The Shodor Education Foundation, Inc. requests funding support in the amount of $292,590 for a research and development effort, Deaf Educational Access For Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (DEAF STEM). DEAF STEM will expand the work of Project SUCCEED-HI (NSF #9906189) by adding American Sign Language (ASL) versions to the existing text of a wide variety of Shodor materials. A project goal is to improve access for all students to the National Science Digital Library (NSDL), including Shodor's extensive STEM materials, which have been developed through previous, and current NSF funding. In addition, DEAF STEM will provide a dynamic resource for educational interpreters and other providers to increase their competence and confidence in interpreting and supporting education in STEM areas to deaf students. Intellectual Merit: DEAF STEM addresses the needs of both deaf students and their teachers/educational interpreters. Deaf students are underrepresented in STEM fields in large part because of the documented low-grade reading level (3 rd 4 th grade) of the average deaf high school student and the minimal skill levels of most educational interpreters. DEAF STEM will address the teacher and student needs by expanding on the work of SUCCEED-HI to provide bilingual versions of two of Shodor's award winning activities: Project Interactivate and the Computational Science Education Reference Desk (CSERD) which has been selected as one of the inaugural pathway projects of NSDL. Purely text-based approaches to STEM materials are insufficient to ensure active access to STEM information by deaf students. Through focused research, DEAF STEM scientists will work with deaf educators and their students to perfect the modification and presentation of NSDL materials, while assessing a variety of technologies, including video and the use of avatars. This focused research includes the development of best practices for providing bilingual materials to our audience. Additional online tools for searching our growing collection of signed lessons will support educational interpreters. These tools will enable providers to locate correct examples of STEM concepts communicated through ASL. The DEAF STEM team will invite educational interpreters in the field to submit STEM passages that they need help signing. These passages will be signed and posted on a signing STEM forum. This will provide an open-ended opportunity for interpreters to both improve their signing skills and to provide support for the issues they face on a daily basis. Broader Impact: The impact of our DEAF STEM project will be felt on two fronts. By providing deaf students with signed assistance to read STEM text, the students' ability and confidence in reading STEM materials will be improved. The bilingual presentation of the STEM materials in both English text and ASL video clips will provide an opportunity for language arts and STEM teachers to work together to improve their deaf students' reading and English skills. By creating a web based DEAF STEM Forum, the entire deaf community will be encouraged to explore the signing of STEM concepts. By appealing to the deaf community's interest in promoting their language, DEAF STEM will widen the exposure of the deaf community to relevant STEM issues. As a deliverable under the NSDL/Pathway memorandum of understanding, Shodor will be sharing these best practices with other projects in NSDL to maximize impact and breadth of dissemination.
