Progress 09/15/05 to 08/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Wisconsin: Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) led a collaboration between Hawaii and Wisconsin via program relationships with MentorNet and Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). Wisconsin launched new partnerships across the state through the e-mentoring customized platform offered from MentorNet matching college STEM students with industry mentors. Pre-college, on-campus STEM and career awareness camps were extended to middle/high school students with expanded outreach to Girl Scouts. MSOE female engineering students developed an activity book geared toward 4th-6th grade girls and widely disseminated them at program events and outreach activities. Hawaii: MEDB's Women in Technology (WIT) expanded the scope of its programs to Hawaii's most rural and underserved areas. WIT collaborated with industry, state and local government, and the U.S. Air Force, and forged new pathways to STEM exposure via partnerships with rural youth serving 4-H and Girl Scouts. Efforts included supporting rural students to participate in U.H. College of Engineering outreach events; job shadowing events for local STEM careers; project-based in-school, after-school and summer programs teaching real-world STEM skills. WIT regularly conducted survey evaluations of participants in its programs. Over the grant period, WIT developed and expanded its statewide training offerings for teachers in geospatial technology, agricultural science, and teaching science as inquiry in K12 schools. In addition to in-person and online workshops, WIT provided ongoing support via monthly web updates, a blog, and online office hours. WIT led the successful effort to make Hawaii the first state to license GIS software throughout the educational system (K12 and higher education). WIT promoted community awareness of STEM career paths via events such as the Physics Olympics, National GIS Day, and the annual publication of a STEM Hawaii tabloid a widely read newspaper (150,000 households). WIT provided technical assistance to educators and local tech companies on recruitment and retention of students and job entrants from groups currently underrepresented in STEM. WIT conducted Excite Camp annually, partnering with high-tech companies and the U.S. Air Force to introduce middle school girls, primarily of Native Hawaiian ancestry, to STEM in a culturally relevant context. WIT annually conducted Tech Careers: I am The Future event to expose middle and high school students to STEM fields, and recruited employers, H.S. and college students to fill summer internship positions. WIT began the grant period working with Future Scientists and Engineers of America, but during the course expanded robotics programs, increasing from only 2 4-H teams in 2005 to 27 teams and 300 students in 2010. WIT also piloted Engineering in the Middle as a better vehicle to support the teaching of engineering in middle school. WIT disseminated information on its program best practices via paper presentations at conferences: American Society of Engineering Education (2006, 2008); Women in Engineering ProActive Network (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010); Environmental Systems Research Institute International (each year 2006-2010). PARTICIPANTS: MentorNet; First Lego League Robotics; Maui County Farm Bureau; County of Maui; ESRI; Milwaukee School of Engineering TARGET AUDIENCES: Middle and High School students; Post-secondary STEM students at 4-year, 2-year, community colleges; Outreach to females and underreprented minority populations; Educators; Industry; Counselors; Administrators; Rural youth providers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: During the grant period an adjustment was made to use more locally developed education and outreach materials in the pre-college STEM career awareness activities, as opposed to national vendor sponsored activities. This was recommended to allow activities to be culturally relevant, more engaging and costs to be more controlled and sustainable.
Impacts
Program evaluation shows that, as a result of WIT programs funded by this grant, more than 5,500 students have increased their awareness of, and interest in STEM education and careers. This grant built STEM capacity in public schools by providing nearly 400 teachers with professional development training, industry connections and ongoing technical support. Educators were trained in inquiry-led teaching pedagogue, gender equity and cultural competencies. Workshops, content and curriculum in Geospatial Technology; the Science of Ag; and Renewable Energy were developed, approved for Department of Education credits and implemented. Teachers were further trained and given access to software, equipment, rural transportation and support to bring real-world STEM applications, including agricultural applications, into their classrooms as well as access to outside experiential learning activities. STEM programs were expanded into rural communities where they did not exist previously (Molokai, Hana, Lanai). A new local partnership with the Farm Bureau provided the platform for the agricultural industry to directly participate in educating its future entrepreneurs. New internships focused on technology and agriculture providing hands-on experiences for both college and now high school level students. Professional development was extended to informal science activities, with training for robotics coaches, 4-H and scouting leaders. These trainings were taken to the remote neighbor islands and focused on building technical capacity including gender equity and cultural diversity outreach. As a result of these trainings, the state FLL Robotics programs showed a marked increase in female and Native Hawaiians, with the participants now reflecting the demographics of the state. Traditional rural youth serving organizations have been infused with technology programming, including GIS/GPS and robotics. MentorNet (the E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Engineering and Science) is now available to connect college students with industry mentors across geographic barriers statewide in Hawaii and Wisconsin, including in 2-year universities and technical colleges in Wisconsin and all community colleges in Hawaii.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 09/15/05 to 09/14/06
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The collaboration between Hawaii and Wisconsin on the Rural Access to Technology Grant has forged regional partnerships and provided the platform for exchange of "best practices." Both states face unique challenges in engaging girls/women and underrepresented populations into the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and career pipeline and in accessing technology training in rural areas. Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) has served as the lead organization, cultivating a subcontracting relationship with Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), which has assumed the role of administrative partner for a Wisconsin multi-institutional collaboration. MEDB had existing program infrastructure in place under the Women in Technology Project (WIT) which supported program expansion. Wisconsin worked to build and launch new partnerships across the state to support its program outreach. Hawaii: The USDA grant enabled expanded reach to participants in Hawaii's most rural and underserved areas like Molokai, Lanai, and Hana. Support for neighbor island students to attend the University of Hawaii Manoa College of Engineering Outreach events provided exposure to engineering careers. Other project based activities supported rural partners to participate in multiple job shadowing events, where students were hosted by industry and given an opportunity to see first hand science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers in their community. More than 80% of attendees responded on post evaluations, that the event increased their awareness and interest in pursuing STEM education pathways. Women in Tech partnered with the American Physical Society of Nuclear Physics for the World Year of Physics and Maui's first Physics Olympics Competition at a local shopping center. Ten student teams, comprised of 4 members each, participated in the Physics Olympics where they were challenged with several competitive areas. The Molokai team was the overall champion of the competition. The event brought community awareness as several hundred people visited the shopping center during theses activities. More than 200 high school students were trained in GIS/GPS technology. Student teams used GIS/GPS to map solutions for community based issues. WIT further partnered with 4-H to host the Maui's first National GIS Day, which garnered national press. WIT convened a public/private partnership, leveraging USDA funding with County and private funding, through the Molokai Chamber of Commerce to launch a proven project-based technology course curriculum at Molokai High Schol. USDA funding supported the training for both faculty and students, County purchased the hardware for the lab, Molokai Chamber of Commerce provided their businesses to mentor the EAST students. WIT partnered with the Lanai Women's Center to host "Computer Training" for the women of Lanai. The program was launched in direct response to the community needs based on a survey conducted by the Lanai Women's Center. The program was customized for older women, needing computer skills to increase job skills and attainment. PARTICIPANTS: Not relevant to this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Wisconsin: MSOE continued to build relationships within the University of Wisconsin system, with particular focus on 2-year universities and the technical colleges. MentorNet - the E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Engineering and Science has provided the nexus for building WI multi-institutional collaborations. WIT has made MentorNet available to all community colleges in Hawaii. This is unprecedented in that no other state is so integrated and comprehensive in the reach of a mentoring network, until the same statewide model was launched in Wisconsin in 2005. The MentorNet Agreement provided services to the 42 public institutions of higher education in the state of Wisconsin: This statewide initiative, formed a new partnership for Wisconsin system of public higher education and MentorNet, representing the first agreement of this scale for MentorNet. This partnership broke new ground in the scope of services that MentorNet provides, and built on the model developed in partnership between MentorNet and the Maui Economic Development Board involving the public system of higher education in the state of Hawaii. The agreement was developed particularly to emphasize the extension of e-mentoring services to students pursuing technical, engineering, science and mathematics study in technical and community colleges in rural areas, many of whom will continue their education at Wisconsin's comprehensive and research universities. Under this contract, MentorNet provided to the Wisconsin public higher education system, consisting of 13 four-year institutions, 13 two-year institutions, and 16 technical colleges, access which enabled eligible students attending any of its campuses to participate in MentorNet. The program agreement represented a substantial discount on what would otherwise have been based on individual per campus higher agreement costs. MentorNet also provided a branded MentorNet web site portal for the Wisconsin statewide initiative, and provided an orientation session and training workshop in Wisconsin for representatives of the various campuses during the fall of 2005. MSOE further hired a program coordinator to continue to develop outreach---including several hands-on science and engineering career awareness activities, events for high school girls. Partnerships with Girl Scouts were expanded.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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