AT&T Competitive Grant Program: Wireless Curriculum for Middle School
Dole Middle School and the University of Hawaii Foundation applied for a grant to fund an innovative RET initiative. The proposal was successful and a $25,000 award was granted.
The goal of this initiative was to provide technical support to Dole Middle School, a Honolulu school with a large student population lacking technical knowledge and skills. A wireless curriculum for 8th graders was collaboratively designed and implemented by Dole teachers and scientists from Hawaii Center for Advanced Communications at University of Hawaii College of Engineering. A series of tailored units based on AT&T Wireless World intended to increase student understanding of STEM concepts through classroom and field activities in all core subjects.
Wireless technology encompasses exciting engineering applications broadly experienced by many students. These applications were used as a point of departure to develop curriculum modules to introduce basic wireless technology concepts and applications in a wide variety of fields including communications, navigation, wireless access to the Internet, distance learning, home care, and telemedicine. Basic to the study were learning how wireless works, procedures for establishing reliable connectivity and trade offs involved in establishing affordable wireless networks. Social and economical impacts of wireless technology were also discussed in one of the curriculum units.