iStronG Team and Process 2019 – 2022

In the fall of 2018, the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education of the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) was awarded a 1.2 million dollar National Science Foundation Grant under the NSF iTest Designing and Testing (DTI) Program (Grant #1759163). The partners in the grant were: the UMass Lowell Climate Change Initiative, Rutgers University, Pathlight Associates, The Waters Center for Systems Thinking, and pilot site Upward Bound Programs at the University of Georgia, University of Massachusetts-Boston, University of Kansas; Family Centered Education Agency-Chicago; and Weatherford College-Texas.

The iStronG (Inclusive, Strong, and Green) project goal was to develop, implement, and research the impacts of a systems thinking and climate change curriculum on underrepresented students in STEM. Administrators and instructors from five Upward Bound (UB) sites piloted both in-person and virtual iterations of the curriculum from 2019 to 2021, reaching about 200 TRIO UB students.

Structured Participatory Curriculum Development Process. For this project, we intentionally pursued a partnership curriculum development process that involved subject matter experts working with Upward Bound projects staff and students to develop the curriculum. Using a participatory action research framework, the team successfully piloted and iteratively tested and improved the curriculum with input from UB teachers and students over three summers (2019, 2020, 2021). UB teachers were made Curriculum Team members. Students provided feedback through focus groups and student surveys.

For more information, contact Maggie Cahalan via email at margaret.cahalan@pellinstitute.org

The Pell Institute

**Margaret Cahalan,** iStronG Principal Investigator

External Evaluators – Rutgers University

**Vivian Allen,** Center for Effective School Practices at Rutgers U.

**Cindy Blitz,** iStronG Co-PI, Executive Director of the Center for Effective School Practices (CESP) at Rutgers U

University of Massachusetts Lowell

**Juliette Rooney-Varga**, **Ph.D.**, iStronG Co-PI, Director of Climate Change Initiative, Co-Director of Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy

**Carolyn McCarthy**,
Curriculum Developer, Founder of Emergence

**Kenneth Rath**,
Research and Evaluation, Rath Educational Evaluation and Research

Curriculum Consultants

**Sheri Marlin**,
Waters Center for Systems Thinking

**Cheryl Rush-Dix**,
STEM Equity Alliance

Henry Kranendonk,
Mathematics Consultant

Upward Bound Pilot Site Educators

Family Centered Education Agency

2019 – 2021, in-person, virtual, hybrid

**Dr. Jonathan McKenzie**,
CEO and Founder

**Ricardo Torres,** iStronG Instructor, Outreach Specialist

**Latia Cooper,**
Administrative Assistant

University of Georgia

2019 – 2021, in-person, virtual, hybrid

**Sonia Bradford-Davis,**
Director of Upward Bound

**Sheronte Maxwell,**
Director of TRIO Programs

**Linda McDowell, Ph.D**
iStronG Instructor

University of Kansas

2019 – 2021, in-person, virtual, hybrid

**Mike Conley**, Assistant Director of Upward Bound and iStronG Instructor

**Marilyn Chavez,**
Assistant Director of Upward Bound Math & Science and IStronG Instructor

University of Massachusetts – Boston

2019 – 2021, in-person, virtual

**Suamy Ventura,**
Director of Upward Bound

**Christopher Rabe**, Environmental Justice Curriculum Developer

Weatherford College, Texas

2021, in-person

Christine Endy,
Director of Upward Bound and iStronG Instructor

**Jeff Kahlden,** Director of Educational Talent Search

The iStronG Project (Inclusive, Strong, and Green) was funded by under the National Science Foundation (NSF) iTest Designing and Testing (DTI) Grant #1759163.

View what the team built

Curriculum Overview & Access