LSC to participate in Purdue's federal funded project to design microelectronic curriculum
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Lafayette School Corp. approved a partnership with Purdue University’s INSPIRE research institute in hopes of creating a new microelectronic curriculum geared toward students in K-12.
The university received a $6 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, to create a three-year pilot project, Scalable Asymmetric Lifecycle Engagement in K-12 — SCALE K-12. The project would help teachers design curricular modules and activities focused on integrating microelectronic-related lessons into the classroom.
This investment from the federal government comes as a direct result of the CHIPS Act passed in August 2022 and is intended to provide funding to support the domestic production of semiconductors and authorize various programs and activities of the federal science agencies.
It also follows SkyWater Technology’s 2022 commitment to open a $1.8 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility in Purdue University’s Discovery Park District.
Indiana is set to play an essential role in the future of the semiconductor industry, and in turn, the state’s students will need to be prepared for that inevitable future.
“The big premise of this is to increase awareness of microelectronics and the hope would be that when we get through this grant that we will have some sort of articulation in K through 12 where all kids are going to be exposed to microelectronics on some level or some scale,” said Laurie Rinehart, LSC’s assistant director for curriculum.
Earlier this year, Purdue University began reaching out to school corporations throughout the state, to gauge the potential interest in this project — one of which was Tippecanoe School Corp.
When the Lafayette school district found out that the TSC would potentially be participating in this new project, the LSC reached out to Purdue to express their interest in the project.
The goal of the project is to discover a method in which academics can seamlessly integrate microelectronic concepts, lessons and activities into the current Indiana academic standard curriculum. Researchers hope that they could eventually implement this project on a national scale.
Over the next school year, 2023 – 2024, teachers and researchers will work together to develop at least one microelectronic module and activity that could potentially be taught throughout a multitude of academic subjects and grades.
Each module and activity that researchers believe meets the goal of the project will be published in a national online digital library called nanoHUB.
The LSC nominated seven teachers to participate in Purdue’s SCALE K-12 summer professional development crash course, where they will be introduced to university researchers and learn about the project.
Out of the seven teachers, three are from the high school, three are from the middle school, and one is from Sunnyside Elementary School.
Teachers to receive stipends for their instruction
Teachers will be communicating with researchers throughout the 2023-2024 school year, to inform each other of any updates or developments regarding the design of the microelectronic lessons.
Participating teachers will also be receiving a $4,000 stipend in two payments from Purdue University. Teachers will receive the first $2,000 after completing the summer crash course, and the other $2,000 near the end of the academic school year (approximately May 2024).
Purdue University will also be providing the participating school corporations with $1,500 to purchase any equipment or materials needed for the project.
The participating school districts are, Benton Community School Corporation, Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools, Holy Trinity Catholic School, Loogootee Community Schools, Washington Community Schools, Washington Catholic Schools, Lafayette School Corporation, and potentially Tippecanoe School Corporation.
Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla