The proposed exploratory project addresses Grand Challenge 3: Cutting-Edge STEM Content in K-12 Classrooms. It falls under Component B: The Development of Resources and Tools, Category 2: Instruction of K-12 Students and Teachers. The grant develops, implements, and evaluates new multimedia laboratory activities designed to engage students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This project involves initiating a collaboration with teachers, administrators, and students at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) and specifically targets artistically gifted students who are often steered towards more traditionally creative areas (e.g., arts and humanities), which they may have come to view as more exciting, and away from STEM. The goals to help students understand that scientific principles permeate the creative and performing arts and that creativity and expression are also embraced by STEM. The laboratory activities are designed to provide hands-on instruction and interaction with concepts through creative exercises, such as the manipulation of music and images. The activities appeal to musical, spatial, and kinesthetic intelligences, since students directly manipulate tactile interfaces and immediately hear and see the resultant changes.
Intellectual Merit: The Drexel DK-12 program, which lasted from 2007 to 2012, aimed to help creative and performing arts high school students appreciate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) through illustrating math and physics concepts underlying multimedia. Artistically gifted students are often steered towards more traditionally creative areas (e.g., arts and humanities), which they may have come to view as more exciting, and away from STEM. With the goal of targeting these creative arts students in mind, we developed laboratories and activities that helped students develop motivation for math and science by exposing them to everyday and commonly used applications in the arts and music that rely on STEM concepts. In addition, we brought other applications to the classroom such as programming iRobots and genomic discoveries. Surveys found that the labs had a significant effect on students' perceptions of STEM subjects and career choices, as shown in the ASEE and Journal of Education Research Technology publications. Broader impacts: The project had 6 graduate students and 5 undergraduates develop and contribute labs, learning about teaching techniques, and ultimately, teaching experience in the classroom. The 11 university students taught approximately 600 K-12 students over 5 years. The labs fall under the following categories with student authors as follows: * Image and Video (Adheer Chauhan, Steve Essinger, and Aaron Rosenfeld) * Sound and Music (Ray Migneco, Patrick Richardson, and Travis Doll) * Robotics (Ryan Coote) * Bioinformatics (Chidiogo Ike-Egbuono, Erin Reichenberger, Christine Ho, Adrian Lorenzana) Most of our project findings are shown in 4 journal papers and 10 conference papers. Also the following websites are available to the public: http://dk12.ece.drexel.edu http://dk12.ece.drexel.edu/applets.html http://dk12.ece.drexel.edu/MT http://music.ece.drexel.edu/research/webapps http://music.ece.drexel.edu/ALF
