Vision and Mission

The AMP-IT-UP partnership has been led by the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) in collaboration with the Griffin-Spalding County School System (GSCS). The major components of the AMP-IT-UP partnership include:

• • Middle school STEM Innovation and Design (STEM-ID) exploratory courses that enable students to explore their creativity and strengthen their math and science skills using the engineering design process, computer aided design (CAD), prototyping, and product testing,

  • Middle school math and science 1-week modules that promote inquiry learning and engage students in the process of collecting, representing, interpreting and making decisions based on data. These modules are highly scaffolded and can serve as educative exemplars for teachers implementing instruction aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards or the Standards of Mathematical Practice in their classrooms.

  • A high school engineering course that focuses on design-build challenges,

  • Extracurricular enrichment (K-12 InVenture Prize, robotics competitions, summer research internships) for GSCS students, and

  • Research on how AMP-IT-UP affects academic engagement, content understanding, knowledge transfer and student persistence in STEM.

The project also involves a collaborative university-based research program from several fields of education, industrial and mechanical engineering, and public policy to explore the nature, barriers, and enablers to change within the complex system of education.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. (1238089). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.