Integrative Graduate
Education and
Research Traineeship

Highlight

Web Casts to Prepare Middle and High School Students with Disabilities for STEM College Education

Starting Wright Logo

Projects:

An Interdisciplinary Initiative on Technology Based...

Institution:

Wright State University

Primary Strategic Goal:

Learning: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.

Secondary Strategic Goal:

Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.

Achievement/Results

The IGERT faculty team of Dr. Shingledecker (Learning with Disability Research Professor) and Mr. Vernooy (Wright State Disability Services Director) are producing STARTING WRIGHT; a series of web casts for young students with disabilities and their parents to prepare them for STEM education and careers after high school. This modern version of a fireside chat program uses web technology to reach families in their homes and stimulate needed discussion about educational and career plans and promote sound decision making.

Information about STEM careers, academic preparation, development of personal independence and self-advocacy skills, and assistive technologies for STEM learning is provided in an entertaining format with opportunities for live text chat. IGERT fellows have contributed to STARTING WRIGHT program development and production by participating in focus groups and interviews with successful STEM college students that have disabilities.

STARTING WRIGHT is funded by a grant from the Johnson Scholarship foundation. The success of the grant application was greatly strengthened by the impressive track record of the LWD IGERT program at Wright State University.

Address Goals

STARTING WRIGHT joins IGERT and OSAA in working to cultivate a world class, broadly inclusive STEM US workforce by focusing on one of the largest underrepresented populations in science and engineering. STARTING WRIGHT acts as a gateway to the upper level high school and college programs provided by OSAA to increase the yield of qualified STEM professional from this talented and diverse group of individuals. The LWD IGERT is both a contributor to, and beneficiary of these programs, acting as a fertile ground for learning research and an incubator for truly interdisciplinary scientists and engineers who are exposed to real-world problems through STARTING WRIGHT and OSAA.