Project Overview

The Concord Consortium is proud to announce the Information Technology in Science Instruction (ITSI) project!

This comprehensive information technologies (IT) project for middle and high school teachers prepares diverse students for careers in IT by engaging them in exciting, inquiry-based science projects that use computational models and real-time data acquisition. The project provides over 126 hours of lab-based, credit-bearing activities for 90 teachers and full support for classroom implementation. Participants meet for two weeks the summer of 2007, during the academic year, and again the following summer for one week. The same program will be offered at three sites that will each support 30 participants: Desert Sands, CA, Olathe, KS, and Boston, MA.

Participants will learn basic electronics and design skills that will enable their students to install, configure, and use a wide range of sensors. They will also learn to teach students to use, modify, and create computational models. The skills students will learn will greatly enhance their ability to undertake investigations while giving a solid foundation for IT-based careers in programming, computer hardware, and software engineering. There are many career opportunities in these areas (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2005), especially for women and minorities (Congressional Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science Engineering and Technology, 2000; U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Technology Policy, 1998). This project is funded by the ITEST - Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers program by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. ESI 0624718).

The ITSI project will undertake a sizeable development effort, producing, testing, and revising a coordinated set of materials for students, teachers, and workshop leaders, including interface electronics and software. The project will start with the best student materials from a growing collection of free online learning activities generated by five different NSF-funded projects at the Concord Consortium. Six activities will be selected that are appropriate for each of the six, core middle and high school science courses at each individual school site. Participants will customize ITSI science inquiry activities to fit their classrooms and engage their communities. They will study their implementations, create a video case study of a class, and share their analysis with other participants. Completion of these activities will qualify participants for four graduate credits.

The project will ensure that its approach to inquiry-based learning is used in the participants' schools and widely disseminated by addressing the main barriers to its implementation. By preparing students and teachers with the IT skills they need to create their own interface electronics, The ITSI project significantly reduces the cost of the hardware that is needed. Providing student materials and assessments that are high quality and keyed to science education standards will facilitate implementation.

The ITSI project will start working with teachers during the summer 2007 and continue through the following school year and summer 2008. If you are interested in becoming an ITSI teacher, read the following expectations of the project. If you qualify, please fill out the application.

Expectations of the research teachers

• Science teacher within 6-12 grade levels
• Signed letter of informed consent (June 2007 - August 2008)
• Actively participate the following:
  • 2-week (8 days) summer workshop (2007)
  • 1-week (4 days) summer workshop (2008)
  • Two face-to-face Saturday meetings during the 2007-2008 school year
  • Two five-week online courses during the 2007-2008 school year
• Take teacher survey at the beginning and end of participation
• Implement 2 IT-SI activities with classes
• Video a lesson from one of the implementations

Expectations of the Concord Consortium

• Provide a minimum of 126 hours of IT professional development
• Provide stipends of $100/day for 18 days (to be reimbursed at the completion of the project)
• Provide research-based tools, free open-source software, and low-cost hardware for use in the classroom
• Implementation and technical assistance for teachers
• Completion of these activities will qualify participants for four graduate credits at a local university
• If you have any further questions, please write to itsi {at} concord {dot} org or check out http://itsi.concord.org.