INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS

Transcription

1 INSPIRING THE NEXT GENERATION OF TECHNOLOGY INNOVATORS Iridescent s mission is to equip and inspire underprivileged young people to develop curiosity, creativity and persistence through a powerful science, engineering and technology education. Iridescent proposes to collaborate with Intel to create, test and publish 10 design biorobotics design challenges based on the Intel Galileo board. These challenges will be the basis of a curriculum that will be taught to, used and tested by 75 after-school educators in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago to teach 750 students on how to address and solve the design challenges. The challenges curriculum will be published and showcased through high-quality videos on Iridescent's online platform Curiosity Machine and available for use by educators across the country. Curiosity Machine Approach and Impact This proposal leverages the work of Intel engineers, the Intel Galileo board, and Curiosity Machine, a core initiative of Iridescent. Curiosity Machine is a scalable, sustainable model of science and engineering education for scientists, engineers, educators and young people that has been tested and vetted with 1,400 engineers and scientists from 10 universities, several major corporations including Intel, and 24,000 children and parents in states across the country.! !1

2 Curiosity Machine has five unique aspects: Pure Curriculum Focus on Physics and Engineering Children gain problem-solving skills and knowledge of fields such as civil engineering, nanotechnology, robotics and medical imaging. Showcasing and energizing company talent Engineers and scientists use and showcase their own work and design challenges. Iridescent creates and publishes high quality videos of the designs on its online platform ( that is accessed by youth and educators across the country. Rigorous curriculum for engineers The training engineers and scientists undergo has been field-tested and offered as a credit course (approved by the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology) at the University of Southern California and at 10 other top universities. Active, online learning platform Children and families can watch videos of engineers and scientists explain their work, upload a video of their own projects and receive one-on-one feedback and ongoing mentoring from professionals on how to improve. Here is a demo video. Broader community impact In addition to partnering with company employees, Iridescent trains educators to use the online curriculum with their students. This exponentially increases the impact of each participating engineer and the company's technology and innovation !2

3 Curiosity Machine Impact to Date As part of a five-year National Science Foundation longitudinal study, Iridescent has demonstrated through its Curiosity Machine program that: 75% of children are more persistent, less averse to challenges and understand science better 78% of parents understand science and engineering concepts better and encouraged their child to pursue a STEM career. 90% of parents do hands-on science projects with their children at home, proving that the model of involving parents is effective in ensuring learning at home, beyond the program. Iridescent s Biorobotics Curriculum Development Expertise Iridescent has developed significant expertise in teaching low-cost robotics with a special focus on animals to urban middle and high school students. Students observe urban animals and identify recurring behaviors, signals and types of communication. They then design a simple robotic model of the animal that perceives it in its vicinity and responds with the appropriate gesture when the animal makes its signal. Students learn about mechanisms, signal processing, basic programming, vision systems and sensors. Two recent female student participants were invited to the 2014 White House Science Fair to showcase their work.! !3

4 Approach and Timeline The proposed project has three stages curriculum development, implementation and showcasing. First, Iridescent will work with 20 Intel engineers to create, test and publish 10 design challenges and videos based on the Intel Galileo Board. The design challenges will be the basis of the Electrical Engineering Badge curriculum on the Curiosity Machine online platform. Next, Iridescent will recruit and train 75 after-school and informal science educators ("Intel Fellows") to use this curriculum in after-school biorobotics clubs engaging 750 students with 40 hours of curriculum each. Students will submit their projects online via the Curiosity Machine platform for one-on-one feedback by mentoring engineers. This stage will allow us to engage more Intel employees as mentors (~ ). In the final stage, students are encouraged and supported to submit their projects to the Intel Science Fair. Timeline Spring 2015: Iridescent will work with the 20 Intel engineers to develop the 10 bio-robotics design challenges and produce videos of the work. Summer and Fall 2015: Iridescent will recruit 75 after-school educators, librarians, informal science educators or even teachers who will implement the curriculum with in after-school clubs each with 10 students lasting one semester. Iridescent will work with Intel to recruit and train 100 to 150 mentors who will provide virtual support to students via the Curiosity Machine online platform. The mentoring commitment will be roughly 2 hours a week over the course of 5 weeks. Spring 2016: After testing the curriculum out in a club, each of the Fellows will offer their modifications and suggestions for improvement with the Iridescent curriculum development team. These improvements will be reflected in the Curiosity Machine online curriculum. Post award: The Intel Teaching Fellows will serve as online teaching experts and mentors for other teachers who use the curriculum in their after-school or even in-school instruction. Deliverables and Scope of Work Iridescent proposes a partnership with Intel through which Iridescent would: !4

5 work with Intel engineers to develop 10 innovative, hands-on engineering design challenges based on the Intel Galileo board. The content will be geared towards 6th through12th grade students. produce 10 engaging and professional videos showcasing the technology behind the Galileo boards and how to use them. recruit, train and support 75 educators to use the Galileo curriculum with their students in an after-school Curiosity Club over one semester (40 hours), engaging 750 students. develop an Educator Portal on the current Curiosity Machine online platform with a kit functionality through which an educator can buy or get a sponsored kit of materials (such as Galileo Boards) for her students. Support students to submit projects to the Intel Science Fair. Benefits to Intel, the Strategic Partner Iridescent can add value in the following ways: Create Social Impact Intel employees can use their expertise to inspire underprivileged children about the power of computer hardware and software engineering (e.g. the Internet of Things) !5

6 Through Iridescent's online CuriosityMachine.org interface, Intel employees will have long-term mentoring opportunities through which they can support underprivileged children to prepare for careers in technology. Showcase Intel technology This project will bring Intel s pioneering core technologies directly to after-school and science educators and students with a focus on underprivileged communities. Iridescent will leverage its expertise and make the curriculum platform easily accessible for successful learning experiences. Curriculum developed through this project will be made widely and freely available worldwide through video and online platforms, giving greater and more diverse visibility to the Intel Galileo platform. Inspire Employees Intel employees will engage with two important communities underprivileged children and educators through which they will: Gain skills of clear science communication and presentation Become better leaders by learning how to motivate different types of learners Look at their work through different perspectives, resulting in more creative problem solving. Be publicly recognized for their contributions to the world in extraordinary ways and as powerful role models Budget Activity Research content/existing curriculum, underlying principles Recruit & train 20 Intel engineers to develop 10 open-ended design challenges Publish 10 design challenges and produce 10 videos (with physics animations) on Curiosity Machine Cost 20,000 15,000 50,000 Recruit, train and support 75 educators ( Intel Fellows ) to organize courses reaching 750 students for 30,000 contact hours Recruit, train and support 100 to 150 mentors to support 750 students on Curiosity Machine Assessment of student projects on CM, parental engagement and leadership, engineer impact 100,000 25,000 20,000 Overall coordination 5, !6

7 Materials and equipment (not including Galileo Boards for students) Development of Educator Portal on Curiosity Machine with Kit functionality Indirect (liability insurance, development, audit, staff development, utilities) 15,000 70,000 64,000 Total 384,000 Galileo Boards 30,000 Grand Total (including Galileo Boards) 414,000 We are excited at the possibilities this partnership presents and would be pleased to discuss this further, at your convenience !7