Work in progress — STEM collaboration cubed

For many years educators have operated in “silo mode” providing the benefits of depth and rigor, but often short-changing context and applicability. This is particularly important when addressing the current Reality TV Generation that demands immediate relevance. In stark contrast to the silo approach, Informatics brings together technology, information, and people. Scientific principles of analysis, hypothesis, and evaluation are at the heart of informatics, but they are not sterile notions. Informatics makes these principles relevant by working with specific domain information. In the case of high school teenagers, examples of relevant domains include movies, music, and college selection. This paper describes a high school course in informatics that is currently under development. In addition to the natural interdisciplinary nature of informatics, our 3-way partnership and 3-strategy approach to adoption makes this project special. The goal of the project is that by working together and utilizing these diffusion strategies, this team can not only develop and deliver a successful course, but also lay the groundwork for widespread adoption. We believe that successful completion of such a course would empower both college-bound and career-oriented students by helping them work comfortably and effectively with digital information in the 21st century.