A Challenge Grant Opportunity: Ann Bowers, a member of The Tech’s Board of Directors and former Board Chair, has issued a generous endorsement of the DCLI with an exciting challenge. She will match up to $5 million of the $10 million we need to fund the DCLI. Please help us rise to this challenge.
What educators and students say about their experience with programs offered through The Tech’s Design Challenge Learning Institute: “At the beginning of the year, I was far more hesitant about teaching these activities, because I felt I wasn’t an engineer. I’ve gained a lot more confidence in my ability to teach and to explain what engineering is.” – Richard Algea, fourth-grade teacher, Lairon College Preparatory Academy “It’s a great way to engage students. This type of learning motivates those who are less motivated by doing paper-pencil work.” – Tina Ybarra, sixth-grade teacher, Meadows Elementary “I am learning how to cooperate with other people I don’t hang out with and don’t really know.” – Middle-school student “Everybody is included, everybody’s having fun, everybody has a job. We’re all working together. We all have good ideas.”
DESIGN CHALLENGE LEARNING INSTITUTE
– Middle-school student
PLEASE JOIN US
#MadeAtTheTech
The Tech 201 South Market Street San Jose, CA 95113 1-408-294-8324 thetech.org
For more information, please contact Maria Pappas at mpappas@thetech.org.
Through the Design Challenge Learning Institute at The Tech, we will inspire young people to take risks, challenge themselves and unleash their potential to become the innovators of tomorrow.
The Tech Museum of Innovation, the world’s leading science center dedicated to inspiring young people through applied technologies, is opening a new $10 million center for STEM education: The Design Challenge Learning Institute, or DCLI. The DCLI focuses on helping educators: • Inspire and equip low-income young people; • Inspire and equip girls; and • Use technology effectively to enhance learning.
DCLI MISSION
DCLI VISION
DCLI STRATEGY
To equip young people — especially those who are at risk — to succeed in the 21st century.
To make STEM learning deeply engaging for students in grades 4-12.
To elevate educators’ capacity to deliver hands-on STEM lessons via high-quality professional development.
Through teachers, The Tech can reach exponentially more students, scaling our impact.
Design Challenge Learning Institute Key Initiatives $10 million over 10 years The Tech Academies of Innovation | $3 million The Tech Academies is a multi-year program designed to develop a STEM educator ecosystem that grows and sustains engineering education excellence in Silicon Valley’s neediest school districts. • Impact this year: 70 educators serving 3,000 students directly; 80-100 additional educators trained by Tech Academies educators reaching an additional 4,000+ students. • Impact over 10 years: Affect nearly all Title 1 elementary and middle schools in Santa Clara County; about 800 well-trained educators teaching 43,000 fourth- through eighth-graders per year.
Reinventing the Field Trip | $2.5 million The DCLI will re-create the school field trip to ensure every visit to The Tech is a quality learning experience for both students and teachers. By 2019, every student will participate in a lab or lab-like experience; every teacher will take part in a professional development session. • Impact this year: Increase number of low-income students getting a facilitated experience by 20%. • Impact over 10 years: 1.5 million students, 40,000 educators served.
Education Technology and Partnership Programs | $1.5 million The DCLI will help educators incorporate Design Challenge Learning and use technology effectively to make STEM learning more engaging, particularly for the underserved. We bridge the gap between educators and ed-tech innovators and promote the exchange of ideas among teachers and developers. We will add momentum to the efforts of many partners including Code.org, Krause Center for Innovation, Khan Academy and Ed Elements.
Girls and Tech | $1 million The DCLI will provide a pipeline of opportunities for girls that nurtures their interest, builds their skills and solidifies their confidence in STEM. Our ultimate goal is to dramatically increase the participation of girls in STEM activities and women in STEM careers. • Impact this year: Three events serving 500 girls and their families; 150 educators trained in supporting young women. • Impact over 10 years: Innumerable events engaging girls of all ages through girl-specific programming; 20,000 contact hours* of training for educators specific to supporting girls, offered both in sessions focused on that topic and explicitly discussed in workshops supporting technology integration, engineering, coding, etc.
Evaluation | $1 million The DCLI will partner with outcomes researchers to develop meaningful metrics for our work to verify impact. We also aim to map and measure the DCLI’s contributions to key school success measures such as graduation rates, attendance and course selection. • Impact this year: Connect program design to practices that have clear evidence of effectiveness. • Impact over 10 years: Longitudinal data on our impact on educators and student success.
Educators in Residence | $500,000 A rotating cadre of innovators will co-locate with us in the DCLI, providing a constant influx of new ideas in education. • Impact this year: One educator in residence providing 320 hours of development work on efforts to improve the field trip and the Tech Academies program. • Impact over 10 years: 1,600 hours per year of educators working with us to keep our programs grounded in what works in real classrooms.
• Impact this year: 10,000 contact hours of professional development for educators.
Physical Space and Equipment | $500,000
• Impact over 10 years: 200,000 contact hours* of professional development as we grow gradually over the first five years from 10,000 contact hours to a maximum capacity of 25,000 contact hours per year thereafter. If this is extended via even one massive open online course per year through a provider like Coursera, we can double the number of contact hours.
The DCLI must be powerfully wired, flexible and well-equipped (with laptops, Chromebooks, tablets and other devices) to support educators’ many needs. It also must have extensive video-conferencing equipment to enable remote learning so we can extend our reach nationally and globally.
*(Contact hours = number of total event hours multiplied by the number of teachers experiencing that hour.)
The Tech Museum of Innovation, the world’s leading science center dedicated to inspiring young people through applied technologies, is opening a new $10 million center for STEM education: The Design Challenge Learning Institute, or DCLI. The DCLI focuses on helping educators: • Inspire and equip low-income young people; • Inspire and equip girls; and • Use technology effectively to enhance learning.
DCLI MISSION
DCLI VISION
DCLI STRATEGY
To equip young people — especially those who are at risk — to succeed in the 21st century.
To make STEM learning deeply engaging for students in grades 4-12.
To elevate educators’ capacity to deliver hands-on STEM lessons via high-quality professional development.
Through teachers, The Tech can reach exponentially more students, scaling our impact.
Design Challenge Learning Institute Key Initiatives $10 million over 10 years The Tech Academies of Innovation | $3 million The Tech Academies is a multi-year program designed to develop a STEM educator ecosystem that grows and sustains engineering education excellence in Silicon Valley’s neediest school districts. • Impact this year: 70 educators serving 3,000 students directly; 80-100 additional educators trained by Tech Academies educators reaching an additional 4,000+ students. • Impact over 10 years: Affect nearly all Title 1 elementary and middle schools in Santa Clara County; about 800 well-trained educators teaching 43,000 fourth- through eighth-graders per year.
Reinventing the Field Trip | $2.5 million The DCLI will re-create the school field trip to ensure every visit to The Tech is a quality learning experience for both students and teachers. By 2019, every student will participate in a lab or lab-like experience; every teacher will take part in a professional development session. • Impact this year: Increase number of low-income students getting a facilitated experience by 20%. • Impact over 10 years: 1.5 million students, 40,000 educators served.
Education Technology and Partnership Programs | $1.5 million The DCLI will help educators incorporate Design Challenge Learning and use technology effectively to make STEM learning more engaging, particularly for the underserved. We bridge the gap between educators and ed-tech innovators and promote the exchange of ideas among teachers and developers. We will add momentum to the efforts of many partners including Code.org, Krause Center for Innovation, Khan Academy and Ed Elements.
Girls and Tech | $1 million The DCLI will provide a pipeline of opportunities for girls that nurtures their interest, builds their skills and solidifies their confidence in STEM. Our ultimate goal is to dramatically increase the participation of girls in STEM activities and women in STEM careers. • Impact this year: Three events serving 500 girls and their families; 150 educators trained in supporting young women. • Impact over 10 years: Innumerable events engaging girls of all ages through girl-specific programming; 20,000 contact hours* of training for educators specific to supporting girls, offered both in sessions focused on that topic and explicitly discussed in workshops supporting technology integration, engineering, coding, etc.
Evaluation | $1 million The DCLI will partner with outcomes researchers to develop meaningful metrics for our work to verify impact. We also aim to map and measure the DCLI’s contributions to key school success measures such as graduation rates, attendance and course selection. • Impact this year: Connect program design to practices that have clear evidence of effectiveness. • Impact over 10 years: Longitudinal data on our impact on educators and student success.
Educators in Residence | $500,000 A rotating cadre of innovators will co-locate with us in the DCLI, providing a constant influx of new ideas in education. • Impact this year: One educator in residence providing 320 hours of development work on efforts to improve the field trip and the Tech Academies program. • Impact over 10 years: 1,600 hours per year of educators working with us to keep our programs grounded in what works in real classrooms.
• Impact this year: 10,000 contact hours of professional development for educators.
Physical Space and Equipment | $500,000
• Impact over 10 years: 200,000 contact hours* of professional development as we grow gradually over the first five years from 10,000 contact hours to a maximum capacity of 25,000 contact hours per year thereafter. If this is extended via even one massive open online course per year through a provider like Coursera, we can double the number of contact hours.
The DCLI must be powerfully wired, flexible and well-equipped (with laptops, Chromebooks, tablets and other devices) to support educators’ many needs. It also must have extensive video-conferencing equipment to enable remote learning so we can extend our reach nationally and globally.
*(Contact hours = number of total event hours multiplied by the number of teachers experiencing that hour.)
A Challenge Grant Opportunity: Ann Bowers, a member of The Tech’s Board of Directors and former Board Chair, has issued a generous endorsement of the DCLI with an exciting challenge. She will match up to $5 million of the $10 million we need to fund the DCLI. Please help us rise to this challenge.
What educators and students say about their experience with programs offered through The Tech’s Design Challenge Learning Institute: “At the beginning of the year, I was far more hesitant about teaching these activities, because I felt I wasn’t an engineer. I’ve gained a lot more confidence in my ability to teach and to explain what engineering is.” – Richard Algea, fourth-grade teacher, Lairon College Preparatory Academy “It’s a great way to engage students. This type of learning motivates those who are less motivated by doing paper-pencil work.” – Tina Ybarra, sixth-grade teacher, Meadows Elementary “I am learning how to cooperate with other people I don’t hang out with and don’t really know.” – Middle-school student “Everybody is included, everybody’s having fun, everybody has a job. We’re all working together. We all have good ideas.”
DESIGN CHALLENGE LEARNING INSTITUTE
– Middle-school student
PLEASE JOIN US
#MadeAtTheTech
The Tech 201 South Market Street San Jose, CA 95113 1-408-294-8324 thetech.org
For more information, please contact Maria Pappas at mpappas@thetech.org.
Through the Design Challenge Learning Institute at The Tech, we will inspire young people to take risks, challenge themselves and unleash their potential to become the innovators of tomorrow.