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Now in its sixth year of implementation, the TECHFIT approach involves having individuals and teams of middle school teachers successfully complete a week-long, professional development (PD) workshop through which they acquire the essential skills that contribute to the task of innovating an exergame. An exergame is a technology-supported fitness game that can educate/train, assess performance, and/or entertain the player(s). Teachers demonstrate their understanding of concepts and tools taught in the PD by implementing their own functional exergame invention by the fifth day. Then, during the subsequent school year, the teachers teach the same skills they learned in the PD, so their students can innovate their own exergames. Successful completion of the curriculum addresses the majority of standards for technological and engineering literacy identified by the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA, 2020). This article will walk the reader through the process of creating an exergame that will employ externally wired input and output components. Although specific tools are used in the TECHFIT curriculum, the approach and process should be applicable to other tools.

Background: Expanding opportunities to experience engaging STEM educational programs is an important pathway to increasing students' interest and competencies in STEM and, ultimately, motivation to pursue STEM careers. After-school programs offer one means to achieve this aim, but barriers such as a lack of transportation or available teachers may limit participation for some students in this context. Transitioning after-school STEM programs to in-school can provide opportunities to increase reach by removing these and other barriers. However, it is likely that this change in the learning context, from after-school to in-school, impacts student experiences and, ultimately, program efficacy by altering how students and teachers interact; as teachers and students adjust their behaviors and expectations to a more traditional learning context. To examine this potential effect, self-determination theory was used to frame how the learning context influences the social and motivational outcomes of a STEM program for underserved youth. In-school (N = 244; 39% girls, M[subscript age] = 13, 63% Caucasian, 18% African American, 6% Multiracial) and after-school (N = 70, 33% girls, M[subscript age] = 12, 55% Caucasian, 16% Multiracial, 13% Latino/a) program students completed surveys that assessed teacher-student interactions, and student psychological needs and motivation. In a structural equation model, student perceptions of teachers were entered as predictors of motivation for the program directly and mediated by psychological need satisfaction. Learning context (0 = in-school, 1 = after-school) was entered as a ubiquitous predictor. Results: Findings support the theorized model where perceptions of teachers positively predicted psychological need satisfaction (R[superscript 2] = 0.20), and both variables positively predicted more self-determined motivation (R[superscript 2] = 0.30-0.35). Findings also demonstrate an effect of learning context where learning context negatively predicted the less self-determined motivations only (R[superscript 2] = 0.06-0.10) (i.e., in-school contexts are associated with less desirable motivational outcomes). Conclusion: Findings reinforce the instrumental role of students' positive perceptions of teachers in fostering a more desirable self-determined motivation for STEM program participation. Additionally, in-school programs must consider and integrate novel approaches that mitigate the negative impact of established in-school structures and processes (e.g., grades and mandatory participation) on student motivation for these programs and, potentially, interest in STEM careers.

Research indicates that students often opt out of computing majors due to a lack of prior experience in computing and a lack of knowledge of field-based job opportunities. In addition, it has been found that students respond positively to new subjects when teachers and counselors are enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the area. The summer program described here is designed to improve high school students, teachers and guidance counselors understanding of the opportunities available in computing related fields, specifically information technology through a summer enrichment experience. The hypothesis of this work is that by exposing teachers and counselors to professional development in this field, their attitudes, beliefs and knowledge regarding information technology will be enhanced, thus impacting students' attitudes (both attending the program and beyond) with respect to information technology and their desire to pursue degrees in this area. Results indicate that the design of this summer program enhanced the knowledge and interest of high school students with respect to information technology. Teachers' knowledge was also positively influenced. Further refinements are necessary in the design of this program to improve the experiences of guidance counselors.

SPIRIT is a three year project designed to increase high school students' interests in and their desire to pursue IT careers. This paper examines the results of the project during its second year of implementation. All student participants, and in particular female students, experienced a positive change in perception of gender stereotypes in IT after attending the SPIRIT program (p=0.028 and p=0.022, respectively). Participating teachers' and counselors' attitudes with respect to professionals in IT improved after attending SPIRIT (p=0.046 and p=0.022, respectively). Emergent theme analysis of the short answer responses to the attitude survey provides additional insights concerning the program's impact. (Contains 11 tables.)

Purdue University recently received $1.2M in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the development of educational programs for high school teachers, high school counselors, and high school students. The purpose of these intervention programs is to show that women (and men) can have interesting, useful, and society-impacting careers in Information Technology. The collection of these programs, named SPIRIT (Surprising Possibilities Imagined and Realized through Information Technology), will offer the first set of teacher institutes and student/counselor summer programs in July 2008. This paper will share the SPIRIT plan as well as the reasons why SPIRIT may have been successful in receiving funding from NSF. (A bibliography is included.)

A model curriculum, such as that developed by the ACM/SIGITE Curriculum Committee (2005), has two important functions. First, it provides a base structure for newly developing programs that can use it as a platform for articulating a curriculum. Second, it offers an existing curriculum framework that can be used for validation by existing programs. The model does not, however, reflect many of the characteristics and considerations necessary to build a fully-functional, effective and dynamic curriculum. Necessary components for a comprehensive curriculum that are discussed in this paper include adaptation to the institution's mission and other program goals, responsiveness to local and regional needs, sensitivity to the availability of expertise and other technical resources, and a mechanism for response to a continuously changing environment. This paper proposes a continuous improvement process framework for developing a comprehensive curriculum. The model consists of four phases: 1) Collect; 2) Evaluate; 3) Design; and 4) Implement. The Collect phase involves investigating current curricular standards, such as the SIGITE model curriculum, gathering data about the needs and desires of a program's stakeholders, and understanding the professional, technical and educational environment in which the curriculum will operate. The Evaluate phase integrates this data to develop a mission and set goals for the curriculum, define the outcomes expected of students, identify current and needed competencies, and specify other parameters that establish the foundation for an effective curriculum. The Design phase articulates the curriculum and assures that it is aligned with the goals, needs and resources identified. The Implement phase involves the establishment of the curriculum and a structure for governance and continuous evaluation and improvement. The cyclic nature of this model supports continuous improvement of the curriculum. Any established curriculum must be dynamic enough to adapt to the constantly changing information technology environment. Educators and curriculum administrators who are charged with effective curriculum design and delivery must be aware of new technologies and develop strategies for incorporating them as needed. Collecting data about the curriculum's effectiveness, especially the satisfaction with stakeholders, begins another iteration of the cyclic process, with the objective of continuous improvement. The model curriculum provides a valuable starting point, but program developers need to use the process model to define and build an effective, dynamic curriculum that is responsive to their stakeholders' needs initially and throughout the life of the program. Throughout this document, Purdue University's Computer and Information Technology department is used to describe specific components and techniques for implementing the proposed model. Other implementation techniques may appropriately be used to accomplish suggested goals of each model component. (Contains 2 figures.)