The Marine Technology for Teachers and Students (MaTTS) program provides opportunities for teams of teachers and students from southern New England to experience new technologies related to exploring the global ocean, discover pathways in marine careers using these new tools, and develop leadership capacity. These interventions are being evaluated to determine their impact on the skills, knowledge, practices, and attitudes of the teachers and students that are related to the STEM workforce. Partner school districts include high-need schools. Each year, a cohort of 12 teacher leaders is selected to participate in 99 hours of face-to-face professional development. In addition, a minimum of 15 hours of virtual contact using Information and Communication Technology occurs through monthly webinars and live broadcasts from the Inner Space Center (ISC) at URI. MaTTS doubles the number of direct contact hours found to tip the scales toward improved practice in traditional teacher PD. The teacher professional development contains ocean science and technology training to prepare them for working with student leaders during an intensive summer institute. Twenty-four high school student leaders join each year's teacher cohort, two students from each of the participating teachers' schools. The teacher/student teams are in residence at the ISC, where they will build, calibrate, and deploy sensor-based instruments; participate in field exercises and collect and analyze data; and meet with ocean scientists, engineers, and technicians from academia and industry. The project engages the teams over a 14 month period.
The project cultivates innovative thinking among its student participants by exposing them to marine technologies that allow scientists to reach the extremes of the deep sea environment and collect near shore data that helps us to better manage coastal resources and monitor conditions that affect every day life. Students and teachers gain new skills as they stand watches in the ISC during ocean research explorations that expose them to open-ended, real-world problem solving. They interact with ocean scientists and engineers, both on the ground and at sea. Teacher leaders mentor colleagues at their school. They share content and marine technology, its applications, and associated classroom activities. They also develop plans for integrating more technology into their classes. The teacher teams keep an electronic mentoring journal on the project's website, which allows for sharing activities and results. The student leaders assist their teachers in introducing new marine technologies to their classmates and conduct activities with middle school students in their district.
