Abstract

Rural school systems throughout the nation are looking for ways to access and use technology in a way that will be meaningful for their students. The Community for Rural Education, Stewardship, and Technology (CREST) project, funded by the National Science Foundation’s ITEST program, has developed and tested a model methodology to meet this need. CREST creates a non-hierarchal community of learners that uses integrated technologies to find creative solutions to local stewardship issues of relevance to students and their communities. This paper will discuss the methodology CREST has created to empower the student, educator, and community member through the integrated use of GIS/GPS, Web Design, and Ethnography (digital storytelling) to create place-based educational experiences that can be woven into a standards-based curriculum. In addition, this paper will present and analyze two case studies at participating schools showing implementation strategies for success and its impact on teacher practice.

Citation

Kermish-Allen, R., Conover, S., Nave, B., Rowan, H. & Carter, N. (2009). Communities for Rural Education, Stewardship, and Technology (CREST): Successful Methodologies for STEM Implementation and Influencing Teacher Practice. In I. Gibson, R. Weber, K. McFerrin, R. Carlsen & D. Willis (Eds.), Proceedings of SITE 2009--Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 1912-1918). Charleston, SC, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved September 1, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/30899/.

Keywords

• case study