A collaboration between WashU’s Institute for School Partnership (ISP) and the Digital Intelligence & Innovation Accelerator (DI2) has been selected for the first-of-its-kind investment, Fostering Interdisciplinary Network Driven Educationally Responsive Solutions Foundry (NSF FINDERS FOUNDRY).
The nearly $2.5 million investment by the U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), aims to bring interdisciplinary K-12 teams together across formal and informal learning spaces to develop solutions to some of education’s most persistent and pressing challenges.
“NSF aims to prepare and support students for the digital, AI-driven future,” said Monya Ruffin, acting NSF directorate head for EDU. “These interdisciplinary teams will build student curiosity, understanding, and readiness for future STEM careers.”
The FINDERS FOUNDRY program has two award phases: planning and development. As one of the 50 teams selected for the program, WashU will receive a $50,000 two-month planning award. The planning proposal will focus on supporting teachers to plan lessons that connect ideas across different school subjects.
“Many teachers say they do not have enough time to create strong interdisciplinary lessons, even though these lessons help students understand how ideas fit together,” says ISP Associate Director and Principal Investigator (PI) Rachel Ruggirello. “This project will create AI-supported planning tools that build teacher capacity, save time, and support inquiry-based learning.”
Students, teachers, school leaders, and families from three St. Louis-area school districts (Lindbergh, Maplewood Richmond Heights, and University City) will take part in listening sessions and design sprints to explain what gets in the way of planning and what teachers need most to support ambitious teaching and learning. Their ideas will help the team design a tool that fits real classroom routines and helps teachers align standards across subjects, share plans with families, and guide students through rich projects that link science, math, reading, and more.
“By making planning easier, the ISP team hopes this project will give students deeper, more connected learning experiences,” Ruggirello adds.
To support the planning phase of the award, Ruggirello will be joined by ISP Co-PIs Associate Director of Academic Services Carol Colaninno, Instructional Specialist Alex Gerber, and Research and Evaluation Specialist Alison Brockhouse. DI2 Executive Director Dan Maranan and Senior Director Kelly Walker-Moseley will provide additional expertise to the team. This award enables ISP and DI2 to extend WashU’s reach and strengthen K-12 educators in the St. Louis region.
NSF will further invest in an estimated 20 development awards, each up to $300,000, for one year. Based on continuous input from K-12 learners, parents or guardians, and educators, development proposals will focus on building and refining prototypes. Development projects are expected to demonstrate progress through key milestones: wireframe validation, prototype testing and minimum viable prototypes for launch and public showcase.
FINDERS FOUNDRY emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and participation in the design process, thereby enabling the co-creation of more effective and engaging solutions to improve teaching and learning. The program aims to advance AI competency and skills across all learning pathways and strengthen K-12 education and the broader U.S. STEM education and workforce readiness.
To view the full award list, visit NSF’s website. For additional program details and the timeline, visit the NSF FINDERS FOUNDRY solicitation.
The DI2 Accelerator was formed as a result of WashU’s strategic plan for Digital Transformation to expand and support work in the digital domain to grow research excellence, enhance and strengthen educational experiences for our students, and enable operational excellence.
Each academic year, 5,000+ educators participate in ISP programs that impact 189,000+ PreK-12 students in 346+ schools and districts across the St. Louis region.
For more information, contact Rachel Ruggirello.