Education and Human Resources

Examples of Funded Projects

1) In a study conducted under a grant to the Educational Testing Service supported by EHR's Research on Learning and Education (ROLE) program, researchers and educators have successfully demonstrated a computer-based learning system for mathematics that can accommodate both visually impaired and sighted students. The system uses text enlargement on normal displays for low vision students, a Talking Tactile Tablet for blind students, and normal displays for fully sighted students. In addition, the system develops a model for each student's understanding of mathematical concepts, and then uses those models to provide problem-solving advice to students regardless of their visually acuity. The student models have been validated in a pilot test of 50 students, and the system is now being tested with over 300 blind, visually impaired, and fully sighted students. 2) Funded by EHR's Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, an innovative effort to demonstrate its capabilities is being developed by the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing Education (CENSei) at the University of California-Los Angeles. CENSei's web-supported curricular materials allow middle school students to explore scientific data collected from embedded sensor networks deployed in Southern California ecosystems. CENSei draws on the expertise of education researchers, natural scientists, information scientists, and teachers to overcome the challenges students face in using scientifically rich data. Their efforts investigate how a data rich sensor environment can become a learning environment with an appropriate interface and supports for student inquiry. CENSei capitalizes on NSF's investment in the Center for Embedded Network Sensing, a Science and Technology Center. 3) EHR's Informal Science Education (ISE) program supports Peep and the Big Wide World (PEEP), a daily, half-hour television series with accompanying web and outreach activities for 3- to 5-year-olds. PEEP gives wings to the innovative idea of teaching science to preschoolers. Airing on TLC and the Discovery Kids Channel, the TV series is tied for the top-rated program for children 2-5 in the weekday morning time block. The series is also reaching parents, providing them with information on how to extend their children's science learning in everyday situations. And PEEP is impacting the field of informal science education, as well, by giving preschool educators resources and training in how to nurture young children's science learning. PEEP is achieving this impact in part through its community of collaborators. Partners include educational organizations (e.g., 4-H, the National Education Association, Parents as Teachers), libraries (American Library Association), museums (via the Boston Children's Museum), and promotional media outlets. 4) The NSF Graduate Teaching Fellowships in K-12 Education (GK-12) program supports graduate students in STEM fields while providing them an opportunity to serve as resources in K-12 schools. Graduate Fellows at the University of Colorado Boulder taught engineering to more than 1,600 girls and boys through its integrated teaching and learning program. In the Denver School of Science and Technology, a high needs school, GK-12 Fellows initiated an engineering technical elective course. During fall 2005 engineering lessons were developed on several topics, including weather, biodomes, dams, states of matter, the human body and natural disasters. 5) With a grant from the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeships (IGERT) program, IGERT students at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, are assessing the sustainability of high-latitude regions, and working to discover how to reduce the vulnerability of these regions to both ecological and social change. One of the students contributed to the polar chapter of the UNESCO-sponsored Millennium Assessment, which is

Program Accomplishments

In fiscal year 2005, 759 awards were made, and 3,696 proposals were received for competitive review. In fiscal year 2006, approximately 700 awards will be made, and 4,120 proposals will be received for competitive review. In fiscal year 2007, it is anticipated that approximately 710 awards will be made, and 4,175 proposals will be received for competitive review. In addition, H-1B Nonimmigrant Petitioner scholarship activity made 128 awards to institutions in fiscal year 2005, resulting in over 9,700 scholarship opportunities.