Creating career and technical education pathways to develop our middle skills workforce requires creative strategies in the middle and high school years. The TECH-Lane project is expanding the STEM student pipeline by recruiting and assisting motivated but underrepresented, at-risk 8th grade and early college high school students. The project accelerates students from high school, through college and into the semiconductor/nanotechnology workplace. Using partnerships between educational institutions (high school, 2-year and 4-year colleges) and regional high technology industries, TECH-Lane is creating curriculum focused on innovative and transformative instruction using project-based learning (PBL) and integration of career and technical education. Replicable, accelerated early college high school courses in Electrical Technology, a one week summer STEM camp curriculum for 8th grade students and professional development workshops for high school STEM faculty in the design, delivery and incorporation of PBL are being developed. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the focused impact on workforce preparation in an area of national importance. Technical early college high schools are being established across the U.S. to answer the nationwide need for a well-trained high technology workforce. Project based learning models have been shown to be highly effective in replicating real-world workplace problems and teaching students to think critically and creatively to solve them. TECH-Lane is aligning with these initiatives by providing accelerated pathways for students and PBL training for their high school STEM teachers. The TECH-Lane curriculum, disseminated widely through a detailed monograph and a project website, allows the early college high school/community college community across the nation to duplicate this model and assist in filling the need for high-tech workers ready for the 21st century workplace. Dissemination efforts and the ability to replicate the proposed program are among the significant broader impacts.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)
Type
Standard Grant (Standard)
Application #
1400725
Program Officer
Heather Watson
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2014-09-01
Budget End
2019-08-31
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$397,673
Indirect Cost
Name
Fulton-Montgomery Community College
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Johnstown
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
12095