Learning for Rural Alabama STEM Middle School Teachers in Machine Learning and Robotics” provides unique and holistic research experiences to 30 middle school math and science teachers in the 7th-8th grades from underserved rural areas of Alabama, particularly the Alabama Black Belt region. The research focus is on mobile robots enabled by machine learning (ML) based artificial intelligence (AI) which encompasses cutting-edge technologies in robotics and ML/AI.
This project strives to achieve two goals:
1) equip teachers with knowledge and skills in robotics and ML/AI and promote their interests in these areas;
2) facilitate teachers’ development and implementation of engaging project-based curricular modules on robotics and ML/AI for classroom education at their local schools.
This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site at the Auburn University aims at the five objectives: 1) provide education and training activities on the fundamentals of robotics and ML/AI, and a novel platform for research and education of ML-based mobile robots;
2) engage teachers in hands-on research projects on ML-based mobile robots that match well with faculty mentors’ active research projects;
3) allow teachers to collaborate with engineering and STEM education faculty to develop the project-based curricular modules;
4) foster teachers’ leadership and pedagogical skills via teacher leader academies and practice of teaching the RET curricular modules;
5) assist teachers to implement the RET curricular modules via academic follow-up.
This project strives to achieve two goals:
1) equip teachers with knowledge and skills in robotics and ML/AI and promote their interests in these areas;
2) facilitate teachers’ development and implementation of engaging project-based curricular modules on robotics and ML/AI for classroom education at their local schools.
This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) site at the Auburn University aims at the five objectives: 1) provide education and training activities on the fundamentals of robotics and ML/AI, and a novel platform for research and education of ML-based mobile robots;
2) engage teachers in hands-on research projects on ML-based mobile robots that match well with faculty mentors’ active research projects;
3) allow teachers to collaborate with engineering and STEM education faculty to develop the project-based curricular modules;
4) foster teachers’ leadership and pedagogical skills via teacher leader academies and practice of teaching the RET curricular modules;
5) assist teachers to implement the RET curricular modules via academic follow-up.
Pictures from Program Activities
Overview
• Provide research experiences for 7th-8th grade math and science teachers on robotics, machine learning (ML), and artificial intelligence (AI)
✓ Recruit a cohort of teachers to participate in a 6-week summer program for each year of 2022, 2023, and 2024
✓ Follow-up activities in the fall and spring semesters of the academic year
✓ Funded by Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate (award number 2206977)
• Two goals
✓ Equip teachers with knowledge and skills in robotics and ML/AI and promote their interests in these areas
✓ Facilitate teachers’ development and implementation of engaging project-based curricular modules on robotics and ML/AI for classroom education at their schools• Five objectives
✓ Provide education and training activities on fundamentals of robotics and ML/AI, and research platforms for smart mobile robots
✓ Engage teachers in hands-on research projects on ML/AI-based mobile robots that match well with faculty mentors’ research projects
✓ Allow teachers to collaborate with engineering and STEM education faculty to develop the project-based curricular modules
✓ Foster teachers’ pedagogical skills via the practice of teaching the RET curricular modules
✓ Assist teachers to implement the RET curricular modules via academic year follow-up
• Smart mobile robot with machine learning (ML) based AI
✓ AI has been bringing transformative impacts to numerous areas, such as image classification, speech recognition, natural language processing, enabled by advanced ML
✓ Robotics have many applications, including autonomous vehicles, warehouse management, search-and-rescue, education, and entertainment
✓ Mobile robots enabled by ML-based AI can have substantial impacts on a wide range of applications
✓ Education and research in ML-based robotics are naturally cross-disciplinary and cover a wide variety of subjects
✓ Provide hands-on research experiences on ML-based mobile robots
✓ Smart mobile robots are customizable, reproducible, and affordable, which can translate into engaging project-based curricular modules for classroom STEM education
✓ Equip teachers with knowledge and skills in robotics and ML/AI and promote their interests in these areas
✓ Facilitate teachers’ development and implementation of engaging project-based curricular modules on robotics and ML/AI for classroom education at their schools• Five objectives
✓ Provide education and training activities on fundamentals of robotics and ML/AI, and research platforms for smart mobile robots
✓ Engage teachers in hands-on research projects on ML/AI-based mobile robots that match well with faculty mentors’ research projects
✓ Allow teachers to collaborate with engineering and STEM education faculty to develop the project-based curricular modules
✓ Foster teachers’ pedagogical skills via the practice of teaching the RET curricular modules
✓ Assist teachers to implement the RET curricular modules via academic year follow-up
• Smart mobile robot with machine learning (ML) based AI
✓ AI has been bringing transformative impacts to numerous areas, such as image classification, speech recognition, natural language processing, enabled by advanced ML
✓ Robotics have many applications, including autonomous vehicles, warehouse management, search-and-rescue, education, and entertainment
✓ Mobile robots enabled by ML-based AI can have substantial impacts on a wide range of applications
✓ Education and research in ML-based robotics are naturally cross-disciplinary and cover a wide variety of subjects
✓ Provide hands-on research experiences on ML-based mobile robots
✓ Smart mobile robots are customizable, reproducible, and affordable, which can translate into engaging project-based curricular modules for classroom STEM education
Project details
Investigators:
Xiaowen Gong (Principal Investigator)
Thaddeus Roppel (Co-Principal Investigator)
Daniela Marghitu (Co-Principal Investigator)
Melody Russell (Co-Principal Investigator)
Duration: March 15, 2022 and end February 28, 2025 (Estimated)
Project funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
Award Amount: $589,889
Funding support
This research is supported by NSF Award # 2206977
Faculty
Dr. Xiaowen Gong
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
Email: xzg0017@auburn.edu, Phone: 334.844.1851
Dr. Daniela Marghitu
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
Email: marghda@auburn.edu, Phone: 334.844.6386
Dr. Bosen Lian
Department of Educational Foundations
Email: bzl0098@auburn.edu, Tel: 334.844.1821
Dr. Melody Russell
Department of Curriculum and Teaching
Email: russeml@auburn.edu, Phone: 334.844.6880
Dr. Chih-hsuan Wang
Department of Educational Foundations
Email: wangchi@auburn.edu, Tel: 334.844.7986
Ph.D. Researchers
Maryam Bigonah
Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
Email: mzb0197@auburn.edu
Address
3084 Haley Center
Auburn, Alabama 36849
Contact
Phone: (334) 844-4446
Fax: (334) 844-5785