RET Site: Rural Educators Engaged in Bioanalytical Engineering Research and Teaching

俄克拉荷马州大学工程和计算机科学教师的研究经验（RET）诺曼将涉及农村高中科学和数学教师以及区域社区学院教师的生物分析工程研究，以帮助他们改善课堂上的STEM教学，并让他们参与可持续的专业网络，这将增加选择并成功从高等教育毕业的农村学生的数量STEM领域。生物分析工程包括生物分子，病毒，细菌和细胞的设计和操作，以及用于检测和监测这些生物材料的创新分析设备的制造。 这些努力直接解决与医药、公共卫生、石油和生物燃料生产、地下水生物修复和设计针对特定目标的药品有关的问题。因为这些都是重要的和相关的主题为俄克拉荷马州农村社区，将这些主题纳入STEM教育将：加强农村教育，建立一个教育工作者网络（从农村高中教师和地区社区学院教师到大学研究教师），并促进职业生涯的准备路径为农村青年在俄克拉荷马州。 这一努力将增加俄克拉荷马州的劳动力，这需要在这些领域训练有素的专业人员。从长远来看，可再生能源技术方案获得的知识和成果将有助于建立可持续的教育举措，以覆盖农村学生和教师，从而支持可持续的农村社区。 在三年内，48个农村俄克拉荷马州教育工作者（高中教师和地区社区学院讲师）将进行生物分析工程研究（每年夏天七周）在俄克拉荷马州（俄克拉荷马州）的大学与八名教师与生物分析中心（CBA）的合作。将根据SUCCESS框架设计夏季研究经验，以最大限度地提高可再生能源教育工作者进行研究的效能感，并增强他们将这些经验转移到课堂上的动力。SUCCESS框架为各级和各种情况下的教师、设计师和教员提供指导，为将基于理论的动机特征融入任何类型的教学提供了一个结构。教育工作者将从俄克拉荷马州的三个农村地区招募，这些地区通常因远离城市中心和主要大学而被忽视。来自相同或相邻农村地区的教育工作者将配对，以促进合作，开发和实施真实的，指导性的探究课程，利用基本的STEM概念，应用生物分析工程，并解决农村利益和相关性的问题。我们会把SUCCESS架构融入课程设计，以提高学生的学习动机和教育工作者的教学效能。这项合作将建立一个专业的农村教育工作者网络，其中包括通过课堂参观，实地考察，抽样旅行，虚拟演示和互动与教师研究导师和研究生的互动。将通过在每年一度的20世纪K20中心创新学习研究所为农村STEM教育工作者举办的研讨会、在全国农村教育协会举办的农村STEM教育年度会议以及在年度CBA研讨会上举办的教育工作者-学生海报会议和演示，传播课程材料和激励性设计方法，进一步加强和扩大专业农村教育工作者网络。

This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Oklahoma (OU) Norman will involve rural high school science and mathematics teachers and regional community college instructors in bioanalytical engineering research, to help them improve STEM teaching in their classrooms, and to have them participate in a sustainable professional network that will increase the number of rural students who select and successfully graduate from higher education STEM fields. Bioanalytical engineering encompasses the design and manipulation of biomolecules, viruses, bacteria and cells, as well as the fabrication of innovative analytical devices for the detection and monitoring of these biomaterials. These efforts directly address pertinent problems related to medicine, public health, petroleum and biofuel production, bioremediation of groundwater, and designing target-specific pharmaceuticals. Because these are important and relevant topics for Oklahoma rural communities, integrating these topics into STEM education will: strengthen rural education, build a network of educators (ranging from rural high school teachers and regional community college instructors to university research faculty), and promote a career-preparation pathway for rural youth in Oklahoma. This effort will increase the Oklahoma workforce, which needs highly trained professionals in these areas. In the long-term, the knowledge and results gained from this RET program will help build sustainable education initiatives to reach rural students and teachers, and as a result, will support sustainable rural communities. Over three years, 48 rural Oklahoma educators (high school teachers and regional community college instructors) will conduct bioanalytical engineering research (for seven weeks each summer) at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in collaboration with eight faculty associated with the OU Center for Bioanalysis (CBA). The summer research experience will be designed according to the SUCCESS Framework to maximize RET educators' sense of efficacy for conducting research and to increase their motivation to transfer these experiences into their classrooms. The SUCCESS Framework guides teachers, designers and instructors at all levels and in all contexts, providing a structure for integrating theory-based motivational features into any type of instruction. Educators will be recruited from three regions of rural Oklahoma that are typically overlooked because of their distance from urban centers and major universities. Educators from the same or adjacent rural districts will be paired to facilitate collaboration in the development and implementation of authentic, guided-inquiry curricula that utilize fundamental STEM concepts, apply bioanalytical engineering, and address issues of rural interest and relevance. The SUCCESS Framework will be integrated into the curricular design to improve the students' motivation in learning and the educators' teaching efficacy. This collaboration will establish a professional rural educator network that includes interactions with faculty research mentors and graduate students through classroom visits, field trips, sampling trips, virtual presentations and interactions. The professional rural educator network will be further strengthened and expanded upon by dissemination of curricular materials and motivational design methods through workshops for rural STEM educators at the annual OU K20 Center's Innovative Learning Institute, annual sessions on rural STEM education at the National Rural Education Association, and educator-student poster sessions and presentations at the annual CBA symposium.