This award provides funding for a 3 year continuing award to support a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering Site program at the University of Arizona (UA) entitled, "RET Site: Sustainable Energy, Water and Manufacturing," under the direction of Dr. Kimberly Ogden.
This program is a renewal of a successful RET Site. A total of 51 K-12 teachers (17 per year for three years) will be recruited from local area school districts and will participate in a research experience with teams of university researchers and industrial mentors. Research topics will include investigating process constraints for new materials under consideration for use in semiconductor processing to reduce environmental impacts; water quality, recycle and reuse; and alternative energy. A multi-faceted approach will ensure that there is significant follow-through and more lasting interactions between the teachers, UA researchers and industrial mentors. During the summer the teachers will be actively involved in research and participate in professional development workshops focusing on sustainability, notebooking inquiry learning, differentiated learning, and standards, and development of new lesson plans. During the academic year pre-service teachers will aid teachers with classroom implementation of their lesson plans.
The broader impact of this project is that it will serve as a model for other industrial, university, and K-12 teams to enrich student learning. Teachers will gain first hand knowledge of how technology is developed, how it impacts the community, and how interdisciplinary teams are required to solve complex problems to ensure a sustainable lifestyle.
The goal of this RET Site was to create an innovative research experience for teachers based on a systems-oriented approach to sustainability by providing opportunities for teachers to develop an understanding of the complexity of sustainable processes and be involved in research related to the interdependence of water, energy, and materials. To accomplish this goal, an interdisciplinary, teamwork approach was used that combines state-of-the-art research projects and standards-based instructional workshops. The research was performed in either laboratories on the University of Arizona campus, or at industrial sites including Raytheon, Tucson Electric Power Inc., and the City of Tucson Environmental Division. Each research team consisted of 6-9 individuals - a faculty member and a graduate student from the College of Engineering involved in an interdisciplinary sponsored research project related to sustainability; 2 to 4 teachers from the same school; and either an industrial mentor or industrial partner. Industrial partners provided day to day supervision of the teachers at an industrial site. The specific outcomes from the project are provided here. 40 teachers (50% female; 25% minority (Hispanic/African American)) participated in the program from 20 different regional Tucson K-12 schools. These participants teach between 20 and 150 students annually. Teachers increase their content knowledge in math, science, and engineering. Teachers increase their technology skills, in particular their computer skills for graphing and data manipulation. Teachers increase their communication skills by learning more technical terms and how to give more formal research presentations. Teachers build lasting relationships with university faculty and industry. Confidence and interest in science, math, engineering, and technology is increased in K-12 students. Teachers gain increased awareness of strategies for engaging all children. Returning teachers encourage and lead other teachers. Engineering students give back to the community through outreach. In addition to doing research in laboratories, teachers developed new lesson plans and toured regional industrial sites. Some of the teachers took their students on field trips to these sites during the academic year. Pictures of sites toured and teachers working in laboratories are included as images.
