Building Middle School Engagement in Math and Computer Science: Findings from the NSF ITEST Program

Professor Heffernan presenting at the Massachusetts STEM Summit 2016: Building Middle School Engagement in Math and Computer Science: Findings from the NSF ITEST Program

This speaker panel will share innovative classroom practices and emerging research and evaluation findings in middle school math and computer science that help foster student motivation to pursue lifetime opportunities in these fields. During this session, three middle school projects funded by the National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Teachers and Students (ITEST) program will share their project work and findings. The CryptoClub Project develops material to teach cryptography and mathematics to middle grade students using student created videos. The Middle School Pathways in Computer Science Project is bringing project-based, socially-relevant computing experiences to district middle school students, and studying student learning of computer science. The Predicting STEM Career Choice Project, based at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), impacts youth by creating better understanding of malleable factors that can improve student outcomes, and automated models that can identify if a student is at-risk. Afterwards, the presenters will answer audience questions about their presentations, and further discuss issues related to implementing practices mentioned into their classrooms.

Moderator

Bernadette Sibuma - Research Associate, STEM Learning and Research Center, Education Development Center, Inc.

Speakers

Janet Beissinger - Senior Research Specialist, Learning Sciences Research Institute; Research Professor, Dept. of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago

Neil Heffernan - Professor, Department of Computer Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Fred Martin - Director, Engaging Computing Group; Professor, Computer Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell