Researchers engineer smart classroom tool to prep high schoolers for STEM careers

With skills like math and computer science in higher demand than ever before in today’s job market, Ohio State engineering education researchers are working to broaden the pipeline of students prepared for STEM careers.

As part of the National Science Foundation’s STEM + Computing (STEM+C) Partnerships program, an Ohio State team spent time in the Grove City School District to deploy a smart classroom platform used to teach algebra and programming to middle and high school students. The project was supported by a $1.2 million NSF grant.

“One of the problems we saw when looking at the curriculum is that when we introduce concepts to students—particularly math concepts—we introduce them separately, even when they’re concepts that are fundamentally tied together,” said Computer Science and Engineering Associate Professor Christopher Stewart, who co-led the study with Principal Investigator Arnulfo Perez from the Department of Teaching and Learning.

For example, linear algebra in mathematics is not taught alongside Ohm’s law in science, which is a practical application of algebra. This method of teaching hinders the students’ ability to understand the importance and application of STEM.

The smart classroom tool aims to show the link between algebraic concepts, with graphs and formulas changing in real time as students manipulate the data.

The interactive platform was deployed in 2017, first with Grove City teachers to obtain feedback, and then in the classroom with students. At its peak, the system was used in 30 different classrooms to teach more than 1,300 students. And while the original funding for the project has ended, several teachers enjoyed the experience so much that they have continued to use the modules and curriculum development, said Stewart.

He said impact has been multifaceted.

“We were able to make some really important research contributions on the design of computer systems for education where we’ve started explaining that the curriculum and programming of the platform need to be integrated to provide instantaneous response time in order to link concepts in the way that we have. Our platform in the end was providing response times within seven milliseconds for graph updates and data interactions, all feeding data to the backend in the cloud.”

By using data collected on mouse movements and time spent on different components, the platform also helped predict students’ engagement in the process and identified who was at risk of falling behind. Additionally the team was able to identify important student traits related to success in STEM activities, particularly the role of persistence.

The research team hopes to apply for more funding soon to expand the depth and breadth of the project. Stewart said one goal is to employ some drones or other autonomous systems in order to integrate a richer set of modules. The team also plans to implement the program in more rural settings, especially areas affected by the opiod epidemic.

“Across the spectrum, from low level computer systems to data analysis all the way up to curriculum development, it’s been a wildly successful project,” said Stewart.

Other contributors to the project include former computer science and engineering graduate students Rashmi Rao and Siva Renganathan, who now work at Aspect Software and Apple, respectively. Current graduate students Bailey Braaten and Adam Scharfenberger from the College of Education and Human Ecology also helped engineer the portal.

As computing has become an integral part of the practice of modern science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), the STEM + Computing Partnerships program seeks to address the need to prepare students from early grades through high school in the essential skills, competencies and dispositions needed to succeed in a computationally-dependent world. 

by Meggie Biss, College of Engineering Communications | biss.11@osu.edu