What I'm doing this summer...

This blog is my personal journal that will document my experiences as a fellow in the Math and Science Teacher Fellows Project at Arizona State University.

The goal of the Math and Science Teacher Fellows Project is to begin building for Arizona a cadre of teachers who demonstrate a deepened understanding of the nature of science, a stronger grasp of the content they teach, and improved pedagogical knowledge and skills based on data emerging from STEM education research.

I will be participating in the area of Advanced Computing Systems & Information Technologies. Specifically I will be working in the Software Research Laboratory: Co-directed by Dr. W. T. Tsai and Dr. Yinong Chen. The lab performs research in software engineering, service-oriented architecture, service-oriented computing (SOC), model-driven development, verification and validation, robotics, and gaming. The lab is actively engaged with high schools—teaching an SOC class at Coronado High School, serving as mentors to high school robotic clubs, and teaching modern robotics and game programming at summer camps.

My activities will include working alongside lab researchers studying applications of service-oriented architecture and computing, and as part of that process will design a 3-D game or movie and a robot.

This is an exciting venture for me, as every summer I try to throw myself out of my comfort zone in an attempt to become a better educator. This program promises to offer a peak into real world applications of research and design, and an opportunity to develop and write curriculum that will be able to be implemented into my classroom.