Infusing System Design and Sensors in EducationN.H. Bean and M.L. Neilsen and G. Singh

Department of Computingand Information SciencesKansas State University

Manhattan, KS, USA

J.D. SpearsCenter for Science Education

Kansas State UniversityManhattan, KS, USA

N. ZhangDepartment of Biolgoical

and Agricultural EngineeringKansas State University

Manhattan, KS, USA

Abstract—INSIGHT, an innovate graduate STEM FellowshipProgram integrates sensor technology and computer sciencewithin in a K-12 standards-based science, technology, and en-gineering curricula. Graduate STEM Fellows are teamed withscience, technology, and physical education teachers for two yearsto carry out hands-on classroom activities utilizing technologyand engineering practice with a focus on the use of sensors,computing, and information technology aligned with K-12 statecurriculum standards. One of the projects main goals is theestablishment of sensor, computing, and information technologyas a foundational high school skill by accelerating the integrationof sensor technology content into K-12 classrooms. This projectencourages participation in engineering and technology froma wider, more diverse group of students from rural Kansas.This paper shares detailed examples of summer institute andacademic-year K-12 activities that have been successful. It alsoprovides a preliminary assessment of the project.

Index Terms—cyber-physical systems; K-12 curriculum; edu-cation; real-time embedded systems; sensors

I. INTRODUCTION

The importance of Computing Science continues to growfor our nation, economy, and security; yet conversely thetopics and techniques of Computing Science are increasinglybeing pushed out of K-12 curriculums [1]. Kansas is noexception. While serving 477,857 students through 286 schooldistricts, the state offers no licensure for teachers in computingscience education. Those schools that do offer computerscience coursework typically do so through the Career andTechnical Education pathways program, yet these are sparselyimplemented through the state: Web and digital communica-tions (53 districts), Programming and Software Development(10 districts), Network Systems (2 districts), and InformationSupport Services (1 district). Further, these offerings are onlyoffered on an elective basis. Finally, there are no specificrequirements to teach in these pathways courses, so mostteachers are drawn from other backgrounds and have minimal,if any, preparation to teach the subject.

Sensor technologies represent one route for reaching stu-dents in K-12 settings. Sensors, as an integral part of embed-ded systems, require broad, cross-cutting knowledge drawnfrom multiple disciplines [2]. Working from specific sensoruses within one of these disciplines (such as biometric oragricultural sensors) offers a way to introduce these cross-cutting technologies into more traditional class settings (i.e.physical education and agricultural education), and also in-troduce the Computing Science principles needed to evaluate,

interpret, and act upon the sensor’s output. Although integrat-ing computing science topics into core curriculum subjectsdoes increase the numbers of students exposed, doing so stillfaces many of the challenges faced by stand-alone computingscience courses: rapidly changing technology, a lack of staffsupport, and few quality curriculum resources [4]. It is criticalfor the success of such a program to develop an infrastructureto support teachers as well as adapt to changing technology[5].

The National Science Foundation’s program to supportGraduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) pro-vides a mechanism for establishing such an infrastructure. Thisprogram seeks to improve graduate students’ communication,teaching, collaboration, and team-building skills by engaginggraduate student fellows in K-12 classrooms, working directlywith K-12 teachers and students. These Fellows take on therole of visiting experts, bringing their knowledge and researchactivities into the classroom and becoming a resource forteachers interested in expanding their methodologies, devel-oping new curriculum materials, and integrating technologyand computing science principles within their teaching. Thefellows also serve as role models for the students they workwith, both sharing exciting opportunities within their field andanswering general questions about university student life, asshared by one fellow in his/her weekly journal:

When I did the VR head tracking lesson, once wewere done there was some free time where thescience club students just asked me about what itwas like being a grad student and a programmer. Itwas neat to see kids interested in a topic that I love,and I tried to show them some examples of code thatI thought they might find neat. I also talked a bitabout the limitations of Minecraft. It was somethingthey had played, and they wanted to know why somethings in that game were done the way they were.I’d done enough reading on the subject to be ableto tell them, and they seemed to think it really coolthat they now knew the reasons for why things werethe way they were in that cube filled world.

These experiences are especially important for disadvan-taged students who may not have role models from theirsocial and family environment from which to draw [6]. Asone teacher in the program observed:

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. . . we are not educating our rural students withthoughts towards these fields of study. I think alotof that has to do with exposure, there is very little inrural areas. We have teachers, nurses, professionals,but not a lot of exposure to fields that we reallyneed our students to think about. When you ask Fifthgraders what they want to do when they grow up,engineering/tech. degrees aren’t usually mentioned.

When the fellows themselves are drawn from underrepre-sented populations (such as the female fellow from the firstquote), students can better understand that STEM disciplinesare not out-of-reach for themselves.

II. INSIGHT GK-12 FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The Infusing System Design and Sensor Technology inEducation (INSIGHT) GK-12 STEM Fellowship Program atKansas State University is a synthesis of these ideas usingthe focus on improving graduate students’ communicationskills to integrate computing skills into the core K-12 cur-riculum. The program helps prepare teachers to integratesensor technologies into their everyday classroom activitiesby providing lessons developed with low cost and ease ofimplementation in mind, and through partnering teachers withgraduate students in Computing Science and Biological andAgricultural Engineering. Teachers in the program are re-cruited from disadvantaged areas of Kansas, specifically ruraland urban areas with high minority populations. Both teachersand fellows serve within the INSIGHT program for two years.

A major component of the project is the INSIGHT SummerInstitute, an intensive two-week training program for bothpartner teachers and Fellows that introduces many of thevarious sensor technologies and computing science principlesutilized within the project; along with hands-on lessons, peda-gogical techniques and challenges, lesson planning strategies,and team-building experiences. These are the tools teachersneed to implement STEM subjects within their classrooms:

The program has helped me in several ways. I’ve al-ways tried to nurture the future engineers and scien-tists in my class and INSIGHT along with my fellowhave given me some extremely effective strategiesto accomplish this. I’ve also greatly improved myown use of technology with my students beyond thetraditional use of computers. As always, being ableto cooperate and communicate with others (teachersand university personnel) is invaluable in solvingproblems and creating new programs and lessons.

As with many intensive training experiences, the confidenceand enthusiasm generated during the two weeks begins tofade as time passes and the practical challenges involvedbecome more obvious. This is where the partnership betweenan INSIGHT Teacher and Fellow comes to the fore theinteraction between the two helps alleviate both the teacher’sconcerns about utilizing unknown technology in the classroom(as they have a technology expert who can ensure that aspectruns smoothly) and the fellow has an experienced teacher to

help her/him understand how to communicate effectively withthe class (and offer support should the Fellows falter). Further,it allows teachers to present STEM content within a real-worldframework:

The most noticeable impact of the INSIGHT pro-gram on my teaching is my increased awareness ofand ability to connect my content to actual real-time, real-world applications. My ability to describeand discuss the ways in which new technologies arebeing utilized to improve both quality and efficiencyof life is improving as a direct result of my INSIGHTexperience.

Finally, as teachers grow more confident in the use of sensortechnology within their classrooms, they can begin to take onmore of the instructional tasks leading to the continuation ofsuch efforts even after teachers have left the program at theend of their two years:

The biggest impact the INSIGHT program has hadon my teaching has been to expose me to newtechnology to use in my classroom. For example,[my fellow] came over today and Friday to workwith my Drafting students, and taught a lesson onMIT’s AppInventor. The students had an opportunityto explore the program and they ended up creatinga drawing and sketching app. This was a very goodexperience for them, and is something I plan to usein the future.

Most of INSIGHT’s contributions to a teacher’s classroomstrategy take the form of small curricular modules. This allowsfor manageable inclusion into an already-existing curriculum;facilitates the in-classroom interaction between the teacher,fellow, and students within a discrete block of time; andperhaps most importantly, allows the module to be documentedand disseminated as a stand-alone lesson plan.

III. SAMPLE CURRICULUAR MODULES

This section offers a sampling of some of the modules thathave been developed and/or delivered by INSIGHT fellowsand partner teachers. Detailed lesson plans can be found onlineon INSIGHT’s website (http://gk12.cis.ksu.edu).

A. Using WiiMotes to Learn Newton’s Laws

This lesson takes advantage of the WiiMote a commercialgame controller equipped with a three-axis accelerometer thatuses Bluetooth to connect to a Nintendo game console. Whenpaired with a computer and software capable of interpretingits output like the open-source application WiiPhysics, theWiiMote becomes a powerful and inexpensive sensor to usein education.

In this case, the WiiMote is mounted to the top of a toycar and launched using the tension in a bungee cord. Asthe car races forward, real-time acceleration data is streamedwirelessly to a computer running WiiPhysics.

The real-time data is graphed by WiiPhysics as the car ismoving, helping students better understand the often-confused

Fig. 1. WiiMote mounted on a toy car.

Fig. 2. Using a rubber band for propulsion.

Fig. 3. Launching the toy car.

concepts of acceleration and velocity. Further, the collecteddata can be saved from the WiiPhysics application as a CSVfile, allowing the students to further manipulate their datawithin a spreadsheet application.

WiiMotes can be mounted to a number of other apparatusto further examine in real-time the concept of acceleration,including spinning it on a rope or wheel to examine andmeasure centripetal force.

Further, a WiiMote equipped car can be used to exploreacceleration mitigation strategies. One teacher and fellow pair

Fig. 4. Real-time data from the WiiMote captured and displayed usingWiiPhysics.

carried out a crash barrier contest where students competedin building the most effective crash barrier system from kitscontaining popsicle sticks, straws, gumdrops, rubber bands,tape, glue, and other miscellaneous supplies. Unlike traditionalimplementations of such a contest in which the outcome istreated as a binary variable (i.e. in an egg drop the egg breaksor remains whole), the use of a WiiMote allows the actualdeceleration to be continuously measured, resulting in a farmore robust picture of how the barriers perform.

B. Catapult Design

This module utilizes the engineering design process high-lighted in the upcoming Next Generation Science Standards(HS-ETS-ED) [7]. Students in an Introduction to Technologyclass wanted to build a catapult. Before beginning construc-tion, the student studied historical catapult designs and identi-fied a style that would be possible to build with the materialsthey had on-hand. Then, they identified the aspects of thedesign that they could easily alter the length of the throwarm, the angle of release, and the tension provided by therubber bands.

Fig. 5. Catapult simulation built using the Scratch programming languageand environment.

Working from this design specification, the students pro-grammed the ballistics calculations within the Scratch pro-gramming language, allowing them to compute the expecteddistance for a projectile to travel given applied values. Theirfellow helped them to understand how to systematically al-ter these variables within their model using loops, allowingthem to algorithmically identify ideal solutions. When thestudents expressed a difficulty interpreting the raw numbers,the fellow worked with them to incorporate visualizationwithin their simulation animating and graphing a projectilelaunch conforming to the underlying mathematical model ofthe simulation.

Utilizing these results, the students then designed and con-structed a physical catapult corresponding to their ideal design.The catapult was then test-fired, and real-world data collectedon the results and compared with the computer model. Causesfor discrepancies found between the real-world and computersimulation were discussed (air resistance, wind) and the modelrevised to account for additional factors.

C. Acceleration in Sports

WiiMotes, and their ability to measure acceleration, canalso be used in other settings than the physics classroom. Oneunusual arena that the INSIGHT program teachers and fellowshave exploited is physical education, where WiiMotes strappedto strategic locations can collect real-time acceleration data ofathlete’s technique. This can help an athlete understand howtheir technique for bowling, serving, and other activities affectstheir performance.

Fig. 6. Strapping a WiiMote to a bowler’s arm.

INSIGHT participants have used the combination of Wi-iMotes and WiiPhysics to collect data from a wide range ofathletic activities from badminton to water polo (where theWiiMote was sealed in a waterproof bag and placed within acavity in the ball). Projecting the WiiPhysics real-time graphupon a wall or other surface within view of the athlete allowsthem to tweak their technique and immediately gain feedbackon the result.

Access to real-time acceleration measurements can help di-agnose and correct poor technique in student athletes; serving

Fig. 7. Collecting real-time acceleration data on a bowler’s technique.

Fig. 8. Real-time acceleration data being measured in water polo andbadminton.

an important role in not only improving performance but alsoin preventing injuries. An important example of this can befound in weightlifting where discontinuities in an accelerationgraph indicate poor form likely to lead to muscle pulls andstrains. By mounting the WiiMote to the weight bar andprojecting the acceleration graph within easy view of theweightlifters they can better monitor their lift.

Fig. 9. A WiiMote mounted to a bench-press bar, and the real-time lift dataprojected onto the ceiling, in easy view of the lifter.

D. Rocketry

Another thematically linked series of modules developedby our fellows tackles the field of rocketry. The first moduleutilizes stomp rockets foam rockets propelled by a blast ofcompressed air generated by stomping on a rubber bladder.These are used to develop an understanding of basic ballisticequations students measure the angle of launch and the weightof the stomper and then use these to calculate an expecteddistance and angle for the rocket to travel. This is comparedwith actual results.

Fig. 10. Flight data measured by an in-rocket altimeter.

The follow-up module utilizes model rockets equipped witha hollow near the nosecone, within which a small altimeterboard is placed. This sensor measures the altitude of the rocketas it travels along its flight path. While the students utilized

pre-built rockets, another module could be incorporated withinwhich students construct their own rockets, and attempt tomaximize or minimize flight characteristics (maximum alti-tude, time of flight, fuel consumption, rocket weight), whichagain ties into the engineering design processes included inthe Next Generation Science Standards [7].

IV. RESULTS

In the 2010 school year, INSIGHT fellows and partnerteachers held 49 of these curriculum modules, followed by 82in the 2011 school year INSIGHT recruits two-year cohortsin a staggered pattern, so for the 2010 school year - our firstyear - we had only 6 fellows, while in 2012 we had 10,giving us a per-year average of 8.6 modules/fellow in 2010 and8.2 modules/fellow in 2011. However, these numbers shouldonly be considered a rough measurement of overall activity,as there is great variation in how fellows have contributed totheir teachers’ schools - fulfilling roles as diverse as tutoringpull-out sessions for gifted students to facilitating after-schoolscience and engineering programs.

While the evaluation of the INSIGHT project has beenlargely a qualitative endeavour in the form of teacher/fellowinterviews and journal statements (which are the source ofthe quotes appearing throughout the paper), some quanitativeanalysis has been performed on Likert scale response surveysgiven to teachers and fellows participating in the programbefore and after the 2012 INSIGHT Summer Institute. Onlyparticipants who answered both pre- and post-institue surveyswere included in the analysis. Due to the small sample sizesand scale-limited responses, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests wereperformed (at .05 level of significance) for differences in pre-and post-institute responses [8].

Of especial interest is the shift in self-efficacy concern-ing teacher and fellow attitudes in presenting technology

TABLE IPARTNER TEACHER COMFORT LEVEL WITH COMMUNICATION ABOUT TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING

Comfort Level Statement (Measured on a 5-point Likert Scale)Pre-Institute Post-Institute

Mean SD Mean SD

I am certain I can present information about sensor technology in ways that my students will understand.* 3.77 1.24 4.62 0.51I am certain I can present information about engineering in ways that my students will understand.* 3.62 1.19 4.62 0.51I am comfortable talking about ideas to incorporate sensor technology into the classroom with other teachers.* 4.00 1.08 4.69 0.48

*Statistically significant differences defined by Wilcoxon signed-rank tests in sample population of 13 INSIGHT partner teachers.

TABLE IIPARTICIPANT COMFORT LEVEL IN HELPING STUDENTS ACHIEVE PROFICIENCY WITH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS

Comfort Level Statement (measured on a 4-point Likert-like scale)Pre-Institute Post-Institute

Mean SD Mean SD

Identify appropriate problems or opportunities for technological design.* 2.62 0.67 3.24 0.70Propose a design and identify constraints reflected by that design.* 2.71 0.64 3.38 0.67Compare designs and choose between alternative solutions.* 2.76 0.62 3.43 0.68Implement a chosen design.* 2.81 0.75 3.38 0.74Evaluate that design solution and its consequences.* 2.81 0.75 3.38 0.67Evaluate that design solution and its consequences.* 2.86 0.65 3.29 0.64

*Statistically significant differences defined by Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with N=21 teachers and fellows.

and engineering in the classroom, and helping students gainprofieciency in these subjects, as “...there is substantial ev-idence to suggest that, teachers’ beliefs in their capacity towork effectively with technology are a significant factor indetermining patterns of classroom computer use”[9]. For bothteachers and fellows, clear patterns of increased confidenceand comfort with these areas emerged from analysing thepre- and post-institute responses. These results can be seenin Tables I and II above.

V. CONCLUSION

The INSIGHT GK-12 Program has been effective in in-tegrating sensor technologies and computing science princi-ples into diverse K-12 classrooms, and has garnered positivefeedback from all of its participants. Coupling the intensivetraining of the summer institute with an ongoing partnershipbetween a teacher and a fellow has proved to be a veryproductive and valuable strategy. Staggering new entrants(teachers and fellows) into the program has also been animportant strategy, as doing so ensures that every new cohortof teachers and fellows train side-by-side with a group ofreturning veterans from the previous year. This also helpsto encourage out-of-the-box thinking, as the previous cohorthas already tackled the often-challenging task of identifyingways in which sensors can be used in unusual settings, likephysical education classes. This can in turn lead to freshthinking from the new participants. The result is an active andimaginative community of practice, committed to integratingsensor technologies and computing science fundamentals intoeveryday classroom practice.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This material is based on work supported by the NationalScience Foundation under Grant No. 0948019. Any opinions,findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed inthe material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarilyreflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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