Strategies: The Eyes Say it All: Using web page design and eye-tracking technology to learn STEM concepts, research skills, and human factors

Tuskegee University, Tuskegee Institute AL

Investigators

Abstract

Tuskegee University engages 150 students in grades 8-12 in three-week summer workshops featuring STEM content, web-design, the multi-disciplinary area of human-computer interaction, and career study seminars/webinars. Students design a website incorporating STEM content, and then use a technology called eye-tracker to test the effectiveness of their communication. The project design combines three aspects of best practices in learning and extends them to a technology-based pedagogy: writing-to-learn, learning-to-write, and project-based learning. Teams of students will use project-based learning and will learn how to design a web-page (layout, incorporating content) as the learn-to-write component and then incorporate appropriate STEM content as the writing-to-learn mechanism to learn STEM concepts. The project will primarily target students from groups traditionally under-represented in STEM careers. Workshops will be held at two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) sites: Tuskegee University and Alabama State University. The program will be aligned with the Alabama Course of Study which is currently based on the Common Core.