SUPERCHARGE was proposed by Illinois State University faculty from the areas of STEM and STEM education, and accepted for funding by the National Science Foundation. This weekly after school program and curriculum is set to be deployed across four school years to four participating Chicago Public Schools.
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An After-school STEM Program with a Novel Equitable and Inclusive Structure
An interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at Illinois State University is
partnering with the Chicago Public Schools district (CPS) and non-profit Community-Based Organizations in four Chicago neighborhoods to create a new after-school STEM program known as SUPERCHARGE. Funded by NSF, the primary purpose of the project is to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who pursue STEM fields at the postsecondary level. Faculty from STEM and STEM education program areas as well as the National Center for Urban Education at Illinois State University comprise the leadership team for the project. Guided by the National Research Council’s STEM Learning Ecosystem Model, SUPERCHARGE will contribute to the disruption of inequities that hinder access to STEM career pipelines for participants by serving as a bridge between informal high school academic experiences, STEM-related higher education programs, and STEM-related career pathways. Research to determine the impact of the program on students' interest, understanding, and self-efficacy towards STEM careers, as well as teachers and undergraduate students’ understanding of promoting change, will also be conducted. The Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) Common Instrument for students and teachers, and interviews with stakeholders are being used to support data gathering and program feedback. These data sources will be used for
program assessment and future research.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2148429
- PAR ID:
- 10424309
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education 2023 Annual Conference
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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STEM-based University Pathway Encouraging Relationships with Chicago High schools in Automation, Robotics and Green Energy (SUPERCHARGE) is an NSF-sponsored project where university faculty and undergraduates from Illinois State University have designed informal, after-school engineering-related activities focusing on robotics, green energy, and automation. An emphasis is placed on activities and partnerships that promote knowledge, engagement, and interest in STEM fields in underserved schools and communities. This resource exchange presents activities from the final unit of the program's first year. In this project, high school students will build and experiment with a smart wireless weather station and indoor climate console with the goal of collecting and analyzing data to learn about the climate in their community while fostering STEM skills and interest in college and career pathways.more » « less
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SUPERCHARGE (STEM-based University Pathway Encouraging Relationships with Chicago High schools in Automation, Robotics, and Green Energy) is an NSF-funded after-school STEM program through which an interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at Illinois State University is collaborating with teachers from four high schools in Chicago, Illinois in the U.S. and four non-profit Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in the surrounding communities to develop innovative hands-on activities for underrepresented students. These informal educational activities are centered on topics such as robotics, automation, and renewable energy. In the program's inaugural year, one of the four units will focus on assessing air quality, employing the micro:bit microcontroller for programming and the Kitronik Air Quality Board for sensing and data collection. All the air quality unit activities were developed by undergraduate students under the guidance of faculty advisors. High school teachers mentoring the student learners in the afterschool STEM program iteratively reviewed all activities when these activities were developed. These air quality assessment activities are outlined as follows. Activity 1: Students are introduced to the significance of indoor and outdoor air quality. They subsequently learn about air quality components, including temperature, pressure, humidity, air quality index, and CO2 equivalent. Activities 2 & 3: Students collect air quality data from different locations and visualize the collected data to comprehend variations among these locations. An extension activity is available for students interested in collecting air quality data over an extended period, allowing them to evaluate the correlation between indoor conditions and air quality changes. Activity 4: Students learn to program the micro:bit to display air quality status using LED lights on the air quality board. Activity 5: The learning unit concludes by presenting air quality conditions in their neighborhood in collaboration with their CBOs. Students can assess the air quality using the hand-held device they programmed and compare their findings to data collected by existing air quality monitoring sensors in their communities. Preliminary data collected during the testing phase indicate that the developed programs effectively display air quality. These activities were designed to help student learners comprehend coding, microcontroller technology, and data collection and visualization. In the summer of 2023, the SUPERCHARGE team organized two one-day professional development workshops. Teachers who participated in these summer workshops completed a selection of air quality assessment activities. They provided feedback, confirming that the programs on the air quality board work seamlessly. Minor suggestions were received, and the instructions were modified accordingly. This Work in Progress paper aims to document one of the first year’s learning activities of the highly collaborative after-school STEM program, demonstrate the activity development processes, and foster an exchange of ideas and feedback among educators in related fields.more » « less
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SUPERCHARGE (STEM-based University Pathway Encouraging Relationships with Chicago High schools in Automation, Robotics, and Green Energy) is an NSF-funded after-school STEM program through which an interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at Illinois State University is collaborating with teachers from four high schools in Chicago, Illinois in the U.S. and four non-profit Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) in the surrounding communities to develop innovative hands-on activities for underrepresented students. These informal educational activities are centered on topics such as robotics, automation, and renewable energy. In the program's inaugural year, one of the four units will focus on assessing air quality, employing the micro:bit microcontroller for programming and the Kitronik Air Quality Board for sensing and data collection. All the air quality unit activities were developed by undergraduate students under the guidance of faculty advisors. High school teachers mentoring the student learners in the afterschool STEM program iteratively reviewed all activities when these activities were developed. These air quality assessment activities are outlined as follows. Activity 1: Students are introduced to the significance of indoor and outdoor air quality. They subsequently learn about air quality components, including temperature, pressure, humidity, air quality index, and CO2 equivalent. Activities 2 & 3: Students collect air quality data from different locations and visualize the collected data to comprehend variations among these locations. An extension activity is available for students interested in collecting air quality data over an extended period, allowing them to evaluate the correlation between indoor conditions and air quality changes. Activity 4: Students learn to program the micro:bit to display air quality status using LED lights on the air quality board. Activity 5: The learning unit concludes by presenting air quality conditions in their neighborhood in collaboration with their CBOs. Students can assess the air quality using the hand-held device they programmed and compare their findings to data collected by existing air quality monitoring sensors in their communities. Preliminary data collected during the testing phase indicate that the developed programs effectively display air quality. These activities were designed to help student learners comprehend coding, microcontroller technology, and data collection and visualization. In the summer of 2023, the SUPERCHARGE team organized two one-day professional development workshops. Teachers who participated in these summer workshops completed a selection of air quality assessment activities. They provided feedback, confirming that the programs on the air quality board work seamlessly. Minor suggestions were received, and the instructions were modified accordingly. This Work in Progress paper aims to document one of the first year’s learning activities of the highly collaborative after-school STEM program, demonstrate the activity development processes, and foster an exchange of ideas and feedback among educators in related fields.more » « less
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
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