http://epics-high.ecn.purdue.edu/

“High Schools Improving Lives with Engineering Projects in Community Service-Learning”

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Pamela TurnerPamela TurnerEPICS National High School Program CoordinatorEPICS National High School Program CoordinatorPurdue UniversityPurdue University

An Introduction to EPICS High

Outline Motivation and Partnerships Background Projects in four areas

Human services Access & abilities Education & outreach The environment

The EPICS Model Impact/Meeting needs Status

Motivation: Connecting engineering with people and local communities While interest in engineering is

declining, civic engagement among teenagers is near historic highs

83% of high school seniors participated in community service or service-learning Female and minority students more

inclined to continue service Many honors diplomas require service

Service-learning in high schools rarely connected with engineering/science/math

EPICS provides an opportunity to tap into this wave of volunteerism

Giving high school students an opportunity to experience engineering through design

helping their community, design-based, hands-on,

ethics, teaming,communication,

leadership

Community-service andeducation organizations needaccess to technical expertise thatis normally prohibitively expensive: improved, enhanced, and new services

Motivation: Connecting Community and Engineering in High Schools

Motivation: The Time is Now for EPICS High

EPICS received a $1.5 million from CNCS (Learn & Serve America) to kick-off the EPICS High school program

Collaboration with EPICS, Engineering Education/Inspire, and Purdue’s College of Education

Hire in full-time high school coordinator Opportunities for collaboration

4 EPICS university partners helpedidentify ~20 high schools

Industry partners including; Intel, Motorola, National Instruments and Rolls Royce Pilot high schools have been identified

The EPICS High School ConsortiumSome EPICS High Schools are now in the process of finalizing

Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) to Purdue. The following is a list of high schools who have completed or are in the process of completing the MOU.

In Indiana:McCutcheon HSJefferson HSIPS Career & Tech CenterPerry Meridian HSColumbus C4 ProgramBedford North Lawrence HS

In Massachusetts:Leicester HSAgawam HSProspect Hill Academy

In San Diego:High Tech HighPacific Ridge

In New York:Columbia HS for Math, Science & EngineeringIDEAMott HallBread & RosesThurgoodFrederick Douglas

In San Jose:Andrew P. Hill HSYerba Buena HS

Key Partnerships

High School

University

Community

Corporate

Partnerships: EPICS Universities Joining High School Program

University of California, San Diego San Jose State University Columbia University Worcester Polytechnic Institute

National model: Local universities support their local high schools

Partnerships: Corporate Interest Leveraging efforts in outreach and community

Improving Education Increasing interest in engineering/computing Helping Communities

Financial and in-kind resources for local projects Sustainability

Expertise Consultants for students

and teachers Advocates for Service-Learning

EPICS Projects: 4 Areas of Interest

The Environment Access & Abilities

Education & Outreach Human Services

Partnerships: Examples of Types of Community Partners in Areas of Interest

Education: K-12 schools, museums, adult learning programs, after-school programs

Access and abilities: adaptive services, clinics for children with disabilities, programs for adults with disabilities, assistive technology

Human services: Homelessness prevention, Habitat for Humanity, family and children agencies, neighborhood revitalization, local government

Environment: environmental organizations, neighborhood associations, parks & recreation

Background: The EPICS Consortium

EPICS programs at 18 universities + 20 High School Purdue, Notre Dame, Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia Tech, Penn

State, Butler, Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Columbia, WPI, San Jose State, California-San Diego, California-Merced, Illinois Institute of Technology, Dayton, Dartmouth, Auckland, New Zealand, Virginia, Princeton

High School Program – 20 High Schools in 2007

National support from NSF, CNCS, Microsoft, HP, National Instruments, Cypress, Motorola, Purdue

Annual conference May 20-22, 2008 in West Lafayette, IN. Regional workshops

National-scale EPICS projects Teams at different universities

cooperate on national-scale problems

Many standards can be achieved through EPICS. One strength of the highly successful EPICS model is that it offers service-learning for students with varying academic interests.

EPICS addresses critical areas in academic standards in: Math ex: Problem-solving and utilizing math skills Science ex: Using scientific theories in practical applications Language Arts ex: Master good communication in order to both receive and disseminate information and understand others

Background: Meeting Academic Standards

Background: Learning Pedagogies

Service-Learning Engagement in the community

Service to an underserved populations EPICS focuses on local communities

Tied to academic learning outcomes Local partnerships allow students to experience

consistent “customer” interaction Reciprocity

Solving problems WITH the community Reflection (Analysis)

Processing their experience in the community Connecting the service to academic standards

EPICS Projects: Human Services(Examples of Projects at the University Level)

Habitat for Humanity Web-based home selection guides Building construction tutorials and management systems Energy efficiency analyses and home design

recommendations Restore inventory management

system

National Projects National Database system for

homeowner assessments Purdue and Notre Dame

Construction training materials Purdue and Wisconsin

Waiheke Island Waste Resource Trust, New Zealand Processing waste glass into sand for use in

construction materials Conversion of waste cooking

oil to bio-diesel fuel

EPICS Projects: Environment(Examples of projects at the University level)

EPICS Projects: Access & Abilities (Examples of projects at the university & high school level)

High School Team Bedford North

Lawrence, IN Swallowing monitor

to enable classmatewith cerebral palsy control drooling

2nd place in 2005 EPICS I2P Provisional patent

Complex play environments for young children with physical disabilities

Multimedia systems to stimulate speech in developmentally delayed children

EPICS Projects: Education & Outreach(Examples of projects at the university level)

Projects with local museums: Virtual reality history tour Electromechanical battlefield Interactive zoo animal catalog,

tour, and games Hands-on science exhibits Museum climate monitoring

system

Partnerships with local K-12 schools

K-12 outreach projects Technology & girls Technology-assisted job

training

Bedford North Lawrence: Pilot EPICS High School Model

Started in Bedford, IN. by EPICS Alum employed at Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center

Created a swallowing monitor to enable classmate with cerebral palsy to control drooling 2nd place in 2005 EPICS I2P

competing against university teams

Now have a provisional patent

Proved that EPICS can make an impact at the high school level on the students and the community

Bedford North Lawrence: Pilot EPICS High School Model

Sample Student Quotes:

“EPICS confused me. I wasn’t thinking of engineering at all but wanted to do the project. After I got into it I found electrical engineering fun. Now I am considering engineering and less sure what I want to major in as an undergraduate”- Female participant wanting to major in pre-med

“This engineering had kind of a “girl feel” to it”- One of the four male participants last year

EPICS High School Model: Criteria of New EPICS High School Sites

Student Participants Broad participation: EPICS schools are expected to

draw from a diverse population of students. Multidisciplinary collaboration: EPICS design teams

need students with diverse expertise and career interests.

Willingness and ability of the institution to meet

the EPICS core values. EPICS students participate in long-term, team-based

design projects that solve technology-based problems in the community.

EPICS programs establish multi-year partnerships with not-for-profit community organizations.

EPICS community partners assist the student teams in understanding community needs and context for the designs.

EPICS High School Model: Criteria of New EPICS High School Sites (Cont.)

Institutional Commitment Institutional commitment and administrative support. Appropriate teacher and administrative leadership. Support systems to assist in the community contacts.

Sustaining and institutionalizing high school programs

Purdue University along with their partnering Universities and corporate partners will work with the schools to prepare to sustain their programs.

High School EPICS Model: StructureHigh schools are determining the best fit for their

schools and their students when deciding on the EPICS model they will offer. The following are examples of models that have come out in discussions with the schools.

After school or Saturday Program In Daily Class Schedule (Elective) 3-Day/Week Class EPICS as Part of an Existing Class

The goal is to move toward integrating EPICS into the core curriculum

The High School EPICS Model: Curriculum Pieces

EPICS programs will involve the following components modeled after the success at the university. Milestones must be achieved and students will be required to report on projects in written reflections and oral presentations.

Team meetings or “Labs” Additional learning experiences (e.g.

Lectures, workshops, web-based learning,…)

Readings Reflections

The EPICS ModelEPICS Curriculum Provides

Service-Learning

Design Education

Project Management

Community Partnerships

Disciplinary Knowledge from Departments

EPICS ProgramsProjects and Problems from Local Community

Institutional Curriculum and Culture

DesignProcess

Math

The EPICS Model: Learning Design Design is messy

Involving people with varying skill sets and academic interests

The Design Process as a full cycle Traditional classes are valuable to the learning cycle of EPICS

EPICS provides an opportunity for start-to-finish design

Problem definition Design for x-ability Working designs for fielded projects Support for fielded projects Redesign or retirement of fielded projects

Social Studies

EnvironmentLanguage Arts

Science

Vocational

CivicsHealth

Impact: Real Design Solutions to Real Community Needs

Real projects: start-to-finish design – problem definition, specifications,version control, sustainability,design/coding standards,rigorous testing, reliability,maintainability, safety,satisfying a customer,accountability, pride

A different view of engineering

The high school as citizen making an impact on the world around them

Impact: Meetings Students’ Needs

Communication Skills Teamwork Project integration and

management Entrepreneurship Creative Thinking

Planning Leadership Professionalism Career Exploration Community

Involvement and Awareness

A genuinedefine-design-build-

test-deploy-supportexperience

Impact: Underrepresentation Research on science education

suggests that “context” is important to young women students.

“Image” is increasingly being cited as a deterrent to attracting women.

The ability of EPICS to pull young women interested in the projects and bettering their communities is very valuable. BNL Program in 2006 9/13

participants were women Service-learning draws a higher

percentage of women from engineering and computing in university programs

Research indicates a similar potential with underrepresented minority students

Impact: Evaluation and Assessment

Data on various program aspects will be reported regularly by each of the participating high schools to form individual and collective assessments. Interest in engineering Learning of design Engagement with the community

Evaluation of the summer trainings will be done to consistently make improvements.

Information gathered will reflect the impact of the program on the fields of engineering in the numbers of students attracted to engineering, including the underrepresented populations.

Team Roles: Student leadership

Project leaders - lead individual projects Liaison - primary contact for the

community partner Financial officer - manages team’s budget Manager of Intellectual Property - leads

entrepreneurship activities, patent searches

Webmaster

Artifacts: Data to Assess Students produce artifacts that can be

assessed during their EPICS experience Design Notebooks Reflections Self-assessments Presentations Reports

Project documentation Delivered projects

Manuals or other documentations with project

Assessing Team & Individual Work Teams are assessed

Project plan Customer/Partner feedback Presentations and team reports

Individual artifacts assessed Peer assessments Summary of accomplishments Individual Notebooks Reflections Design records - authored Observations

EPICS High: Next Steps Schools have submitted Memorandums of

Understanding (MOU) Sub-grant Dollars Dispersed upon Review of MOU. All Schools were to Complete 1 Project-Based,

Service-Learning Activity by the End of the 06-07 School Year.

One-week 2007 Training Workshops to be Held at Purdue the weeks of June 11th and July 9th for Participating Teachers and Administrators from each school.

Roll-out in the fall of 2007

The Time is Now!

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