Sensing the Environment: Student-Created Water Quality Sensors

摘要

The Student Enabled Network of Sensors for the Environment using Innovative Technology (SENSE IT) program provides an infrastructure and curricula for teachers and students to learn core science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge through building, testing, programming, and deploying their own environmental monitoring sensor networks. The project prepares and motivates middle and high school students for the future STEM workforce by providing (1) a motivating, meaningful, and hands-on environment for learning a wide range of STEM topics; (2) an engaging link between biological, physical, and social sciences; and (3) a cutting-edge example of scientific and engineering research, delivered directly into the classroom. This paper describes the structure and impact of the SENSE IT project field test with over 90 teachers and 3,000 middle and high school students. Project evaluation results indicate that the curriculum was well received by teachers and students and could be integrated into several different subject areas and types of courses. SENSE IT proved effective for a wide range of students demonstrated by statistically significant learning gains in mathematics and electricity topics through a pretest and posttest analysis. As SENSE IT evolves, additional sensors and educational materials will be created to support a variety of microprocessors.