InteliSpark client, Wicked Device LLC, has been awarded a phase I grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Their project, “a collaborative data collection and analysis for inquiry-based experiential learning for health sciences related STEM education” will focus on developing an engaging, flexible, low-cost and inclusive cloud-based data sharing system for schools, fostering scientific discovery and literacy.
The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) job opportunity market is expected to grow 8.9% from 2014-2024 and offer wages 29% higher than compared the non-STEM job market, which is only expected to grow 6.4% according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. However, STEM education has failed in keeping up with this growth. It was found that in 2016 of the 64% U.S. high school students that underwent American College Testing, only 20% scored the benchmark or higher for STEM scores. Along with this, an even considerably lower rate was determined for those students in underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups. The lack of racial/ethnic diversity feeds directly into higher education as well.
Wicked Device’s project will address the need to provide educational opportunities to enhance STEM literacy, with a goal of increasing the likelihood that students of diverse backgrounds will pursue scientific careers. Wicked Device will use their innovation of a shared, cloud-based data collection and analysis platform for collaborative STEM and big data research and education, and adapt it to experiential learning opportunities in health sciences that use survey collection data. The result of this approach will allow for Wicked Device to create a fuller, real time, highly collaborative and highly engaging scientific experience that aligns with how scientific research is conducted in the real world. The technology will allow users/students to collaborate on a global multi-school network, developing innovative experiments and share findings tailored to their personal interests in health sciences.