This grant supports K-12 STEM education for schools in districts 9 and 10, and is supervised by the NYCDOE Department of Mathematics and Science, Linda Curtis-Bey, Director.
Grant Coordinator: Rosemary Nieves
rnieves@schools.nyc.gov
718.741.5476 (phone)
718.741.7978 (fax)
Primary Partner Institution
- New York Institute of Technology
Grant Description
The Digital Immigration Project Phase 2 proposes to provide over 200 teachers in high needs schools with intensive workshops and graduate level courses focused on cross curricula activities in STEM. It is hypothesized that this intervention will produce cumulative, tangible, and measurable impact on student achievement, attitudes, and behaviors as a result of: a) student participation in the program activities and b) their teacher’s participation in the professional development activities. In order to test these hypotheses, the evaluation will use a quasi-experimental design. Students and teachers in twenty-one D 9 and D10 schools will comprise the treatment group and students and teachers in 21 demographically similar D9 and D10 schools will comprise the comparison group. A total of 200 teachers will be selected to participate in the treatment. The same number of teachers will be selected to be part of the comparison group.
Grant Activities
Summer Institutes, On-line Coursework, College Courses, Videoconferences, Lesson Study, Examining Student Work, Field Trips, Developing Curriculum, Curriculum Mapping, On-site professional learning experiences, Study Groups, P-Credit Courses, On-site educational institutions
Benefits of Participation
The Digital Immigration Project Phase 2 will “encourage the heart and enable the mind” of over 200 participating teachers through ongoing cross curricula professional development focused on meeting the following goals and objectives: Goal #1: To increase subject matter knowledge of at least 200 teachers across the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) disciplines Objective 1.1: To provide 200 or more teachers in the targeted 21 schools with at least 60 hours of ongoing professional development each year in STEM, for each of three years. Goal #2: To improve teacher pedagogical skills in the areas of mathematics, science and technology Objective 2.1: Improve and expand teacher training on the effective integration of technology into the Mathematics /Science curricula and instruction. Objective 2.2: To increase cross-curricular activities in the classroom focused on STEM by 30% each year. Objective 2.3: To provide online tools and professional development opportunities for Lead teachers that will strengthen their content knowledge and increase their ability to collaborate. Goal #3: To improve the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science in the targeted 21 schools. Objective 3.1: Students will increase their aptitude for Mathematical Reasoning and Modeling/Multiple Representation demonstrated by an increase of 5 percentage points each year on local and state mathematics assessments. Objective 3.2: Students will have increased access to a variety of STEM resources such as technological tools, sophisticated laboratory equipment and experts in the field of mathematics, science and engineering as they work collaboratively to collect and analyze data and report on their findings. Goal #4:To build the capacity of teachers in the targeted schools to support the design and implementation of standards- and research-based mathematics, science and technology instruction in grades K-12. Objective 4.1: To provide opportunities for Lead teachers in STEM to share their expertise by conducting a minimum of 20 hours of professional development each year to new teachers within and outside of their school buildings. The Digital Immigration Project Phase 2 will consist of three major components of professional development:
1) Four 3-credit graduate courses and two P-credit courses provided by New York Insitiute of Technology (NYIT), 2) Professional development modules focused on STEM content and instructional support, 3) A required yearly project to be developed by teachers as a mini grant managed and paid through NYIT, and 4) A series of video conferences that will bring experts in the field of science, math, and engineering professions as mentors to students and teachers in targeted schools. Each type of professional development activity is tied to the NYS Learning Standards.
Commitment Required by Participants
Each teacher is required to receive 60 hours of training per year, and participate in pre- and post-testing.