Advanced Technological Education .

Welcome to the ATE Central Connection! Published the first Tuesday of each month, the ATE Central Connection is meant to disseminate information to and about ATE centers and projects, providing you with up-to-date ATE news, events, reminders, as well as highlighting new centers, projects, and resources. In addition, we will also highlight an educational topic with complementary resources found within ATE Central to help illustrate how ATE resources can be used in the classroom.

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In This Issue

Featured Resources: Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

From Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center (MATEC):

Cloud Curriculum (NOVA)

tssb.org/sites/default/files/wwwpages/publications/TSSBUsersGuide2.pdf

This 29-page user guide, presented by the Texas Skill Standards Board, is intended to help community and technical colleges understand and incorporate skill standards elements into workforce education curriculum. This guide includes the following sections: Introduction, Understanding Skill Standards, What do Skill Standards Look Like?, What do Recognized Skill Standards Look Like?, What do Conditionally Recognized Skill Standards Look Like?, Incorporating Skill Standards Elements into Workforce Education Curriculum, and Appendix.

From Making Learning Real with Problem-Based Case Learning:

PBCL in a Web Design Class

wisconsin.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ates12.pd.mlrrogers/pbcl-in-a-web-design-class

This video from the WGBH Educational Foundation shows a Problem-Based Case Learning (PBCL) experience in a classroom from the start of class through mid-semester. In the video, a web design instructor works with a small business development center to find a local business partner. The center matches the instructor with a clothing store owner. The instructor and the business owner formulate the problem: the business needs a web site. Students meet several times with the owner and create web designs. The students then begin building the web site.

From Making Learning Real with Problem-Based Case Learning:

PBCL in an HTML Class

wisconsin.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ates12.pd.mlrbradley/pbcl-in-an-html-class

This video from the WGBH Educational Foundation is part of a series of videos that explore Problem-Based Case Learning (PBCL). In this video, an instructor and a business partner have posed a business problem to an HTML class. The business partner is a local community service organization, Feline Hotline. The problem is that Feline Hotline needs a website. Student teams present their solutions to the instructor, the business partner, and a guest expert (a Web design instructor). The students then receive feedback on their work.

Community Connection

Four Newly Funded Projects

The National Science Foundation (NSF) annually funds approximately 12,000 new awards, with an average funding duration of three years. Each year some of those new awards are supported by the ATE Program, which focuses on improving and expanding educational programs for skilled workers in high-tech STEM fields.

Read more on the Impacts Blog about the four newly funded projects, from light detection and ranging technology, antibody engineering, cyber data analytics, and drone technology.

ATE Success Tips: Social Media

Five-Minute Social Media: Setting Effective Goals

Often you only have five minutes left at the end of a busy workday. It may not seem like enough time to build your social media presence, but with a little direction you can act when you have a free minute. The key to an efficient social strategy is setting Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals.

Establishing a set schedule is one of the first steps in making the most of the time you do have. Creating deadlines will help you stay on track and make progress over time. To meet those deadlines, you will want to factor in an understanding of staffing and resources, and then set aside time to make progress. Scheduling will also help ensure that your goals are measurable and help you and your team evaluate progress on each goal.

To determine how your social media efforts are progressing you should check your metrics on a regular basis. This can be as simple as using the analytics or insights tools offered by social platforms like Twitter and Facebook to identify areas where your content is performing well and areas where you'd like to see growth. Taking time each week or two to check in with your organization's social media progress will allow you to identify whether your efforts are time well spent and adjust accordingly.

Finally, remember that your goals must be achievable. If your initial goals turn out to be a bit too aggressive, it's okay to make changes. It’s a good idea to talk with your project team and external evaluator too as they may be able to help you create achievable goals. For additional guidance in formulating effective social media goals, check out ATE Central's Outreach Kit.

Did You Know?

More than a quarter, 27.3%, of public community college students reported that a language other than English was the first language they learned to speak. Additionally, nearly a quarter of these students stated that they used a language other than English as their primary means of communication with their primary caregiver during high school. Read the report and see graphs on Community College Daily's DataPoints.

Select STEM Education Resources

A few online STEM resources from outside of ATE, that you may find of interest:

Lesson Plans on the Internet

www.csun.edu/science/ref/lessons

Here visitors will find a vast range of resources related to teaching physics with a bit of chemistry thrown in for good measure. The site begins with a brief introduction of how to successfully search for such resources using well-known search engines such as Google. The materials are divided into areas that include Books, Lesson Ideas for Science Teachers, and Lesson Ideas for All Disciplines. The Lesson Ideas for Science Teachers area is a great place to start; it contains links to the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Science Education, NASA Educators, and the Mathematics and Science Education Gateway at Cornell. Visitors shouldn't miss the Lesson Ideas for All Disciplines area, which includes links to the award-winning TeachNet site and the PBS TeacherSource site, which brings together audio and video clips.

New York Times: Science and Math Lessons

www.nytimes.com/spotlight/learning-science-math

These lesson ideas from the New York Times offer suggestions for ways to draw on real world issues and statistics to develop lessons in mathematics. For example, in one lesson "students convert statistics about gun injuries into visual presentations, then use these as the basis for a poster campaign to teach children about the dangers of guns in home" while another lesson idea involves designing brochures that are intended to explain specific mathematical concepts to a popular audience. Each lesson idea includes a recommended grade level, subject areas covered, lesson objectives, resources/materials needed, a description of the activities along with handouts, further questions for discussion, assessment, key vocabulary terms, and some ways to extend the activities and relate them to other disciplines, such as social studies or journalism. Links to related Times articles and related online resources provide an interactive aspect to each of the lesson entries.

California Academy of Sciences Lesson Plans

www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/nuclear-energy-whats-your-reaction

Nuclear energy is subject to intense debates over safety, cost, and long-term effects. Are the potential risks of nuclear power generation outweighed by the benefits in terms of reduced pollution and emissions from greenhouse gases? Students take on roles as members of the community of Solutionville, debating whether to support the construction of a nuclear power plant in their town. The debate requires students to synthesize information from credible sources and weigh the pros and cons of nuclear power versus fossil fuels. Further, the lesson content is aligned with NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas and Science and Engineering Practices, in addition to Common Core English Language Arts standards. This lesson plan was created by the California Academy of Sciences, a San Francisco-based non-profit dedicated to regenerating "the natural world through science, learning, and collaboration."

Do you have some great STEM resources you'd like to share with ATE Central? Email us with your ideas at info@atecentral.net.

ATE Events

Upcoming Events
– Eng Commercial UAS Expo Las Vegas, NV
– Info Convene: Washington, DC Washington, DC
– Gen AACC John E. Roueche Future Leaders Institute Denver, CO
– Mfg FABTECH Chicago, IL
– Nano MNT-EC Journal Writing Workshop 2023 Online
– Gen Advocates in Action Washington, DC
– Info National Cybersecurity Education Colloquium Palos Hills, IL
– Gen Utah STEM Fest Sandy, UT
– Eng ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles Expo Santa Clara, CA
– Eng Droning On: Southwestern Edition Española, NM
Info National Cybersecurity Virtual Career Fair Online
Eng Girls in Aviation Day 2023 Eden Prairie, MN
– Bio/Chem OCEANS 2023 Gulf Coast Conference Biloxi, MS
– Eng Droning On: Navajo Nation Gallup, NM
– Eng UAA 2023 Collegiate Aviation Education Conference & Expo St Petersburg, FL
Info What’s New in Global Mapper Standard v25? Online
– Ag/Env Wine Sensory Analysis Workshop - TN 2023 Friendsville, TN
Gen The BIG Event: Girl Scouts East Grand Forks, MN
Info What’s New in Global Mapper Pro v25? Online
– Eng Droning On: Northwest Mountain Edition Greeley, CO
– Eng Colorado Drone Airshow 2023 Fort Collins, CO
Gen 2023 ATE Conference Orientation Webinar Online
– Eng Engineering Technology Leaders Institute (ETLI) Washington, DC
– Eng Advanced Manufacturing Minneapolis Minneapolis, MN
– Gen AACC Future Presidents Institute Denver, CO
– Info UAS Summit & Expo Grand Forks, ND
– Info GIS-Pro 2023 Columbus, OH
– Gen ITSS Summit Frisco, TX
– Eng NBAA-Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition Las Vegas, NV
Ag/Env 2023 Wisconsin Energy Efficient Expo Brookfield, WI
– Gen Advancing Indigenous People in Stem (AiSES) National Conference Spokane, WA
– Ag/Env 2023 Wine Chemistry Workshop Ashtabula, OH
– Gen 16th Annual Mentoring Conference Albuquerque, NM
– Eng UTAC - Unmanned Tactical Application Conference Perry, GA
– Gen 2023 Annual ATE PI Conference Washington, DC
– Eng Mobilize Summit Long Beach, CA
– Eng Future Technologies Conference (FTC) San Francisco, CA
Info What’s New in Geographic Calculator 2023 SP1 and GeoCalc Online? Online
Ag/Env IREC Vision Summit Minneapolis, MN
– Eng Underwater Intervention Conference New Orleans, LA

For more events, please visit the ATE Central Events page or, if you have any upcoming events that you would like posted on ATE Central or in the ATE Central Connection, please submit them online.

News & Reminders

WomenTech Breaking Barriers Blog

Make sure to check out the WomenTech Breaking Barriers Blog by Donna Milgram. Milgram covers topics relating to empowering women to explore, enroll, and lead in STEM and CTE roles. The blogs aim to inspire women in STEM and educators to re-think the roles women can play in STEM and CTE occupations. Her latest blog post covers boosting female participation in STEM and cybersecurity roles. Find her blog at on the WomenTech Educators website.

ATE Central Outreach Kit

The ATE Central Outreach Kit was developed as a tool to assist ATE Principal Investigators (PIs) and staff in effectively planning, monitoring, and executing outreach activities.

ATE Central has given the Outreach Kit a refresh with a new design and content, accompanied by a downloadable Template. The new kit is designed to guide you through a step-by-step process and helps you explore how to identify your primary audiences and stakeholders, determine the partners and resources that can support your efforts, and start considering aspects such as branding and messaging.

By utilizing the kit and template, you will make significant progress towards developing a comprehensive plan that enables you to achieve the objectives of your grant, effectively communicate your outcomes and impacts, and showcase the valuable work of your project or center to a diverse range of stakeholders.

The Outreach Kit can be found on ATE Central's website, under the Resources tab.

New Tool - Calendar Feed

The ATE Central Calendar Feed is an easy to customize tool that enables calendar feeds from the ATE Central Events Calendar to quickly be added to either the Outlook or the Mac Calendar app, and will then automatically display upcoming events of interest based on the keywords you include. You can use the feed to populate your personal calendar or to add lists of upcoming events to your ATE center or project website. For WordPress-based sites, free plugins like ICS Calendar will allow you to use a calendar feed to display a list of upcoming events on your WordPress site. You'll need to sign in to your ATE Central account to create a feed - and it's easy to change your selection of keywords to add or subtract areas of interest over time. We look forward to hearing from you as you utilize this new service and as always, we'd love to get your feedback or comments. Don't hesitate to reach out to the team with any questions at info@atecentral.net.

ATE Impacts 2022-2023 Book Showcases Work of ATE Community

The ATE Impacts 2022-2023 book showcases the work of the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technological Education Community. This edition includes a foreword from United States President Joseph Biden. It features the work of 33 projects and 28 centers across the seven ATE areas, as well as applied research. By highlighting the ATE community's successful and innovative work, the book encourages broader participation in the ATE program by academic institutions, educators, and industry partners. Dissemination of the ATE Impacts book advances understanding of the importance of technician education and its role in supporting the high-tech industries that drive the United States' economy More information on the book can be found on the ATE Impacts website.

Follow ATE Central on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with all things new at ATE Central and in the ATE Community as well as in the world of STEM Education.


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