Work in progress - EPICS high school initiative

EPICS is an innovative, nationally-recognized model for service-learning and design education where teams of students work on technology-centered projects serving the needs of the local community. Started at Purdue University in 1995 as an undergraduate program and has grown to over 400 students per year at Purdue along with 17 other universities and one high school in 2006. EPICS goals include broadening students´ professional skills through an extended design experience where they define, design, build, test, deploy, and support real systems. Partnerships with local community organizations provide motivated and engaged customers, and designs that are deployed and used provide a compelling learning environment. Preliminary data suggests that the social context for technical design appeals to the underrepresented populations of women and minority students. The success of EPICS motivated a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service´s Learn and Serve America program to expand EPICS to 20 high schools in five states. This paper will outline how the university model has been translated to these high schools and will provide preliminary data from the fall classes at the time of the conference.