Project Goals

The goals of the ABICAS project centered around introducing students to the BioMade industry and preparing them for related careers by addressing essential skills.

• Expand the knowledge of middle and high school science teachers with cutting-edge BioMade science and engineering, including the necessary skills and how those skills align with the Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (Practices)

• Advance students’ interests and understanding in the BioMade arena and create opportunities for those most interested to advance additional projects that ranged from meeting scientists and learning about their work to pursuing an independent project with experts from the industry in NH and across the U.S.

• Focus projects in three areas with alignment to curricula and standards to assist a fit for course inclusion and/or extended credit through independent work.

• Enable opportunities for team projects especially at the middle level where communications, time-management, and collaboration in problem-solving can be assisted by teachers and therefore better prepare students for independent work at the high school level.

• Provide a mechanism for students to broadcast their final projects, to further amplify the impact of asking their own questions (empowerment), the additional learning through mentoring (which can include the culture of discovery and problem solving to produce the best outcomes), and the ability to receive critical coaching from other adults.

• Disseminate the work so that other teachers, school counselors, parents, and students might continue to seek additional and independent experiences.