Advanced Manufacturing and Prototyping Integrated to Unlock Potential (AMP-IT-UP) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Math and Science Partnership to promote workforce development and to identify and cultivate the next generation of creative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) innovators. The core partners of AMP-IT-UP are Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) and Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS). The major components of AMP-IT-UP include:

1. Middle school STEM Innovation and Design (STEM-ID) exploratory courses that enable students to explore their creativity using robotics and rapid prototyping.
2. Middle school math and science modules that promote inquiry and connect with AMP-IT-UP manufacturing themes.
3. High school engineering courses that focus on design-build challenges.
4. Extracurricular enrichment (Junior Makers Clubs, robotics competitions, summer research internships, etc.) for GSCS students where Georgia Tech faculty and students serve as mentors.
5. Research on how AMP-IT-UP affects academic engagement, content understanding, knowledge transfer and student persistence in STEM.

AMP-IT-UP’s intention is to impact middle school student engagement and interest in STEM, develop students’ 21st century skills, and improve academic achievement in the target schools. Through the use of real-world contexts, the partnership creates, implements, and evaluates an array of manufacturing-focused experiential learning programs designed to make explicit the inherent science and math. The project also involves a collaborative university-based research program from several fields of education, industrial and mechanical engineering, and public policy to explore the nature, barriers, and enablers to change within the complex system of education. AMP-IT-UP provides a unique opportunity to implement substantial reform of STEM education in a way that will connect science and math to local industries and jobs. All AMP-IT-UP components, both curricular and extra-curricular, will be continued after the life of the project.

Scientists and engineers often learn from nature to develop new products that benefit society, a process called biologically-inspired design. Aerospace engineers, for example, have studied the intricate folding patterns in ladybugs' wings to gain ideas for designing more compact satellites. In this project, high school engineering teachers will spend five weeks in a research lab devoted to biologically-inspired design, as they partner with cutting-edge engineers and scientists to study animal features and behavior and their applications to engineering designs. After this lab experience, the high school teachers will receive three six- to ten-week curricular units, tailored for tenth- through twelfth-grade students, which teach biologically-inspired design in the context of problems that are relevant to youth. The teachers will also participate in ongoing professional development sessions that demonstrate strategies for teaching these units.

A team from Georgia Tech will collaborate with two partner school systems to create, pilot and assess a new Introduction to Digital Technology (IDT) curriculum.  The curriculum, to be implemented in two schools with large underrepresented populations, will promote the development of rigorous CT skills by engaging students in authentic and culturally relevant problem-based, inquiry learning (PBIL) projects in STEM topics, such as resource sustainability. Student-created multimedia digital narratives consisting of web pages, mobile applications, and computationally generated music will showcase student learning and their solution to the PBIL challenge. In the process, students will become proficient with a variety of computational tools such as PowerPoint, ARIS and EarSketch (a digital platform that teaches programming through music mixing).  CAPACiTY will integrate STEM throughout the course with: (1) Project contexts that require exploration of the STEM concepts; (2) Challenges that engage students in science practices; and (3) Links between the NGSS Crosscutting Concepts (CCs) and the analogous CT disciplinary ideas.

The research will focus on determining the impact of the newly revised IDT course on students and teachers: how the curriculum influences students’ computational thinking, perceptions of computer science, and understanding of Crosscutting Concepts, and how teacher professional development activities influence classroom practices. The research will also explore how this PBIL-driven and culturally relevant CS curriculum affects student engagement, motivation, content understanding, and persistence in CS courses, particularly among students traditionally underrepresented in CS. In addition, we will use complex systems modeling to explore the school and district-level factors that positively or negatively impact the intervention.

GIFT is a professional development program for Georgia K-12 teachers which provides STEM internships in university research labs, industry, and informal science institutions. GIFT, created in 1991, is managed statewide by Georgia Tech's Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC). GIFT internships are supported by local partnerships throughout Georgia.

GIFT is designed to:

• Immerse teachers in work place integrated learning;
• Enhance Fellows' mathematics, science, engineering and/or technology skills, content knowledge, and abilities;
• Foster teaching based on inquiry, problem solving and real world relevance; and
• Foster an increase in student inquiry skills and positive attitudes toward science and mathematics.

All GIFT experiences share the following core components:

• A mentored and paid summer internship experience in science, mathematics, engineering or technology research and applications;
• Real world context and experiences to build innovative, relevant curricula for use in the classroom, and to promote career awareness for students; and
• Summer and school year professional development meetings, workshops and discussion groups.

GoSTEAM@Tech is an educational collaborative based at Georgia Tech to create sustainable, school-based initiatives that integrate the arts and music into Computer Science, Engineering, and Invention & Entrepreneurship education in authentic and compelling ways. STEM and art/music teachers are paired throughout the year with Innovators in Residence and GoSTEAM coaches to engage students in creative STEAM-focused experiences and to promote vertical teaming between schools, universities and the community. The ultimate goal of GoSTEAM is to create and disseminate thoroughly assessed preK-12 interventions that authentically integrate the arts into the technical fields of engineering and computer science and that promote deep learning in both fields.

One of our goals is to create inspiring STEM enrichment and outreach for students. Annually, CEISMC programs impact more than 62,000 students and 3,500 teachers in over 99 school districts throughout the state of Georgia. The unit works closely with public and private stakeholders to expand the reach of the Institute’s STEM education efforts in urban communities near Georgia Tech as well as those in rural school districts throughout the state of Georgia.