Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry Scale Up (ITSI-SU) Teaching with Probes and Models ITSI-SU activities run on Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers with Java 5 (1.5) or later installed. http://itsisu.portal.concord.org/requirements/ Carolyn Staudt - carolyn@concord.org Melanie Hoskins - hoskinsm@allentownsd.org For exemplar activities visit: http://www.concord.org/projects/itsi-su ITSI material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-0929540.

ITEST Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) was established by the National Science Foundation In 2003 in direct response to the address the looming shortage of information technology workers in the United States. ITEST Learning Resource Center http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/

ITEST ITEST Experiences — include 161 projects across 39 states — helps young people and teachers build the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a technologically rich society.

ITEST Funding H-1B is a non-immigrant visa category Allows American companies and universities to seek temporary help from skilled foreigners who have the equivalent US Bachelor’s Degree education H-1B employees are employed temporarily in a job category that is considered by the US Citizenship &Immigration Services to be a "specialty occupation”. Microsoft,IBM,Oracle Corporation, Cisco, Intel, QualComm, Yahoo, Hewlett Packard, and Google $5,000/year for 65,000 not including non-profit universities

ITSI-SU Sustainabilty Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry Scale Up (ITSI-SU) is a five-year project which will reach three times as many teachers as its predecessor ITSI in three years. • ITSI-SU will reach 264 teachers over the first 3 years. • Experienced teachers are selected and trained to be master teachers for the final 2 years. • Certified trainers will continue to recruit teachers with a fee-based model after the project ends. • Exemplars will be freely available from the ITSI-SU website.

Meeting Special Needs ITSI-SU states offer a diverse range of students including urban and rural districts with an emphasis on low-income, minority populations. Each state has unique and different needs and will be able to create and modify activities so that they can meet their own objectives and standards.

ITSI-SU Robust Design • ITSI-SU provides activities in earth, life, and physical sciences for grades 3-12. • Fees to maintain the portal and software will be generated by licensing individual school-based professionals and selected organizations to offer the program. • Unsubsidized training will be offered to further increase the number of certified trainers.

Avoiding Scale-up Traps • Teacher training is extensive with workshops over the summer, face-to-face meeting and online courses. • Teachers are also part of an enriching online educational community where they share their work which is peer reviewed by project staff, site directors and other teachers. • The project website provides templates with rubrics for creating and customizing activities.

Coping with Difficult Settings Ongoing evaluations of the project will begin after the 2010- 2011 school year and will examine: • Proficiency changes in science achievement. • Impact on student attitudes on pursuing STEM careers, particularly in minority and low-income populations. • Project’s sustainability strategy.

Previous ITSI District Site How many times does a science teacher try implementing a new technology, then goes back to their old way of instructing because they don't feel competent to use the new technology or confident that the technology will work? With ITSI, every participating teacher has successfully implemented lessons they have written that use probes and models…100%. Carol Williamson, ITSI site coordinator

Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry Scale Up (ITSI-SU) Teaching with Probes and Models ITSI-SU activities run on Windows, Macintosh and Linux computers with Java 5 (1.5) or later installed. http://itsisu.portal.concord.org/requirements/ Carolyn Staudt - carolyn@concord.org Melanie Hoskins - hoskinsm@allentownsd.org For exemplar activities visit: http://www.concord.org/projects/itsi-su ITSI material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DRL-0929540.