On April 19, 2007, the project's Principal Investigators were part of president Altenkirch and vice president Bloom's press conference introducing three new NSF awards targeting NJIT partnerships with high schools in and around Newark.

During the spring, the PIs traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in the NSF GK12 program's annual conference.  Project participants were identified, and a series of workshops and meetings took place in advance of the summer workshops scheduled for August, 2007.

With our GK12-Fellows and their partner teachers identified, the summer held two extensive workshops -- one online and one at NJIT.

Fellows participated in online discussion groups, giving their impressions of many articles and book chapters on teaching science and math. After six weeks in cyberspace, the Fellows got together for a week in August for team-building and teaching skills exercises. Fellows brought some of the fundamental concepts in their research into alignment with state standards and high school curricula supplied by the teachers.

Teachers gathered at NJIT for two weeks, gaining further understanding of the scope and goals of the grant, Fellows' research, and the assessment process. Much of the time was spent creating new outlines and lesson plans, as well as brainstorming for concepts that will be brought to virtual life through animations and simulations.

This fall, Fellows and teachers are hard at work implementing what they planned out during the summer. Check the Projects/Lesson Plans page periodically for examples of their work.

January 2008:  The NPS semester is drawing to a close and three of the eight fellows will be finishing their work with their first classes. Five others will work with their students for the balance of the school year.  Deliverables are available on the Projects/Lesson Plans pages.

February 2008: Our annual report received high praise and a request for only a few minor modifications.  Funding for Year Two has been released, and we are gearing up for spring and summer activities: a NJ High School Math and Science Teacher conference; our summer workshop; and the selection of one Fellow to replace graduating Physicist Sean O'Malley. -- Congratulations, Sean.

GK-12 Fellow Ms. Nilufa Rahim was chosen to present a research poster at the New Principal Investigator Meeting at National Science Foundation (NSF) headquarters, in Arlington , Virginia .  After reviewing over 100 abstracts from universities around the country, the NSF committee chose 30 of 100 poster abstracts submitted to be presented at the NSF GK-12 Annual Meeting, February 29 to March 2, 2008, in Washington , D.C.  Congratulations, Nilufa.

The C2PRISM team showcased our website at the annual meeting, as well.  Only two GK-12 projects were asked to present their websites as good examples of being “carefully designed to support the projects and their goals.”  Dr. Rob Friedman will present the highlights of the website during a session on “Developing Effective GK-12 Websites,” in which 550 participants are expected.

The C2PRISM team had its first publication accepted for presentation at the 2008 Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education Conference, to be held in Las Vegas , NV , March 3-7, 2008. Dr. Bruce Bukiet will speak about the project, display some of the work that the Fellows have completed, and discuss some of the challenges and success experienced so far.

On Wednesday, May 21, 2008 a free day-long series of hands-on activities, demonstrations, workshops and discussions led by teachers, graduate students and staff engaged in National Science Foundation education programs from around the NY-NJ metro area.