1. Research and Impact The WaterBotics ® evaluation and research studies include two synergistic, but distinct, domains: educational impact and scale-up/sustainability. The educational impact component consists of two studies, one on professional development and classroom implementation and the other on student impact. The scale-up/sustainability component looks at factors related to the effectiveness and sustainability of the project’s expansion. The three studies are: Study 1: Professional Development and Classroom Implementation Study What issues arise with the hub site training model? Focus on the fidelity of the implementation as well as positive and negative outcomes from independent alterations to the curriculum Study 2: Student Impact Study What effect did the curriculum have on students? Compare students in the two types of environments – formal and informal - as well as cohorts of students within each environment. Study 3: Scale-up and Sustainability Study What factors are related to the effectiveness and sustainability of the project’s expansion? Collaborations and partnerships; training implementation; development and deployment of support systems; and plans for sustainability. WaterBotics is an innovative, underwater robotics curriculum developed by the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) at Stevens through two successive NSF grants. The current Build IT Scale Up grant is a five-year, $2.5 million NSF program aimed at engaging thousands of middle and high school youth in intensive science, engineering, computer experiences through dissemination at five national hub sites and through national and state partners. Youth experience WaterBotics in both traditional classrooms and informal education settings such as summer camps and after-school programs. NJ Partnership for Research to Improve Mathematics Education (NJ PRIME) NJ PRIME is a partnership among 12 schools from Bayonne, Weehawken, Union City, and Elizabeth and Stevens Institute of Technology to provide school-based teams of K-5 elementary teachers with professional development that will strengthen their content and teaching expertise and prepare them to be effective mathematics teacher leaders. Sponsored by the NJ Department of Education, this 3-year Mathematics and Science Partnership program is designed to ensure that participants can engage students in deeper conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and problem- solving in the topic areas now emphasized by the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and facilitate their use and understanding by other elementary teachers in their districts. Significantly increase teachers’ mathematics conceptual understanding and pedagogical content knowledge. Improve the ability of elementary teachers to understand and apply the Common Core State Standards in Math and improve their confidence in their own mathematical understandings. Prepare participants to serve as mathematics teacher leaders to others in their school or district. Infusing Engineering into High School Science Courses (INFUSE) We are investigating various implementation aspects and outcomes of infusing engineering concepts and design into high school science courses in two Discovery Research K-12 projects. In the first, a randomized control trial has been used to determine the impact of engineering design activities on biology and chemistry students’ understanding of science concepts and acquisition of communication and collaboration skills. The second project is focused on providing biology teachers with sufficient knowledge and experience with targeted engineering concepts and engineering-infused curricula to prepare them to create or adapt biology lessons to incorporate engineering concepts or design. Research and Impact Statistical findings  No significant difference in the change in students’ science content knowledge between treatment groups  A small positive effect size (0.18) with respect to content knowledge for the experimental treatment  Inconclusive results for impact on students’ communication and collaboration skills Other findings  Measuring fidelity of implementation for engineering infusion is nuanced and limited by currently available instruments  Biology teachers’ extant knowledge of engineering and scarcity of existing models of engineering-infused biology curricula moderate outcomes Abstract PISA 2 is a five-year, $11.5 million National Science Foundation funded Mathematics and Science Partnership project to increase student learning and motivation, teacher preparation, and school district capacity to deliver high quality, research-based STEM programs. Three hundred Grade 3-8 teachers will participate in either a five-course graduate sequence or summer professional development institutes, classroom support visits and school-year workshops to strengthen their science and pedagogical content knowledge in physical and earth sciences. PISA 2 is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), emphasizing “high leverage” science and engineering practices and the engineering design process. Teachers will improve their understanding of how students learn STEM subjects and their ability to facilitate student learning of creativity, problem-solving, and teamwork. Research and Impact PISA 2 has provided support to over 150 teachers in 15 New Jersey districts. Preliminary evidence suggests that teachers have: Increased their content understanding Adopted new teaching practices; Introduced engineering design activities; Incorporated modeling and evidence- based reasoning into science instruction. What We Do Build teaching expertise through professional development Support student engagement through curriculum development Investigate teaching and learning questions through education research WaterBotics is a problem-based STEM curriculum, requiring teams of students to work together to design, build, test, and redesign underwater robots made of LEGO® and other components. Teams are given a sequence of challenges that gradually increase in difficulty and ultimately lead to a complete robot, introducing the concept of iterative design and demonstrating the value of testing and redesign. Abstract Research and Impact