Our teachers pride themselves on educational innovation. PRISMS faculty members have written two peer-reviewed articles on the benefits and challenges associated with our unique STEM research program. These articles have presented at the 2018 and 2019 Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC) at Princeton University. In addition, we have had numerous students present examples of student research at the ISEC conference. A third paper was written by our faculty, accepted and published in the Journal of Mathematics Education.
Mohlhenrich, Erik R., Sergey V. Samsonau, and Roxanne P. Spencer. "Integrating science through authentic research in secondary schools." 2018 IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC). IEEE, 2018. Using multiple examples of student research projects, the authors highlighted the ways in which authentic research at the secondary school level provides a natural platform for science integration and offers distinct benefits compared to research at the undergraduate level. Recommendations for the implementation of an authentic and integrated student research program in a secondary school are discussed.
Gong, Xiang and Mohlhenrich, Erik R (2019) "An Integrated Secondary STEM Research Program: Results, Challenges, and Opportunities". 2019 IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC). IEEE, 2019. In this paper, we presented survey results from a cohort of 44 students in a school-based, integrated STEM research program in which students complete a two-year, on-campus research project in a discipline of their choosing. The results indicated statistically significant gains in dimensions such as understanding the nature of science, research skills, feeling part of a scientific community, and their likelihood of pursuing advanced degrees in STEM fields.
Gong, Xiang and Gao, Tiger, “Supporting English Language Learners (ELL) in the Mathematics Classroom in the United States.” Journal of Mathematics Education, July 2018. It reported on how ELL high-school students could be effectively supported to achieve their academic success in the mathematics classroom.