Research Area

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Education Research

Overview

At CENS, education is intertwined with research and application development. The education component has established these initiatives to help meet our objectives.

1. Advance the state of the art in inquiry based science education in grades 6-12 through the use of interactive ENS systems;
2. Increase the participation of under-represented minorities and women in undergraduate and graduate engineering research;
3. Conduct education research that will directly inform CENS educational design work and advance basic theoretical knowledge of students’ understanding of scientific inquiry;
4. Educate CENS individuals and partners about the importance of ethics; and
5. Provide national visibility to ENS to research communities, the schools, and the public at large to enable maximization of the potential positive societal impacts through outreach and knowledge transfer activities.
   

Objectives

Grade 6-12 Inquiry Modules

1. Create meaningful inquiry-based science instruction using embedded networked sensing technology, for a diverse grade 6-12 population, through collaboration among teachers, education researchers, and scientists.
2. Prepare grade 6-12 science teachers to integrate inquiry-based science instruction into their classroom.
   

Information & Data Management

1. Make CENS data useful and usable for grade 6-12 inquiry learning.
2. Make CENS data useful and usable by scientific community.

Undergraduate Research Program

1. To provide summer and academic-year undergraduate research opportunities, with emphasis on recruiting women and underrepresented minority students.
2. To increase the number of under-represented US students who pursue graduate education in engineering and the physical sciences.

Ethics Education Program

1. Establish a program of ethics within the cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional context of the Center.

External

1. Develop an education portal infrastructure to assist with dissemination and outreach efforts.