TY - GEN
T1 - Enhancing Education in Underserved Schools
T2 - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Cognitive and Computational Aspects of Situation Management, CogSIMA 2021
AU - McKnight, Lee W.
AU - Taana Smith, Danielle
AU - Ronelus, Wednaud J.
AU - Ondocin, Ryan
AU - Ghosh, Prasanta K.
N1 - Funding Information:
ACKNOWLEDGMENT The views expressed in this paper are those of the co-authors and may or may not be shared by the institutions with which they are affiliated. The research summarized in this paper eventually leading to the invention of the Internet Backpack was supported in part by Syracuse University, the School of Information Studies, Kauffman Foundation, and NSF # 0227879 and # 0917973. The students, teachers, researchers, community, and industry partners which participated in the projects reported on in this study are gratefully acknowledged. In particular, the cooperation and enthusiasm of the teachers, administrators, and students of L’Ecole du Cinquantenaire, Goma, DRC; Van Duyn School, Syracuse, New York; Alchemist Club Studios at Timothy Dwight PS 33, and the teachers, administrators, parents and especially the New York City school children at Timothy Dwight PS 33X in the South Bronx, PS 91 Albany Avenue School and PS 316 Elijah Stroud Elementary School, both in Brooklyn, New York, USA, are gratefully acknowledged. The cooperation of Imcon International Inc., OPEN, and Helium with this research is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, we acknowledge a co-author of this study and co-inventor of the Internet Backpack, Lee McKnight, serves on the Board of Directors of Imcon International Inc. Dr. McKnight’s Financial Conflict of Interest is managed by Syracuse University’s Associate Dean for Research, School of Information Studies, and the Syracuse University Office of Sponsored Programs in accordance with university policies and federal law. The reported results of Dr. Ronelus’ Pace University doctoral study were independently derived.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 IEEE.
PY - 2021/5/14
Y1 - 2021/5/14
N2 - This paper assesses the results of a STEM education pilot project bringing cyber-physical infrastructure for broadband connectivity, trusted devices, and secure cloud and privacy and rights-protecting edge cognitive computing and wireless services, to underserved New York City school children at Timothy Dwight PS 33X in the South Bronx, PS 91 Albany Avenue School and PS 316 Elijah Stroud Elementary School, both in Brooklyn, New York, USA. This pilot study, initiated in 2017, demonstrated how the innovative Internet Backpack could bring immediate connectivity and digital and physical (cyber-physical) resource-sharing including cognitive wireless networks to many school children simultaneously, much faster than previously thought possible, or affordable. Projecting from this successful pilot, in this paper we explain how we anticipate that the results will serve to focus further action by all stakeholders on the broadband underserved wherever they may be. We suggest utilizing the Internet Backpack to develop a gap-filling last few hundred feet road map of where broadband connectivity is otherwise lacking and hence hindering school children's education performance and opportunities to explore STEM learning topics. This model can guide future buildouts of broadband Internet and cyber-physical infrastructure to help address both the Covid-19 pandemic emergency and the ongoing, longstanding systemic societal emergencies exacerbated by limited Internet access in resource-constrained communities. Our initial pilot data shows improvement in both student scientific reasoning and science mastery when uninterrupted Internet connectivity is provided, allowing students to engage in both curricular and extracurricular science projects unimpeded by digital divides. Larger-scale studies, if replicating these results, could guide educators and policymakers towards utilizing cognitive systems such as the Internet Backpacks, and Science/IoT curricula, for efficient cloud to edge connectivity and innovative educational content, changing the equation for greater digital inclusion in urban and rural communities, quickly.
AB - This paper assesses the results of a STEM education pilot project bringing cyber-physical infrastructure for broadband connectivity, trusted devices, and secure cloud and privacy and rights-protecting edge cognitive computing and wireless services, to underserved New York City school children at Timothy Dwight PS 33X in the South Bronx, PS 91 Albany Avenue School and PS 316 Elijah Stroud Elementary School, both in Brooklyn, New York, USA. This pilot study, initiated in 2017, demonstrated how the innovative Internet Backpack could bring immediate connectivity and digital and physical (cyber-physical) resource-sharing including cognitive wireless networks to many school children simultaneously, much faster than previously thought possible, or affordable. Projecting from this successful pilot, in this paper we explain how we anticipate that the results will serve to focus further action by all stakeholders on the broadband underserved wherever they may be. We suggest utilizing the Internet Backpack to develop a gap-filling last few hundred feet road map of where broadband connectivity is otherwise lacking and hence hindering school children's education performance and opportunities to explore STEM learning topics. This model can guide future buildouts of broadband Internet and cyber-physical infrastructure to help address both the Covid-19 pandemic emergency and the ongoing, longstanding systemic societal emergencies exacerbated by limited Internet access in resource-constrained communities. Our initial pilot data shows improvement in both student scientific reasoning and science mastery when uninterrupted Internet connectivity is provided, allowing students to engage in both curricular and extracurricular science projects unimpeded by digital divides. Larger-scale studies, if replicating these results, could guide educators and policymakers towards utilizing cognitive systems such as the Internet Backpacks, and Science/IoT curricula, for efficient cloud to edge connectivity and innovative educational content, changing the equation for greater digital inclusion in urban and rural communities, quickly.
KW - Broadband Connectivity
KW - Cyber-physical Infrastructure
KW - Digital Inclusion
KW - Internet Backpack
KW - Science Education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112865412&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85112865412&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/CogSIMA51574.2021.9475946
DO - 10.1109/CogSIMA51574.2021.9475946
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85112865412
T3 - Proceedings - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Cognitive and Computational Aspects of Situation Management, CogSIMA 2021
SP - 32
EP - 38
BT - Proceedings - 2021 IEEE International Conference on Cognitive and Computational Aspects of Situation Management, CogSIMA 2021
A2 - McGeorge, Nicolette
A2 - Ruvinsky, Alicia
A2 - Teichmann, Mare
A2 - Motus, Leo
A2 - Freiman, Mary
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 14 May 2021 through 22 May 2021
ER -