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A recent $300,000 pilot grant from the National Science Foundation will enhance 快活视频鈥檚 outreach to Alabama鈥檚 Black Belt and its emphasis on cultivating interest in STEM-related disciplines.
The grant, part of NSF鈥檚 INCLUDES 鈥擨nclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science鈥� program, will help Tuskegee faculty develop a blueprint for and implement a computer science curriculum focused on eighth graders in Alabama鈥檚 Dallas, Hale and Macon counties. The grant will help increase vital access to science and technology education in this three-county portion of Alabama鈥檚 Black Belt, recognized as some of the most socioeconomically depressed parts of the United States.
Tuskegee faculty will offer teachers in these three counties鈥� school districts professional development to ready them to teach the new computer science curriculum in the 2018-19 school year.
鈥淭hrough this NSF-funded effort, our team will design a prototype model for computer science education, that hopefully will later expand to include all middle-school students in Alabama鈥檚 Black Belt,鈥� said Dr. Shaik Jeelani, Tuskegee鈥檚 vice president for research and dean of graduate studies. 鈥淭he long-term, broader impact for this underserved region of the country is potentially significant, considering that such educational opportunities like this often are reserved for more privileged school districts.鈥�
The model curriculum will feature exciting and structured hands-on activities intended to make computer science learning enjoyable. It will rely on the 鈥渓earning computer science by making鈥� educational style, where students create a computer science-based product (such as a robot) and learn the concepts that make the product work. This hands-on approach has the potential to motivate diverse student populations to study in higher-level computer science disciplines during and after high school, and later to join the computer science workforce, which currently is in need of more qualified workers.
Tuskegee鈥檚 project is one of 27 across the nation funded through the NSF INCLUDES program, aimed at enhancing U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discoveries and innovations through a commitment to diversity and inclusion. NSF INCLUDES is designed to create pathways to STEM disciplines and careers for underrepresented populations, expanding the nation鈥檚 leadership and talent pools.
The $300,000 grant represents second-stage funding that, depending on the success of the project鈥檚 efforts in these three Black Belt counties, could result in next-phase competitive NSF INCLUDES funding of $12.5 million over a five-year period. This additional funding would allow Jeelani and his team to expand its educational outreach to middle schoolers in all of Alabama鈥檚 18-county Black Belt region.
鈥淥ur current alliance includes selected institutions of higher education, K-12 administrators and teachers, business and civic organizations,鈥� Jeelani said. 鈥淥ur partners鈥� expertise in computer science education will be vital to the success and further expansion of the project.鈥�
The alliance includes Tuskegee faculty with considerable academic and technological expertise in computer science. In addition to Jeelani, who also serves on the faculty of the university鈥檚 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, team members include Dr. Mohammed A. Qazi, professor of mathematics, as well as Department of Computer Science faculty; Dr. Hira Narang, professor and department head; and assistant professors Dr. Cassandra Thomas and Dr. Yasmeen Rawajfih.
For more information about the grant award, visit .
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