STEM Learning

This book reports the results of a three-year research program funded by the National Science Foundation which targeted students and teachers from four Detroit high schools in order for them to learn, experience, and use IT within the context of STEM (IT/STEM), and explore 21st century career and educational pathways.

The book discusses the accomplishment of these goals through the creation of a Community of Designers-- an environment in which high school students and teachers, undergraduate/graduate student assistants, and STEM area faculty and industry experts worked together as a cohesive team. The program created four project-based design teams, one for each STEM area. Each team had access to two year-round IT/STEM enrichment experiences to create high-quality learning projects, strategies, and curriculum models. These strategies were applied in after school, weekend, and summer settings through hands-on, inquiry-based activities with a strong emphasis on non-traditional approaches to learning and understanding. The book represents the first comprehensive description and analysis of the research program and suggests a plan for future development and refinement.        

Mesut Duran, Ph.D.

Dr. Mesut Duran is a Professor of Technology at the College of Education, Health, and Human Services, University of Michigan-Dearborn. He completed his B.A. at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. He received M.Ed. in Microcomputer Applications in Education and Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Ohio University. Dr. Durand received “Outstanding Paper Award” for his paper presented at the 10^th International SITE Conference in 2008. He has over 70 publications and presentations in top journals and conferences including Journal of Science Education and Technology, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, Computers in the Schools, and Computers in Human Behavior. Dr. Duran’s research is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

Margret Hoft, Ph.D.

Dr. Hoft is professor emerita of mathematics at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, having retired from active faculty status on April 30, 2012. She received graduate degrees in mathematics and physics from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in Germany and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Houston in Texas. Dr. Hoft’s early work focused on order-sums in classes of partially ordered algebras and on fixed points for order-preserving maps in partially ordered sets. Her research led to publications in the Journal für Reine und Angewandte Mathematik, Algebra Universalis, and the Canadian Journal of Mathematics. With the advent of user-friendly computer technology in the late eighties, she became interested in introducing computer algebra systems into undergraduate mathematics instruction. Her later publications, books and grants from the National Science Foundation reflected this new focus. She served as the Midwest regional director of the Interactive Mathematics Text Project and served two terms as a member of the subcommittee on calculus instruction of the Committee on Undergraduate Programs in Mathematics of the Mathematical Association of America. Dr. Hoft also served two terms as department chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics from 1998-2004.

Brahim Medjahed , Ph.D.

Dr Brahim Medjahed is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Department of Computer and Information Science. He joined the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 2004 as Assistant Professor right after receiving a PhD in Computer Science from Virginia Tech. He was awarded the “Outstanding Graduate Research Award” for his PhD work at Virginia Tech. He received two (2) best paper awards (ICWS 2015 and The Computer Journal 2008). His papers are highly cited (more than 2700 citations). He has more than 70 publications in top journals and conferences including the ACM Transaction on the Web, ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, IEEE Transactions on Service Computing, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, VLDB Journal, and Distributed and Parallel Databases. Dr Medjahed’s research is funded by the National Science Foundation, TRW Automotive, and Ford Motor Company.

Daniel Lawson, Ph.D.

Dr. Daniel Lawson is Associate Professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Department of Natural Sciences. He joined the University of Michigan-Dearborn in 1999 as Assistant Professor after completing a two-year appointment as a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor at Chemistry at Calvin College. He received is PhD in Chemistry from Michigan State University. He actively teaches general chemistry and physical chemistry with an emphasis on making the subjects both exciting and fun to learn.  Dr. Lawson has over 50 publications and presentations in top journals and conferences including Journal of Physical Chemistry, The Journal of Organometallic Chemistry and The Journal of Chemical Education. Dr. Lawson’s research has been funded by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Elsayed A. Orady, Ph.D.

Dr. Orady is currently the professor of manufacturing at the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Department of the University of Michigan Dearborn (UMD). He has written and won several grants from industry, NSF, and professional organizations including SME. His current research activities are in machine tools, metrology and precision measurements, machining processes and process simulation, tool monitoring and process diagnostics, process automation, manufacturing systems integration, and robot simulation. He has developed and taught several manufacturing courses including the Industrial Robotics Course upon joining UMD in 1986, where he developed the Robotics Laboratory.  Dr. Orady has over 90 publications in topics related to the manufacturing field and has written several chapters in books, including a chapter in the SME's "Tool Design Handbook." Dr. Orady has supervised or co-supervised over 24 Master Theses and two Ph.D. Theses. Two of his papers won the best papers in conferences. He is active in many national and international professional organizations including ISO-Robots Manufacturing Environment.  His research is supported by NSF, SME and automotive companies including the big three, and TRW.