SCIENCE
TECHNOLOGY
ENGINEERING
MATHEMATICS
“Over 80% of the fastest-growing occupations and two-thirds of the occupations with the largest job growth are dependent upon a knowledge base in science and mathematics.” Coble and Allen (2005).
“More than 50% of the current science and engineering workforce is approaching retirement.” Tapping America’s Potential (2005).
“U.S. universities will graduate qualified candidates to fill only 50% of the 1,500,000 computer and information related jobs expected by 2012.” Women and Information Technology by the Numbers (2005).
“Women and minorities remain under-represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations: Women constitute just 26% of the STEM workforce, compared to 47% of the overall workforce. African Americans make up only 6% (compare to 11% of the overall workforce), and Hispanics account for a little more than 5% (less than half their share of the overall workforce).” Babco and Ellis (2005).

School of Education
19000 Hubbard Dr.
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fit_project@umd.umich.edu
http://fit.umd.umich.edu

project

project

Fostering Interest in IT

Science
Technology
Engineering
Mathematics

ITEST Project

An opportunity for teachers and students

project

The Fostering interest in information technology (FI3T) PROJECT IS PART OF A NATIONWIDE INITIaTIVE SUPPORTED BY THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION’S (nsf) INnOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS (itest) PROGRAM.
THE FI3T PROJECT IS A three-year program DESIGNED TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR UNDERREPRESENTed AND UNDERSERVED HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS TO LEARN ABOUT, EXPEREINCE, AND USE iNFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (it) WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATHEMATICS (steM).

to build skilLs and knowledge for THE 21st century

PROJECT PARTNERSHIP
UM-D’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, and School of Education, Detroit Public Schools, Oakland Schools, US Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), Treeflow Technologies, Dassault Systèmes’/DELMIA Corporation, FANUC Robotics, Inc, Barbara Ann KARMANOS Cancer Institute, Systems
Analytics and Environmental Science and Advanced & Manufacturing Engineering Quality Departments of the Ford Motor Company, and 21st Century Digital
Learning Environments.

The FI3T project will engage high-school teachers and students, undergraduate/graduate student assistants (U/GSAs), and STEM content area faculty experts to create high-quality learning projects, strategies and curriculum models for use in after-school, weekend, and summer settings through hands-on, inquiry-based activities with a strong emphasis on non-traditional approaches to learning and understanding.
………………………..

FI3T will create four project-based design teams to address topics in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics. Each team will include 10 high school students, 1 teacher, 1 undergraduate/graduate student, and 1 STEM content area faculty expert. The project participants will have year-round, two-year IT enrichment experiences learning to use IT within the context of STEM.

21st century career &
educational pathways

IT in Science, technology,
engineering, & mathematics

IT IN SCIENCE
The science design team will concentrate on three different but related applications of IT in the sciences; measurement, modeling, and mapping.
IT IN ENGINEERING
The engineering design team will focus on the basics of robotics and its applications as related to IT, including modeling and programming robots and integrating robots into manufacturing systems or medical applications.

IT IN TECHNOLOGY
The technology design team will focus on technological tools and languages for designing and developing Web applications such as Web-based games and chat-rooms.
IT IN MATHEMATICS
The mathematics design team will focus on statistical science with applications in public health, environmental issues, and manufacturing reliability and safety.
.

INCENTIVES
The FI3T project offers a
number of incentives to all participants including course releases for faculty members, cash stipends and graduate tuition for teachers, cash
stipends for U/GSAs and students as well as portable
computers with related project software for all participants for their use during the life of their project participation.

FUNDED BY THE NSF
The FI3T project is funded by NSF’s ITEST program
No: 0737326.