STEM and Computing Education Support (STEMACES)​: Scaling an Innovative​ Model for Improved Science Learning 

Rural students and teachers are facing challenges in STEM education, including limited access to ​affordable ​technology, inadequate professional development, and geographic isolation. These challenges make it difficult to integrate ​evidence-based ​modern instructional tools and limit educators’ ability to support student engagement and achievement, especially in technology-enhanced and inquiry-based STEM learning.

Purpose

Evidence ​demonstrates that students learn science better with higher levels of hands-on, inquiry-based science instruction paired with professional learning for educators teaching science and with support from and partnerships with local universities.

Sonoma State University, Angelo State University, and WestEd are scaling and evaluating an evidence-based STEM and Computing Education Support (STEMACES) model in rural middle schools.

STEMACES addresses key challenges faced by rural students and teachers while fostering a professional learning community among educators, staff, and local interest holders. A successful implementation of STEMACES is expected to improve student learning outcomes and expand access to high-quality STEM and computing education.

Audiences Served

STEMACES will address rural resource and training challenges by guiding middle school teachers to help students apply scientific and computational thinking to real-world problems.​​

The findings will benefit practitioners and researchers in promoting science teaching and learning through an innovative model.

Project Activities

The project will collaborate with rural teachers to refine STEMACES activities. WestEd and its partners will design and lead professional development workshops and develop computational thinking assessments.

After piloting, we will conduct a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of STEMACES on student outcomes and its implementation fidelity in rural settings.

Leveraging Sonoma State University’s ​Open Educational Resource Web App, the model reduces costs and reliance on specialized hardware and tech support.

Project Resources

Learn more about the project on Sonoma State University’s website.

Read about recent research findings related to the project.

Project Director

Linlin Li

Linlin Li is a Research Director on the Learning and Technology team. Li develops and directs research and evaluations with local, statewide, and national agencies.

Funder

This project is funded in full by the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) at the U.S. Department of Education through award number S411B230042.

Project Duration

5 years (1/1/2024–12/31/2028)