A Sustainable Energy Concepts Professional Development Model for Rural Schools and Its Extension to a Systemic Approach for Integrating STEM Research and Education

普渡大学通过机构整合的创新（I-3）项目，“农村学校的可持续能源概念专业发展模式及其扩展到整合STEM研究和教育的系统方法”，将NSF/EHR Noyce奖与普渡大学围绕I-3综合主题的其他项目结合在一起，以扩大参与和研究与教育的整合。这是一项创新努力，旨在建立一种系统方法，将跨学科的STEM研究活动与教育追求联系起来，并有意将重点放在扩大农村社区对STEM学科的参与上。该项目模式旨在使农村高中教师参与研究人员及其研究活动。农村教师和他们的学生将参与全球“大挑战”研究工作，最初与生物燃料和可持续能源有关，以激发对STEM学科的兴趣。该项目采用两层方法：1。教育和研究整合模式由两部分组成：a)一个专业发展计划，让印第安纳州农村的职前和在职高中教师参与可持续能源研究活动；b)支持教师通过纳入可持续能源的概念来改变他们的课程和课堂实践。2. 完善和建立一个系统的方法来整合研究和教育活动使用这一模式。普渡大学通过整合以下项目，利用其在跨学科研究和教育参与方面的现有优势：美国国家科学基金会资助的Noyce学者计划，用于培养农村高中STEM教师；伍德罗·威尔逊“STEM走向农村”倡议；能源部能源前沿研究中心：C3Bio；现有的I-STEM（印第安纳州STEM）资源网络；以及普渡大学农村学校网络。该项目由普渡大学的教育研究中心发现学习研究中心与教务长办公室和研究副校长办公室合作协调。该项目的模型开发部分通过与C3Bio的科学家合作开发的可持续能源主题短期课程，为在职和职前教师团队提供暑期体验。这些团队参加了一个基于问题的学习（PBL）暑期课程（并获得研究生学分），在这个课程中，他们开发了自己的关于可持续能源的PBL单元，并在课堂上使用。在学年期间，教师们通过地区峰会、网络会议和社交网络继续相互交流，也继续与普渡大学的科学家和项目人员交流。每年，领导团队都会审查评估数据，以制定一个将研究与教育相结合的可推广框架。该项目直接影响到大约40名农村在职教师、80名农村职前教师及其所有学生。另外约400名农村在职教师及其学生通过本项目的学年外展活动间接受到影响。该项目的最终成果是开发一种将研究与教育相结合的系统方法，使普渡大学能够通过使用改进的项目模型，通过不断将尖端的STEM研究与教育相结合，来维持STEM教育的转型。开发、设计和评估将提供可在其他情况下复制/修改的描述性和经验程序模型。此外，该项目将有助于建立农村STEM教育研究基地。这包括识别和理解对改善农村学校教师的准备和保留以及对农村学生对STEM学科的准备和招聘产生影响的因素。

The Purdue University Innovation through Institutional Integration (I-3) project, "A Sustainable Energy Concepts Professional Development Model for Rural Schools and Its Extension to a Systemic Approach for Integrating STEM Research and Education" brings together an NSF/EHR Noyce award with other Purdue University programs around the I-3 integrative themes for broadening participation and the integration of research and education. It is an innovative effort to establish a systemic approach which connects interdisciplinary STEM research activities with educational pursuits and has a deliberate focus on broadening participation in STEM disciplines in rural communities. The project model is designed to engage teachers in rural high schools with researchers and their research activities. Rural teachers and their students will be involved in global "grand challenge" research endeavors, initially associated with biofuels and sustainable energies, in order to spark interest in STEM disciplines. The project uses a two-tiered approach: 1. The education and research integration model which consists of two parts: a) a professional development program that engages rural pre-service and in-service high school teachers in Indiana around sustainable energy research activities; and b) support of teachers in transforming their curricula and classroom practice by incorporating concepts of sustainable energy. 2. Refinement and establishment of a systemic approach for integrating research and educational activities using this model.Purdue University is leveraging its existing strengths in interdisciplinary research and educational engagement through the integration of the following projects: the NSF funded Noyce Scholars program for Preparation of Rural High School STEM Teachers; the Woodrow Wilson STEM Goes Rural Initiative; the Department of Energy Energy Frontier Research Center: C3Bio; the existing I-STEM (Indiana STEM) Resources Network; and the Purdue Rural Schools Network. The project is coordinated by the Discovery Learning Research Center, an educational research center at Purdue, in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Research.The model development component of this project provides summer experiences for teams of in-service and pre-service teachers through short courses in sustainable energy topics, developed in coordination with the scientists of C3Bio. These teams take part in (and receive graduate school credits for) a problem-based learning (PBL) summer course in which they develop their own PBL units on sustainable energy to use in their classrooms. During the academic year, teachers continue their interactions with one another, as well as with Purdue scientists and program personnel, through regional summits, web-enabled meetings and social networking. Each year, the leadership team reviews evaluation data towards developing a generalizable framework for integrating research with education. The project directly impacts approximately forty rural in-service teachers, eighty pre-service rural teachers and all of their students. An additional approximately 400 rural in-service teachers and their students are indirectly impacted through academic year outreach activities of the project. The ultimate outcome of this project is to develop a systemic approach to integrating research with education, allowing Purdue University to sustain the transformation of STEM education through the continued integration of cutting-edge STEM research with education using the refined project model. The development, design, and evaluation will provide descriptive and empirical program models that can be replicated/modified in other situations. In addition, the project will contribute to the research base on rural STEM education. This includes identifying and understanding factors that have an impact on improving preparation and retention of teachers in rural schools, as well as on the preparation and recruitment of rural students to STEM disciplines.