Project-based Curriculum
To provide focus for the AiS class, students work in teams to develop year-long projects. Using computation as a tool to investigate science-related questions, students discover the relationship between math and science. They draw upon a wide variety of resources and tools including hard copy and electronic sources, computer simulations, mentors, mathematical modeling, programming, and visualization techniques. The students' progression on their projects resembles the manner in which professional research teams approach problem solving. Teamwork and communications skills, both written and oral, are developed as the students prepare project reports and present them at yearly state and national expositions where the projects are judged by outside experts.

Professional Development for Teachers
Initially, teachers on the AiS team received two weeks of intensive training. In addition, two workshops and follow-up, week-long summer institutes were held to provide training in new technologies and strategies to infuse the technology into the classroom. Teacher training modules, in line with the National Science Education Standards guidelines for professional development and teaching science, were designed to support the teachers’ professional development in the area of computational science.

Infusion of New Technology
In the fifth year of the program, the AiS coordinators redesigned the classroom-computing environment, encouraging schools to assume the responsibility for networking costs. They also introduced multitasking, multi-user workstations, thereby empowering teachers and students by reducing their dependence on a central site. Since cost, ease of maintenance, and compatibility are important issues in the schools, the workstations are actually high-level PCs running Linux with C and C++ compilers. The transition from FORTRAN to C, to C++, to Java as the language of interest in the program is a further example of advances being incorporated into the program. These modifications conform to changing workplace expectations.

Technical Support
Ongoing technical support is provided for the AiS schools. Since the schools are required to maintain a computational science class and Linux server, it is critical that they do not experience any downtime due to hardware or software problems. An experienced technical consultant, knowledgeable about the AiS program and curriculum, assists the teachers throughout the year.

Expositions
Each year, student teams work on projects and exhibit their work at state expositions via a technical paper, an oral presentation, and a display. Computational scientists from the host facility and local universities serve as external reviewers for the exposition, assessing the soundness of the project ideas, the accuracy of content and the validity of methods and results. In addition to providing a valuable assessment tool, the expositions have been a strong motivator to students.

Assessment
Ongoing assessment by an outside entity has been an integral component of AiS. The assessments provide a measure of the success as well as feedback from teachers to state coordinators. Based on this intermediate program feedback, coordinators adjust program components to meet the needs of teachers. An assessment of the AiS program by the Center for Children and Technology of the Educational Development Center of New York City concluded that AiS is reaching a diverse group of students who are traditionally less likely to be exposed to such scientific endeavors; a substantial number of these students demonstrate master of their computational areas of inquiry; and success in AiS is not affected by gender, race or socioeconomic status as is common in traditional mathematics and science courses.