CIESE collaborates with K-12 teachers, university educators, researchers, policymakers, and educational organizations to develop curriculum materials, conduct professional development programs, research new methodologies to strengthen STEM education, and increase the pool and capabilities of students entering STEM fields.

CIESE programs have impacted more than 20,000 teachers and a half-million students. CIESE’s online classroom projects draw more than 100,000 students from 35 countries each year. These classroom projects, and CIESE’s professional development programs, have received accolades from the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the U.S. Department of Education, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, and other organizations. Focusing on the use of “real-time data” and global telecollaborative projects, CIESE curriculum materials engage students in authentic science, mathematics, and engineering investigations; quantitative analysis; critical thinking; and acquisition of 21st century workforce skills.

With funding from the State of New Jersey and the Verizon Foundation, CIESE is implementing recently launched Phase 21 of “Engineering Our Future NJ,” a statewide effort to ensure that all children in New Jersey experience pre-engineering curricula, with a focus on innovation, as a required component of their elementary, middle, and high school education. More than 2,000 teachers are expected to be impacted.

This first phase is a pilot in which 35 teachers from 32 New Jersey schools have received professional development and are now implementing engineering modules in their classrooms. Phase 2 (scale-up and dissemination), with additional support from the Verizon Foundation.

CIESE also leads, in cooperation with the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science, an initiative known as Research and Innovation in Engineering Education (RIEE). RIEE aims to nurture excellence in teaching and learning at Stevens to more deeply engage undergraduate students in the excitement, creativity, core knowledge base, and problem-solving processes of engineering. Through RIEE, CIESE is supporting faculty in developing and adapting tools and methodologies to increase student learning, engagement, and satisfaction in undergraduate coursework. RIEE resources include seminars, faculty grant programs, joint curriculum development, customized technical assistance, identification of funding opportunities, and a resource web site (http://riee.stevens.edu) with informative resources and STEM education news.

In October 2006, CIESE was awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to begin a project known as BUILD IT – Using Underwater Robotic Vehicles to Build IT and Pre-Engineering Skills. This comprehensive ITEST project will provide 2,625 students from socioeconomically and racially diverse middle and high schools throughout New Jersey with intensive, three-week, in-class IT experiences in the design, construction, and programming of underwater robotic vehicles. Further, it will provide advanced IT and pre-engineering summer experiences to 140 students, and a series of one-day campus IT symposia and mentoring experiences for 350 students. Seventy-two teachers will receive 144 hours of professional development and in-class support to prepare them to effectively implement these activities.

CIESE was also awarded a three-year, $2 million Mathematics and Science Partnership grant from the New Jersey Department of Education. This award, Partnership to Improve Student Achievement Through Real World Learning in Engineering, Science and Mathematics, and Technology, is a partnership of 80 teachers from 20 schools (Jersey City, Hoboken, Newark, Bayonne, Weehawken, and two non-public schools). Together with Stevens Institute of Technology, Montclair State University, and Liberty Science Center, the partnership will provide teams of four teachers per school with high-quality, research-based, classroom-focused professional development over a three-year period that is aligned with the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards and the NJ Professional Development Standards. Additional content and professional development partners in Year 1 include the Museum of Science, Boston’s National Center for Technological Literacy, and Bank Street College of Education.

CIESE is managing a variety of grants, including:

• a three-year, $1.5 million U.S. Department of Education grant to transform teaching and learning in science and mathematics education for preservice teachers through partnerships with 33 community colleges;
• a one-year, $1 million grant from the State of New Jersey to extend a blended-mode (online and face-to-face) faculty training program to six New Jersey community colleges and to establish the Engineering Our Future NJ program;
• several state- and locally-funded teacher training programs aimed at improving teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogy, and use of technology to improve student achievement in science and mathematics.