Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program (STEP)

Program Title:

Supercomputer Teacher Enhancement Program (STEP)

Program Description:

STEP is funded by the National Science Foundation and is a project of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC). More than forty high school science and math teachers have participated in this three-year continuing education program. Since the inception of STEP, there has been an emphasis placed on the scaling of scientific problems from microcomputers to supercomputers. Also, throughout the years, SDSC staff have played a supportive role in the program by providing computational science resources and expertise. In 1993, STEP began with a workshop to introduce teachers to the Internet and the use of computational science software tools on the Macintosh and the PC. (Note, this training predated the existence of NCSA Mosaic.) Two SC'95 K-12 education program presenters -- Brian Lindow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Dr. David A. Thomas, Montana State University -- lectured at the 1994 and 1995 STEP workshops. At the July 1995 workshop, the STEP teachers received extensive training in HTML from Dr. Don Anderson of UCSD. Anderson introduced to the STEP participants the concept of using HTML for lessons on stand-alone computers (http://iip.ucsd.edu/step/s95/). These teachers are now able to enhance their classroom lectures by incorporating computational science examples into their lesson plans. These lesson plans are available on the STEP home page (http://iip.ucsd.edu/step/).

Target Audience/Eligibility:

STEP recruited science teachers from districts in the San Diego area with large numbers of underrepresented students. Teachers were asked to apply as teams of two to four per site.

Educational Opportunities:

STEP consists of three summer programs (1993, 1994, 1995) of three weeks each, coupled with eighteen academic year sessions (six per year). All training sessions are held at SDSC. The lecture notes from the 1993 and 1994 workshops are available from the STEP home page (ftp://iip.ucsd.edu/step/pub/stepinfo/). They may have value as historical documents.

Awards/Stipends/Incentives:

Teachers are given stipends of $60 per meeting day and $28 per hour for providing in-service staff development at their home institutions.

Calendar Dates:

Summer workshops offered in July 1993, July 1994, and July 1995.

Sponsoring Organizations:

University of California, San Diego Extension
San Diego Supercomputer Center

Funding of $1.6 million provided by the National Science Foundation.

Contact:

Dr. Kris Stewart
Mathematical Sciences Department
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7720

Voice: (619) 942-1012 (home)
Fax: (619) 944-0927
E-mail: stewart@sdsu.edu

image of the Group Summer '95