UNCW, School Districts Using "Squeak" to Increase Student Interest in Information Technology
5/21/2007 11:28:38 AM
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Wilmington, N.C. - While demand for Information Technology (IT) professionals is projected to increase over the next five years, a dwindling number of American students are choosing to specialize in IT fields. Now, a grant-funded partnership between the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick County schools is addressing that issue by infusing IT skills into the curriculum in grades 7-12.
The $1.18 million grant from the National Science Foundation will fund the partnership's efforts to design, develop and deliver programs that offer expanded IT experiences to students and their teachers.
"Students may become interested in IT careers in college, but find that they lack related science and math skills," said Sridhar Narayan, associate professor of computer science and co-principal investigator of the grant. "We want to pique their interest in the science, technology, engineering and math fields at a much earlier age."
The three-year-long project will work directly with about 75 educators who teach the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) curricula and 150 of their students in grades 7-12. Teachers and students will learn to use "Squeak" software to create virtual models that simulate actual science and math-related experiments. For example, students could create a computer model to study the transmission of a disease, an activity that could be too dangerous to study in a physical laboratory.
"It may be difficult to study the spread of a virus for real in middle school," said Gene Tagliarini, associate professor of computer science and grant coordinator. "But you can simulate an epidemic using the Squeak tool, which can create models to study things as abstract as balancing equations or as concrete as building a bridge."
In addition to Narayan and Tagliarini, the grant research team includes Shelby Morge, assistant professor of elementary, middle level and literacy education in the Watson School of Education, and two technology coordinators from each of the school districts. The technology coordinators are: Leonard Jenkins and Ellen Milligan in Brunswick County, Beth Bruton and Karen Greene in New Hanover County, and Karen Hill and Ian Jones in Pender County.
The program will actively recruit underserved, underrepresented and minority populations within the three participating school districts. Each of the districts will receive a benefit amounting to more than $100,000 during the grant period, including direct support to the school districts and stipends for participating teachers.
Over the three years of the grant, the project will:
• Offer summer workshops for teachers to help them develop problem-based learning activities that are classroom tested and linked to state and national standards;
• Provide academic year support to help teachers and students engage in school-based activities using Squeak;
• Offer summer institutes to provide opportunities for students to learn IT skills and concepts in the context of STEM fields; and
• Provide follow-up training on-line so that teachers can collaborate with one another to assess and refine the activities they have developed using Squeak.
The grant is part of the National Science Foundation's ITEST program, established in direct response to the concern about shortages of technology workers in the United States. The purpose of the grant funding is to provide school-age children and teachers with experiences that build the skills and knowledge needed to function and contribute in a technologically rich society.
Media Contacts:
Gene Tagliarini, associate professor of computer science, 910-962-7572, or tagliarinig@uncw.edu
Dana Fischetti, manager of news and media services, 910-962-7259 or fischettid@uncw.edu
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