Program

Background

The revolution in technology is twofold: a revolution in communications and a revolution in the use of computers to build and visualize complex processes. The NCSA has been a recognized leader in both areas--having developed technologies such as Telnet, NCSA Image (led to Spyglass Transform), Mosaic (led to Netscape and Internet Explorer), and Habanero. Our current focus includes further advances in computationally intensive computer resources, but importantly for education, work advances in computational modeling and computer intensive informatics, such as data mining.

Modeling, visualization, and informatics have become essential 21st Century methodologies of deep critical inquiry and new ways of doing science. We have changed the sciences and the sciences have changed the computational resources we have developed. Teachers in training need to know how to use these new tools in the classroom and to make them available to our next generation of students. A major recommendation of the report "Setting a Research and Planning Agenda for Computer Modeling in the Pre-College Curriculum" (Final Report: NSF RED-9255877) is that "[c]omputational modeling ideas and activities should have a key and central role throughout the science curriculum--not peripherally, and not only as part of a special or optional course." Models help "abstract from reality key features that enable us to gain insight into the fundamental processes underlying external complexity."

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EdGrid Strengths

EdGrid proposes to catalyze teacher preparation programs in three ways:

Communications

We are a leader in online technologies for training, learning and collaboration. We will provide an infrastructure for the technology transfer of visualization and modeling tools, learning environments, and knowledge mining tools. This would include creating new courses in teacher preparation programs, providing technical training and demonstrations for faculty in colleges of education, and adapting technology in educational settings that have known barriers, such as low bandwidth or low-end computers. This infrastructure builds on the NCSA GRID and on the current planned Access Centers. The first of these Access Centers is up and running in Ballston, Virginia next to the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC.

Computational Sciences

As a leader in the creation of computational tools for the current sciences, we can also act as a leader in the creation of transformed tools for the learner. We can bridge scientific and education communities by facilitating scientist-educator partnerships to create and further develop curriculum content, and we can support its technology infrastructure.

Testbeds & Evaluation

In collaboration with the Illinois State Board of Education, we can create programs affecting teacher preparation, certification, and in-service support; and we can promote innovative methods of systemic evaluation. As a Catalyst member of the PT3 community we can, through our EdGrid infrastructure, leverage all of these efforts throughout the country.

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EdGrid Catalytic Approach

EdGrid is both the name for our infrastructure technologies and the name for our consortium of the NCSA and its partner organizations called the EOT-PACI (Education, Outreach, and Training - Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure). The EOT-PACI leverages the Alliance PACI program, a ten-year NSF-funded program that couples over 50 organizations to create an advanced computational infrastructure for the 21st Century. The Associate Superintendent for Educational Technology at the Illinois State Board of Education and the State Board act as Co-PI and partner in the PT3 project. Furthermore, we have developed successful partnerships with schools and school districts in Illinois, leading colleges of education, researchers, teacher educators, innovative teachers, and scientists committed to improving education.

EdGrid will host national conferences and quarterly workshops to support partners in leveraging more aggressive and significant changes in the professional development of teachers in the United States. These changes would focus on the inclusion of computational science, modeling, and visualization curriculum in the colleges of education. By the end of year two, we will have been able to focus around consensus areas and form lasting partnerships to develop additional projects from the Catalyst Project. Furthermore, we will build on our experience in complex systems research and evaluation and hope to develop evaluation tools that can be a significant contribution to the national agenda of education.

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EdGrid Themes

EdGrid themes will focus on:

• infusing the scientific community of practice into those of educators with an interest in the use of modeling and visualization to facilitate constructivist inquiry-based learning.

• creating exemplar teacher education courses that include new fields like bio-informatics and the use of exceptional tools such as the Biology Workbench.Creating flexible modes of certification for new research and proven courses in various content domains.

• developing evaluation methodologies and policy tools such as the Educational Policy Workbench to support accountability and decision- making on a district, state, and national level.

• disseminating exemplars of successful teacher education programs (in-service and pre-service) that leverage modeling and visualization in science education (White Papers, Video Press and News Releases).

• Aligning computational modeling and visualization with state and national learning goals.

• developing advanced, self-paced methodologies for creating technology literacy, and then building technology competencies for teachers within the framework of creating technology-infused curriculum.

• developing strategies to increase women and minority representation in science and engineering (White Papers).

• creating an infrastructure of mathematics, science, and technology teleapprenticeships to support teacher-educator partners.

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Partners

• National Center for Supercomputing Applications
• Illinois State Board of Education
• Lesley College
• Maryland Virtual High School
  • Montgomery College
  • Mount Saint Mary's College
  • University of Maryland-College Park
• Ohio Supercomputer Center
• Rice University
• Shodor Education Foundation Inc.
  • Appalachian State University
  • Clemson University
  • East Carolina University
  • Roosevelt University
  • University of Houston-Downtown
  • University of Montana
• SRI International
  • CalState Teach (California State University at Monterey Bay)
• University of Alabama-Birmingham
  • University of Alabama-Huntsville
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Beloit College
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Co-Directors

Lisa Bievenue, Shodor Education Foundation
bievenue@shodor.org
217- 344-4660 x16(Office)
217-344-5360(Fax)

Scott Lathrop, NCSA
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
scott@ncsa.uiuc.edu
217-244-1099 (voice)
217-265-8022(Fax)

Lugene Finley, Deputy Superintendent
Illinois State Board of Education
LFINLEY@isbe.net
217-782-5596(Office)
217-782-4459(Fax)

Edee Norman Wiziecki, NCSA
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
edeew@ncsa.uiuc.edu
217- 244-5594(Office)
217- 244-1987 (Fax)

Contact Information:

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