Sounds of New York City for Educators

The Center for K12 STEM Education is pleased to announce the second year of our collaboration with the Sounds of New York City (SONYC) project and the Music, Audio, and Research Lab. A National Science Foundation funded research program, this project presents a unique professional development opportunity for New York area middle school science and math teachers.  

SONYC supports a team of 20 scientists working to engineer cyber-physical systems to help combat NYC’s noise pollution problem. This is tackled by bringing together specialists in acoustics, machine learning, distributed networking, citizen science, digital media, data analysis and visualization.

Over the course of four weeks (July 15 - August 9) teachers will first undergo two weeks of training in the science and engineering related to the SONYC project, followed by two weeks of classroom work alongside a group of 24 middle school students recruited from across New York City schools. During the latter two weeks, teachers and students will complete an intensive curriculum developed by the Music, Audio, and Research lab based on the research and engineering practices embedded in the SONYC project.

Throughout teachers will be interacting directly with members of the SONYC research engineering team and a talented group of undergraduate and graduate student-instructors versed in a variety of STEM fields.  You will explore the underlying science associated with sound using both analog and digital technologies. As noise pollution is one of the topmost quality of life issues for urban residents in the United States — and carries public health consequences — teachers will be able to study these issues by sampling sounds, studying sound waves in an urban environment, building interactive devices that make and monitor sound and evaluating how sound pollution ultimately affects human well-being.  All the skills and knowledge acquired will be applied to new urban technologies emerging from the SONYC research project through the use of sensors, microcontrollers, circuits and other real-world tools of scientists and engineers.

• Develop and refine curricula that promotes project-based, hands-on, instruction to help students learn, understand, and apply underlying science and math content.

• Deepen teachers’ technical, pedagogical, and content knowledge.

• Foster teachers’ skills and attitudes for integrating STEM concepts in required science and math classes.

• Enable teachers to use their students’ interest to help them learn required science and math content.

• Introduce K-12 teachers and their students to the processes of studying sound waves in an urban environment, study the issues by sampling sounds, building devices that make and monitor sound and evaluating how noise pollution ultimately affects human well-being.

• Discover the science and math inherent in doing hands-on activities.

• Develop viable models to incorporate essential elements of the SONYC technologies in STEM learning.

• Form a professional learning community for ongoing support.

• Be able to provide their students with a solid foundation for future college-level study in STEM disciplines.

• Integrate real-world, hands-on, learning activities aligned with STEM standards into curriculum.

• Attend a special Smart Cities (SoSC) Expo during the SONYC program where they will be able to view and interact with example technologies and prototypes made by other young scientists and engineers.

• SONYC technologies will convey new & accessible representations of STEM content to students.

• Teachers can leverage technology lessons to promote STEM learning, motivation and engagement.

• Certified math or science teachers (will also consider CTE teachers). Regular teaching appointment at a middle school located in a New York City borough.

• Three years of full-time teaching experience in science or math disciplines preferred but not  required.

• Endorsement by the school principal.

• Teachers are required to teach STEM lesson(s) based on what they learned during the summer over the academic year. Summer PD will support teachers in aligning science lessons to NYC science scope and sequence.

• Duration: July 15th through August 9th

• Location: NYU Tandon School of Engineering in Downtown Brooklyn

• Schedule: approximately 8:30am to 4:00pm, Monday through Friday

• Stipend: $4,500

• Applications accepted on a rolling basis, with notifications about one week from submission.