National Science Foundation Awards Grant to SRI International to Involve Undergraduates in Production of High-Quality K-12 Educational Software.

Business Editors & Education/High-Tech Writers

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2002

Initiative Builds upon Recent SRI Findings that Close Teamwork

between Software Developers and Teachers is an Effective Means of

Creating Valuable Educational Content

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded SRI International a $3.2 million grant to investigate the critical factors that will enable undergraduate students in education and computer science to play key roles in the creation of high-quality educational software for children in grades K-12. The project is called TRAILS (Training and Resources for Assembling Interactive Learning Systems).

To help train the undergraduate students, the TRAILS project will design course modules, publish on-line resources, and recruit experienced mentors. Starting in Fall 2003 at Stanford University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, students from both education and computer science disciplines will work as teams to develop prototype educational software and pilot its use in local K-12 classrooms. The Math Forum at Drexel University, one of the world's largest mathematics Web sites for K-12 students and teachers, will publish selected software created by TRAILS students.

The TRAILS project aims to generate software that engages children in learning difficult mathematical concepts. As the project matures, it is expected to expand from an initial focus on middle school mathematics to additional grade levels and other subjects.

Through the process of designing educational software, the hope is that university students will learn powerful lessons. Computer science students will gain a better understanding of how to develop software that meets the needs of K-12 classrooms, in addition to experiencing first-hand the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration. The TRAILS team expects the collaborative courses to attract students from populations underrepresented in the field of computer science. TRAILS will empower teachers with a better understanding of how to make the most of technology in their classrooms and to be critical and demanding of educational software. Further, TRAILS will provide enhanced opportunities for educators to deepen their content knowledge, so that preservice teachers will begin their new careers with greater confidence about their mathematics knowledge and how to communicate it effectively with technology.

"SRI has spent more than a decade studying the integration of technology and education," said Barbara Means, director of SRI's Center for Technology in Learning. "Through TRAILS, we can take the multidisciplinary approach into the university setting to further advance the quality of educational software. We are very excited about the expected outcomes, which include a new model for collaborative courses in computer science and education and widely disseminated software prototypes for use by teachers and students. We are proud to have been chosen by the National Science Foundation to advance this important mission," she continued.

TRAILS builds on SRI's previous research in the NSF-funded Educational Software Components of Tomorrow (ESCOT, www.escot.org) program, which examined how software innovations can accumulate, integrate, and scale up to meet the needs of systemic reform of K-12 mathematics and science education. As in the ESCOT program, TRAILS will address real classroom needs by involving experienced teachers, complementing the role of textbooks, and aligning its content to accepted academic standards.

More information about TRAILS can be found at http://www.trails-project.org.

About SRI's Center for Technology in Learning

SRI International's Center for Technology in Learning (www.sri.com/policy/ctl) is world-renowned for its design, evaluation, and implementation of educational technologies. The Center's staff, which includes psychologists, computer scientists, content specialists, anthropologists and educators, conducts innovative research and development for clients such as the National Science Foundation, the World Bank, the U.S Department of Education, LEGO, Sun Microsystems, and Texas Instruments.

About SRI International

Silicon Valley-based SRI International (www.sri.com) is one of the world's leading independent research and technology development organizations. Founded as Stanford Research Institute in 1946, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of clients for more than 55 years. The nonprofit research institute performs contract research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses and nonprofit foundations. SRI is well known for its innovations in information technology, telecommunications, engineering, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, physics, and the public policy areas of education, health, and economic development. In addition to conducting contract R&D, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies.