Signal Processing - May 2017 - 78

components: 1) introductory work in
engineering related to their curricula in
living environment, physics, chemistry,
and earth science; 2) classroom-based
action research that builds teachers' ability to use data as a formative assessment
to inform instruction; and 3) collaborations with engineers and STEM researchers to learn about engineering pathways
and careers. Teachers will learn activities
that we have previously piloted and have
the flexibility to modify them for their
students. Each activity will include a
detailed explanation of science content
and how it relates to state standards and
the NGSS, followed by instruction in
engineering pedagogical content knowledge. The teachers will learn a variety
of assessment strategies for informing
their instruction, for example, rapid,
response systems, performance tasks,
and questioning techniques. They will
be encouraged to participate in professional learning communities to share their
knowledge with other teachers in their
districts and strengthen their commitment
to engineering integration.
School counselors will participate in
workshops to build their knowledge base
in advising students about appropriate
precollege engineering coursework and
engineering career pathways. Once
again, our prior work with students provided data to inform the content and
structure of this professional development. The counselors will be immersed
in a one-day training including diversity
training; introductory work in engineering related to supporting competencies in
science and mathematics curricula; and
informative talks with engineers, STEM
researchers, and university staff to
learn about the diversity of engineering
employment opportunities. The professional development workshops will be
held at different off-campus sites and led
by engineering and science education
faculty and university staff. Discussions
about science content and how it relates
to New York State Standards and the
NGSS will also be part of the training.
The workshops will involve industrial
engineers and staff from the Admissions
Office and Career Center at SBU, so
counselors will learn about qualifications
for schools of engineering and specific
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disciplinary skill sets. The counselors
will be recruited from the 125 school
districts in the region, and the broader
impact will be considerable since they
interact with 175-300 students per academic year.

Engineering teaching laboratories
This outreach component has been
modeled upon existing teaching labs
in biotechnology and chemistry that
have been offered at SBU since 1992,
where students in grades 6-12 participate in inquiry-based experiences not
readily available in their schools. More
than 5,000 students have participated
each year, and data have shown immediate increased student motivation to pursue STEM [76]. However, the initial
offerings were a one-day-only experience
for students and long-term impacts were
not measured. This initiative expands and
builds upon the models success, with the
ultimate goal that teachers will adapt
these OST engineering teaching laboratories into their classroom science instruction. In doing so, the project may
be scaled to impact more students. The
evaluation of prior pilot activities supports the age-appropriateness of this and
other proposed activities for students in
grades 9-11.
Students will come to campus during
the school day and spend six hours working on a proposed hands-on activity that
is aligned with the NGSS. Here we
describe two activities that are in the pilot
stage with full implementation scheduled
for the coming year.

Linking fiber optics
The goal of this activity is to teach basic
engineering concepts related to communications with an emphasis on fiber optics. The activity involves engineering
theory related to transmitters and receivers; physics content knowledge related to
Snell's law, refractive indices, Ohm's
law, and electrical components of a circuit board (aligned with New York
State's Physical Setting Standards [77]);
and engineering skills such as soldering,
testing functionality, debugging systems
by detecting and isolating malfunctions,
and minimizing signal distortion. Required materials include basic electronic
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine

May 2017

components that will be purchased so
students can build their own prototypes.
Students discuss and debate the advantages and limitations of fiber-optic communication, optimal designs based on
their own evidence, societal impacts of
this technology, and potential future developments in communication.
Competitions are also part of the
activity. For example, students receive an
arbitrary length of fiber link, and they test
the maximum distance for which reliable
communication is maintained. They then
increase this distance by using their
knowledge and creativity. Solutions
involve increasing the input power of the
LED or the amplifier gain by using a different resistor.

Learning images through apps
Students learn about images through app
programming. The activity involves the
introduction to computer science-related
concepts such as pixels, digital images,
and movies; science content knowledge
related to optics and communication
(aligned with New York State's Physical
Setting Standards [77]); and programming skills such coding, debugging, and
code optimization. Required materials include a laptop with the appropriate software (we will use the open-source web
application App Inventor for Android)
and an Android tablet to download and
test the product (we had most of the devices in place as part of previous outreach offerings, and we will renew
existing materials as the project progresses). Most regional school districts indicated that these materials are available in
their schools. Students will first learn image-related topics (pixel, RGB color
model, or intensity) and programming
concepts (for example, control flow instructions) using the open-source computing environment Octave. They then
will learn how to develop mobile apps
using App Inventor. Differences between
Octave and App Inventor will be discussed, especially on issues related to
their capabilities when dealing with images. Students will be instructed to create
an app step by step, to troubleshoot and
download the apps to Android devices
and, finally, test them. Later, engineering
teams will have an app competition.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Signal Processing - May 2017