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Instructional Technologies Education Research
OVERVIEW: 2006-17
The Global Challenge Award, Inc. (Global Challenge) is a Vermont-based, a tax-exempt, non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation (State of Vermont Business Identification Number 0077088). Global Challenge was incorporated on November 18, 2005.

Since 2006, Global Challenge has participated in a series of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grants funded under the ITEST (Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers). The NSF ITEST program supports the research and development of innovative models for engaging K-12 students in authentic experiences that build their capacity to participate in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communications technology (ICT) workforce of the future. 

​Global Challenge has operated in and/or participated in three NSF funded ITEST research grants in collaboration with the University of Vermont (Burlington, Vermont), the University of North Texas (Denton, Texas) and SolarQuest (Chelsea, Vermont). 

In 2015,
the Global Challenge Award, Inc. (d.b.a. The Renewable Nations Institute) became a partner with SolarQuest L3C in the United Nations Development Goals. 

SECTION 1: 2006-17

STEM-based Instructional Technology Education Research

Project Partners
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2006 - 2009: The Global Challenge Award, Inc. (Global Challenge) worked in collaboration with SolarQuest™ and  the University of Vermont to engage young women and minority high school students in a series of integrated STEM activities. One thousand high school students from around the world – including students from developing countries – worked in eLearning teams to create innovative business solutions to address global climate change, and presented the global business potential of their solutions to a panel of industry professionals. ITEST Grant #DRL-0624663 Award: $924,000 (See video below.)
2008 - 2013: Global Challenge worked in collaboration with the University of North Texas (Denton, Texas) and SolarQuest™ (Chelsea, Vermont) on M-SOS-W: Middle Schoolers out to Save the World. Approximately 600 sixth graders from seven middle schools in Louisiana, Maine, Texas and Vermont monitored home energy use to develop optimum scenarios for conserving energy and reducing production of greenhouses gases in local communities. M-SOS-W was adapted for U.S. middle schools from the SolarQuest™ (Allan Baer) Productivity-centered Service-learning (PCSL) Action Research pedagogy. ITEST Grant #DRL-083376 Award: $1,500,000 (See video below.)
2013-2017: Tandra Tyler-Wood, Associate Professor of Special Education and Head of the Educational Diagnostician Program, has been awarded a second large National Science Foundation Grant, Going Green! Middle Schoolers Out to Save the World (M-SOS-W), based her work in the general field of science education at the secondary level. 

For the M-SOS-W project, Tyler-Wood will serve as subject matter expert for special populations including gifted/talented and those with disabilities. She will serve as an investigator advising the M-SOS-W curriculum developer (Baer) with prototyping new modules to address the most pressing categories of disabilities accommodations. The $1.9 million dollar project began on August 15, 2013 and will run until July 31, 2017. ITEST Grand #1312168. Award: $2,000,000.

SECTION 2: 2015-16

STEM-Based Digital Video Globe (DVG) Instructional Technology

CARBON RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE, ABSTRACT: Global Challenge supported the development of the Carbon Research Collaborative in collaboration with SolarQuest™ will the goal to engage teachers and students in public schools across America in Action Research inquiries on the impact of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on climate change, on Earth’s Biosphere and on human populations. ​See promotional video, below:
Using data from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) and other NASA satellites teachers and students will: 
  • Measure global CO2 emissions from the world's megacities; 
  • Assess Earth’s capacity to sequester CO2 in the Biosphere; and
  • Model the potential for negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts in their communities and across the globe. 

Research outcomes will be displayed on iGlobe Digital Video Globe (DVG) instructional technologies and will be viewed worldwide by over 30 million people annually in hundreds of museums worldwide.

The aim of the Carbon Research Collaborative is to examine the potential of Action Research – teachers and students collaborating with the science research community – combined with the use of cutting-edge satellite infrastructure and DVG instructional technologies to raise students’ comprehension of and improve students’ attitudes toward STEM education and careers; and to educate youth and the general public on risks of unmitigated global warming.

Learn more at the Carbon Research Collaboration web site. Also see: NSF STTR Grant #1416970: Award: $224,978.

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