, STEM identity, efficacy, transfer knowledge, as well as conceptual understanding. Based on your work, I'd be interested in learning more about how you measured student progress and outcomes.Thanks for sharing your learning about what worked and what showed promise.
Sumreen Asim
Becky Mazur
Meltem Alemdar
Catherine Jones
AMP-IT-UP is fabulous! A few years ago, AMSTI specialists attended this PL to enhance their science coaching practices. AMP-IT-UP partners also attended the ACTM Fall Forum to present sessions to Alabama math teachers.
Meltem Alemdar
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thanks for visiting Kate. We have multiple instruments that were developed and tested as part of this project. The student survey focused on measuring engagement (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), academic self-efficacy, persistent in STEM, problem-solving, and communication skills. We also have a validated test measuring student's understanding of engineering design process. I am happy to share the instruments with you. Also, it is interesting that you mentioned the knowledge transfer. We conducted a qualitative study about how students were transferring the knowledge between math, science and engineering courses. It was evident that it was impacting their learning.
Kate Lytton
Hi Meltem - took me a little while to get back to this discussion. Looks like your data collection is well-covered in the article referenced in this forum: https://ijemst.net/index.php/ijemst/article/view/279/152.
Let me know if there are other instruments. If you can share the student survey, that would be great. you can reach me at: klytton@collaborative.org. Thanks so much.
K. Renae Pullen
Specialist
What an awesome learning opportunity for students and educators! I'm excited that at its core, students engage in authentic engineering experiences that focus on real issues and phenomena. Where can I learn more about the student projects in the K-12 invention and entrepreneurship competitions? Thanks.
Meltem Alemdar
Roxanne Moore
Senior Research Engineer
Hi there! You can learn more about the invention and entrepreneurship competition and see previous winners here:
k12inventure.gatech.edu
I direct the program and would be happy to answer any questions you may have. :)
Meltem Alemdar
K. Renae Pullen
Christine Cutucache
Great work, Meltem. As usual, your work focusing on the intersection of standards, teacher needs, and innovation via instruction lead to powerful outcomes that are immediately deployable and transformative. The entrepreneurship competition adds another layer of depth too, which I'm sure ignites the passion of additional students.
Meltem Alemdar
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thank you for visiting, Christine. NSF used to fund this type of five year-long, and large scale projects. It really helps to test the materials multiple times, and collect robust research data.
Margo Murphy
Science Instructor
I am very excited to learn more and share with middle schools in Maine. I am curious about your evaluation. You mentioned that teachers are able to transfer pedogogical practices to other areas. I would love to hear more about some of those practices that they implemented and were able to be transferred. Nice work!!
Marion Usselman
CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
Thanks for your interest, Mary. We would love to talk to you about ways we might promote use of our materials in Maine. Please send me an email at marion.usselman@ceismc.gatech.edu, and let's start the conversation.
Regarding transfer of pedagogical practices to their other units, teachers reported using more hands-on activities, group work, interdisciplinary connections, student-led learning, and real-world connection. The math teachers also talked about incorporating more chances for students to explore different ways that data is represented and how data drives decision making. We really try to give students opportunities to grapple with situations where the data isn't giving them an obvious answer--i.e. where they need to deal with trade-offs, and need to make an argument defending their decision.
Becky Mazur
Margo Murphy
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thank you, Mary. The one week long math and science modules are a set of STEM practices within the context of the appropriate grade-level content. These STEM practices are grouped into strands labeled Experimental Design, Data Visualization, and Data-Driven Decision Making; the emphasis of each of these practice strands is, respectively, the collection of data, the representation of data, and the use of data to support complex decision-making. Nine one-week modules were created in the science domain, one focused on each practice strand at grade levels 6, 7, and 8. A parallel set of nine modules in the math domain were also created, resulting in a total of 18 modules. These modules provide teachers to understand the practices. After implementing our modules, teachers also developed their own lesson plans that focus on the practices, which allowed them slowly change their classroom practice by developing more lesson plans. Their classroom pedagogy became more student-oriented due to their training and their experience in inquiry learning. Also, it helped that the modules were adapted at the district level. They sustain the project by building their own professional development, and making the module as part of their curriculum maps
Margo Murphy
Lynda McGilvary
Communications Director
This looks like a wonderful program and I appreciate that it serves students in rural areas. Did the rural setting factor into any of the accommodations you developed for this project?
Becky Mazur
Marion Usselman
CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
The school system partner in our program is a rural-fringe, somewhat depressed manufacturing area of GA, so all materials were developed with those students in mind. Because of our initial focusing on manufacturing, a number of the scenarios have manufacturing and entrepreneurship contexts. But we tried to be as inclusive in developing scenarios as possible.
The biggest issue we have with our rural settings is the lack of available engineering teachers. There is an extreme shortage of engineering teachers for both middle and high school statewide, but the rural counties have an even larger problem than the cities attracting them. For middle schools, our view is that if someone knows how to teach, then we can train them on the engineering content needed for our STEM-ID engineering courses. One of our best teachers was a former bank manager who wanted to teach, and the engineering class was the one available.
An additional problem is always funding, and the urban schools have more money available than the rural ones. However, we are working with 3D printer manufacturers and other equipment suppliers to try to locate used equipment and get deals, and we try to help systems identify other sources of funds. We'll work with any district to try to come up with a way to incorporate our materials.
Becky Mazur
Michael I. Swart
Great resource for schools and teachers! Can you expand a bit on the data types that you collect from/during/after the intervention (video, worksheets, assessments, etc.). The video mentioned higher participation in STEM and higher state test scores in science and math. Higher than previous years? Than a control group? As an in situ intervention, am very interested in the data collection and analysis. Thanks for sharing.
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thank you, Michael. We have various data sources, including multiple years of student interviews, classroom observation (including fidelity of implementation research in engineering classrooms), student products, student achievement data, student surveys, teacher surveys etc. We also had control groups for the engineering classroom. Students are/were placed in the engineering class randomly every year, so a student can take the class 3 three years in a row through their middle school year, or twice or once, or none. Naturally, this created some control groups for our study. Please review our paper for data and groups, here is the link . You can also find download the paper in our publication site. It explains the details of the data and groups.
Jennifer Carinci
Kudos - Few such curricula have research results to show effectiveness of incorporation into teachers' practices, especially in terms of transferring to other lessons. Email me to see how AAAS can help share the materials via ARISE/Noyce.
Becky Mazur
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thank you, Jennifer. I will definitely email you with more information. Kathleen Bergin was our NSF program officer.
Becky Mazur
I want to echo what several other have said; it is great that teachers report adjusting their practices. That's such a powerful indicator of this project's success -- teachers are happy to adapt and adopt when they see good things happening for their students.
Meltem Alemdar
Hector Torres
This is a great opportunity to engage students in the love of STEM. The question is how can this program can be scaled up and made accessible to more underrepresented students in STEM? This project requires a lot of resources, something that students of low socioeconomic situation lack....I love the program for I am a supporter of project based programs...as well as inquiry based STEM... teaching and learning is more fun that way and it looks like the students are having fun while learning...
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thank you, Hector. We are still learning from our dissemination experience in different school districts. I agree that the available recourses are always a challenge. However, we provide all possible information that might help them to start planning for it. Materials for the math and science modules are generally readily available, and information about procurement is included in the materials download. A couple of the math modules require a 3D printed part, but the print file is included (if your school or district has a 3D printer), or we provide them at cost on our website. The STEM-ID engineering courses have more equipment needs, but if they are offered as part of a school's Career and Technical Education program, there are often Perkins funds available to support the costs. In general, the decision to adopt the engineering curriculum is made by the school system CTE administrators, not by individual teachers. We have some agreements in place with the equipment suppliers to try to decrease the costs. I think all of these are at least an effort to bring the curriculum to underserved groups, point them to a positive direction.
Traci Higgins
I would love to learn more about the PD needed before implementation of units and the level and type of scaffolding provided to teachers in the materials themselves and while implementing. There is always a balance to find between preparing a teacher to work with new content and not overwhelming teachers and placing too many burdens on teachers who are already super busy. What are some key things you learned about finding the right balance in supporting teachers?
Margo Murphy
Marion Usselman
CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
Hi Traci,
We have different training for the modules and the STEM-ID courses. For the modules, we generally offer a 2-day PD workshop for each content and grade level. E.g. for 6th grade science there are 3 modules. The PD includes a half-day background session on the philosophy and pedagogy common to all modules, and teachers then work through each of the 3 modules as a learner, spending a half day on each. Once teachers have become familiar with the flow of the modules and have implemented some, it is easier for them to pick up another, as the arc of learning and order of learning (using the basic 5E structure) are the same. Each module comes with a student booklet that fully scaffolds the unit, plus an annotated student edition that serves as a quick reference guide for the teacher, as well as extensive teacher preparation materials. All those materials are available for free download. You can currently download a zip file that includes all the materials and we are in the process of working on a better dissemination site.
We appreciate the balance between trying to move teacher practice and not overwhelming them. The AMP-IT-UP MSP project was long enough (5 years funded, plus 2 years no-cost-extension) that we were able to work with the teachers over multiple years. Generally we would ask the math and science teachers to try out the modules for the first time in late spring, after standardized testing had occurred. That way they could do it in a low stakes environment first, then implement in class the following year. It takes several years for teachers who are not familiar with constructivist teaching to feel comfortable using materials like this as the primary instruction, rather than just as a confirmational experience after direct instruction. It is only after they see the difference in student engagement and understanding that they start changing their regular practice.
The STEM-ID PD is a 4-day workshop as it needs to cover three different semester-long courses and teachers needs to experience the manipulatives, including some CAD and 3D printing instructions. The course materials themselves were built out as a website and are highly scaffolded, with all worksheets, videos, etc downloadable from the site. Engineering teachers are a very heterogeneous group, so the face-to-face PD format allows for more individual instruction. Because, unlike in math and science, there are no high-stakes tests associated with the engineering, teachers are under less pressure to get it perfect the first time. But even with pretty inexperienced teachers, we still see increases in student math and science achievement. It is testimony to the importance of letting kids have a low-pressure and engaging place to practice their math and science skills
Traci Higgins
Thanks for your detailed response. Your comments make a lot of sense. Wonderful that you were able to work with teachers over an extended period of time. It sounds like the impact goes well beyond a specific unit. In fact it seems that some of the most important professional learning happens as teachers use the materials. That is a take away we should all keep in mind as we develop materials. Great project!
Hector Torres
I really appreciate your work. For over 4-years we at Bethune-Cookman University have been working with a neighboring middle school on the establishing a STEM Academy. The middle school sits in a majority African American community and resources and most importantly students and parents' disposition have been a challenge. We also have been encountering political challenges, district and school administration reorganizations, or constant changes of personnel. I would like to have a conversation with your team on how you are dealing with these and other challenges..
Job well done...Dr. Torres (Hector)
Marion Usselman
CAPACiTY Principal Investigator
Changes in school system personnel is a huge issue in these school systems. By the 3rd year of AMP-IT-UP, the superintendent and deputy superintendent had both left, along with 5 of the 6 middle and high school principals and a large percent of the teachers we had just trained. Luckily there were some wonderful people at the school system central office, like the curriculum director and science director, who were there the whole 8 years, which gave us some stability, and the school board strongly backed the project. Our partner school system was a rural-fringe district that had never had the opportunity before AMP to partner with a major university on a well funded project, and they really valued it so made sure that new personnel were on board. However, I sympathize with the challenges of partnering with fragile schools and school systems. It is incredibly difficult to effectively run a program in a school where 50% of the teachers and students are turning over each year, which is the case in many of our urban schools. In a previous project we found that our rural school partner was much more stable, even though it was very low income and academically low achieving. In the rural areas, people don't move around nearly as much, so the intervention had time to become established. We have realized that the "churn" index through a school is one of the most important indicators of success, so we look at it carefully before we choose a partner.
Lisa Flores
This is interesting work with promising results. Have you tested the effects of this applied activity in engagement and self-efficacy among students that are underrepresented in STEM fields, such as girls and students of color? Do you have an idea of long-term effects of this type of learning activity?
Meltem Alemdar
Senior Research Scientist/co-PI
Thanks, Lisa. If you review this paper, you will see the results of engagement and self-efficacy. You can also download it from our publication website in my original post. I am not sure what you mean by long-term effects but as you probably know, in applied research, it is hard to follow students long-time. Especially with the school district that has high-turnover. Once they move out of the school district, we cannot really follow them. But you will see in the paper that we have followed students through their middle school and the results show that students who had taken the engineering courses 2 or more times increased their test scores, also positive engagement. Additionally, the schools, where the study was implemented, were predominantly African-American students. Feel free to email me after you review the paper if you have more questions.
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