Technology

The Rwanda Youth Opportunity Network (RYON), an EQUIP3 Associate Award, aims to develop a thriving youth livelihood support system in Rwanda to increase the prosperity of not only youth, but also the public and private institutions that support and benefit from youths’ productive engagement in Rwandan society. To achieve this goal, RYON will provide youth in Kigali with market-relevant life and work readiness training and support, hands-on training opportunities, and links into the employment and self-employment job market.

EDC is working with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) to develop an investigation using the MicroObservatory online telescopes. Controlling the telescopes from their classroom, students will join a community of scientists in the search for solar systems beyond our own, including a search for a twin of Earth that may harbor life.

The Mali USAID/ PHARE program (Programme Harmonisé d’Appui au Renforcement de l’Education) supports the Malian Ministry of Education’s efforts to improve the quality of elementary education, with an emphasis on literacy. This five-year program works nationally, reaching over 40,000 classrooms and 500,000 students. Known as “Road to Reading” in English, the program will produce and broadcast Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programs for grades 1–6 with dual instructional objectives for teachers and students.

Working in collaboration with Save the Children, EDC is using its existing organizational structures in Blantyre to design and produce a minimum of 10 audio programs as part of an IRI pilot program for strengthening Early Childhood Development (ECD) in Malawi’s Community Based Child Care Centers (CBCCs). During the pilot phase, EDC is overseeing the full development of ECD IRI programs; this includes scriptwriting, studio production, collaboration with Save the Children on pilot roll out, and formative evaluation of lessons.

Designed to respond to Garissan youths’ needs and assets, the Garissa Youth Project (G-Youth Project) aims to empower youth to make sound career and life decisions as they transition from high school to the next phase of their lives. The project is also building the capacity of local institutions and networks to sustain the much-needed services that G-Youth will provide.

The Excellence in Innovation project identifies “high impact” information and communications technologies (ICTs) that can quickly and significantly strengthen the competitiveness of target industries. The project co-invests with local entrepreneurs to create self-sustainable “e-BIZ Enterprises,” which offer the high impact ICT services at affordable prices to all businesses in a target industry. The goal: more competitive and profitable small and medium enterprises, more and better jobs, high levels of local co-investment and foreign direct investment.

CSE, through a cooperative agreement with the NSF, is establishing and maintaining the Discovery Research K–12 learning resource network, known as CADRE. The goals are to advance the state of research and evaluation in STEM education and to move forward the goals of the DR-K12 program. CADRE provides support services to grantees from the DR-K12 program, which enhances student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines through the development, implementation, and study of resources, models, and technologies.

Although green technology is one of the fastest growing industries in America, studies have shown that there is an alarming lack qualified professionals in this field. GreenFab: Sustainable Design Through Engineering and Technology will address this imbalance through activities that increase participating students’ technological and engineering fluency while providing a community and framework for them to explore “green collar” jobs. CCT is providing research and evaluation support for this initiative.

PETlab is a curriculum that introduces boys and girls between the ages of 9–12 to the principles of game design through digital and non-digital activities. The curriculum is being developed for the Boys & Girls Club of America. CCT is evaluating a month-long pilot of the program at five Boys & Girls Club. Through eight activities, boys and girls will modify components of games, such as rules and mechanics, in order to explore how they influence the experience of game play and how they relate to one another in game design.

ERO is creating K–3 curriculum activities that will become part of SAE International’s A World in Motion® (AWIM) Program. These activities consist of one six-to-eight-session unit for each grade level. Each unit will include a book geared toward children at that level, written specifically for the project by award-winning children’s book author Stephen Krensky. The integration of these books into the curriculum units will be used to build children’s literacy skills (reading, writing, and speaking).