THE HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY
CENTER FOR TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY (CTL)
is pleased to co-sponsor
a special funded workshop with the ITEA
(March 26, 2009)

This special workshop will invite 20 teachers who are teaching eighth grade technology education classes to participate in a research and development activity that is a component of the NSF-funded MSTP Project (Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education Partnership) led by the Hofstra University CTL. MSTP is a five-year project that focuses on improving mathematics understanding by contextualizing and revisiting mathematics in middle school science and technology education contexts.

Download Printable Application | Go to Online Application

The ITEA workshop would engage participants in a “hybrid” design activity which includes a computer-based design experience (using Google Sketchup to design a bedroom), followed by a physical modeling experience where workshop participants would construct the model once they optimized the design on screen. When implemented with students, the activity would require five weeks of instructional time and its focus would be on embedding eighth grade mathematics (scale, ratio and proportion, geometry). The research project in which teachers would participate would assess the efficacy of contextualizing mathematics in Technology Education.

The bedroom design activity would reflect “informed design,” a design pedagogy developed and validated through several NSF projects conducted by the Hofstra CTL. Informed design leads students through a series of knowledge and skill builders to inform their knowledge base prior to designing, thus enabling students to reach informed design solutions, as opposed to engaging in trial-and-error problem solving where conceptual closure is often not attained.

Teachers will only be accepted into the workshop if they are able to bring a laptop computer with Google SketchUp installed (a free download), have become reasonably familiar with that program, and commit to field testing the materials with eighth grade students during the Spring 2009 semester and collecting data that the MSTP external evaluator would detail.

The CTL will support the ITEA conference registration for all participants, pay for a snack, and provide a $2000 honorarium once field test data is received. Interested teachers should download the application here or complete the online application. The application must be received by Hofstra no later than February 2, 2009.