RET in Engineering and Computer Science Site: Biomechanics from molecular to organismal scales

该奖项提供了一个为期三年的标准奖项，用于支持弗吉尼亚理工学院工程和计算机科学现场项目的教师研究经验（RET），题为“：工程和计算机科学现场的RET：从分子到有机尺度的生物力学”，由Daniel M. Dudek博士指导。生物力学是一个旨在理解和解释从单细胞草履虫到人类的生物过程的力学基础的领域。这个领域需要工程学、生物学、化学、物理学和数学的贡献，这些交叉的概念统一了科学和工程的研究。在这个项目中，共有30名在职高中STEM教师，来自弗吉尼亚州西南部和西弗吉尼亚州南部的阿巴拉契亚地区的学区，重点服务于资源不足的学校和低收入学生群体，他们将从事生物力学领域的原创性研究，从飞行蛇的滑翔运动到高效生物橡胶材料的设计，再到人体平衡和跌倒预防。该项目将在维吉尼亚理工大学现场进行为期七周的暑期课程，整个学年都将与教师进行互动。每位教师将与生物力学研究实验室一对一配对，进行研究和开发新的教育材料。教师将与教师和研究生一起工作，使用假设驱动的方法开发解决特定生物力学研究问题的新技能。该计划将促进以探究为基础的新教育内容的发展，并侧重于开放式问题的解决，这将满足提高学生对STEM基本概念更深层次理解的国家需求。来自生物力学的研究实例位于STEM领域的交叉点，因此为传统上分离的高中课程中的实例和应用集成提供了多种机制。该项目将培训阿巴拉契亚（弗吉尼亚州和西弗吉尼亚州）高需求农村学区的教师。教师和教师合作开发的新教育模块将通过网络免费提供，通过为教师提供将跨学科课程纳入其课程的新机会，将该计划的影响扩大到全国各地。这不仅会提高中学STEM教育的质量，还会激励中学生从事工程和科学方面的职业。

This award provides funding for a three year standard award to support a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Site program at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, entitled, ": RET in Engineering and Computer Science Site: Biomechanics from Molecular to Organismal Scales, under the direction of Dr. Daniel M. Dudek. Biomechanics is a field that aims to understand and explain the mechanical basis of biological processes in organisms from single-celled paramecia to humans. This field requires contributions from engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics with crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science and engineering. In this program, a total of 30 in-service high school STEM teachers, from school districts throughout the Appalachian region of southwestern Virginia and Southern West Virginia, with an emphasis on serving under-resourced schools and low income student populations, will engage in original research in areas of biomechanics ranging from the gliding locomotion of flying snakes to the design of highly efficient, biological rubber materials, to human balance and fall prevention. The program will run for seven summer weeks on site at Virginia Tech, with teacher faculty interaction throughout the academic year. Each teacher will be paired on a one-to-one basis with a biomechanics research laboratory, conducting research and developing new educational materials. Teachers will work alongside faculty and graduate students, developing new skills towards addressing specific biomechanics research questions using a hypothesis driven approach.This program will facilitate the development of new educational content that is inquiry-based and focuses on open-ended problem solving, which will address a national need for improving deeper student understanding of fundamental STEM concepts. Research examples from biomechanics lie at the intersection of STEM fields and therefore provide diverse mechanisms for integration of examples and applications in traditionally separated high school courses. The program will train teachers in high-needs rural school districts in Appalachia (Va and WVa). The new educational modules developed collaboratively between teacher and faculty will be made freely available via the web, extending the impact of this program across the country by offering teachers new opportunities to incorporate and adapt interdisciplinary lessons into their curricula. This will not only improve the qualityof secondary school STEM education, but motivate secondary students towards careers in engineering and science.