RET Site: PLACE- Promoting Learning About Computational tools and the Environment

密歇根理工大学（MTU）工程和计算机科学网站的教师研究经验（RET）将专注于研究环境工程系统的计算工具的应用，这是MTU的研究和教学重点领域。研究经验将建立在合作，完善，基础广泛的多学科研究活动在MTU。 教师将了解如何应用最先进的计算工具来研究环境系统以及如何解决环境问题。这些工具和研究项目在高中科学（地球科学，生物学，化学，物理学），数学和社会研究中有相关的应用。通过这个可再生能源技术网站的教师和他们的学生将提供环境工程和研究过程，这是一个需要增长和未来从业者越来越感兴趣的领域的学科的理解。 这在社会上尤其重要，因为这是工程学14大挑战之三。（美国国家工程院，2015年）直接涉及到环境工程领域。这个RET网站将提供一个为期六周的密集夏季研究计划，共有30名农村中学STEM教师在三年内从密歇根州上半岛的学区，其中包括大量的美国原住民学生。为每一批教师拟议的活动包括：1）可再生能源技术和博士生参加为期6周的研究前体验研究所。通过电话会议参与的教师将被介绍到RET计划的目标，提供研究项目的背景，并要求分享他们的研究，探究式教学和学习的经验。博士生导师将被介绍给中学教学环境和标准，探究式教学，并指导技能的基础上，威斯康星州辅导研讨会; 2）参加为期6周的夏季计划在MTU的教师和博士生导师工作的研究项目最终在海报演示;和3）参与，在夏季研究计划后的学年，在开发，实施，与博士生和具有制定课程计划经验的资深人员合作，传播课程材料。该项目将实现以下目标：（a）中学教师将：了解环境工程学科和研究过程;学习他们可以与学生一起使用的新的计算工具;在教授研究和科学方面获得信心（B）中学生将：了解环境工程学科;获得模型和其他计算工具如何在工程和科学中使用的理解，并扩大他们在STEM职业生涯的兴趣;（c）博士生将：通过向他人教授这种技能加深他们对研究设计的理解;了解如何将研究转化为科学教学和交流;获得指导和团队建设的经验。

This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Site at Michigan Technological University (MTU) will focus on the application of computational tools for researching environmental engineering systems, an area of research and teaching emphasis at MTU. The research experiences will build on collaborative, well-established, and broad based multidisciplinary research activities at MTU. Teachers will gain an understanding of how to apply state of the art computational tools to research environmental systems and how to solve environmental problems. The tools and research projects have relevant applications in high school science (earth sciences, biology, chemistry, physics), math, and social studies. Through this RET Site teachers and their students would be provided an understanding of the discipline of environmental engineering and the research process, which is a field that requires growth and growing interest from future practitioners. This is especially societally relevant as 3 of the 14 grand challenges for engineering (National Academy of Engineering, 2015) directly relate to the field of environmental engineering.This RET Site will offer an intensive six week summer research program for a total of 30 rural secondary STEM teachers over three years from school districts in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, several which include significant numbers of Native American students. The proposed activities for each cohort of teachers consist of: 1) participation of RET and PhD students in a 6-week pre-research experience institute. Teachers participating via teleconference will be introduced to the goals of the RET program, provided with background on research projects, and asked to share their experience about research, inquiry-based teaching, and learning. PhD student mentors will be introduced to secondary school teaching environment and standards, inquiry-based teaching, and mentoring skills based on the Wisconsin Mentoring Seminar; 2) participation in a 6-week summer program at MTU where teachers and PhD mentors work on research projects culminating in final poster presentations; and 3) participation, during the academic year following the summer research program, in developing, implementing, and disseminating curricular materials in collaboration with PhD students and senior personnel with experience in lesson plan development. The project will achieve the following objectives: (a) secondary school teachers will: gain an understanding of the discipline of environmental engineering and the research process; learn new computational tools that they can use with their students and; gain confidence in teaching about research and science (b) secondary school students will: gain awareness of the discipline of environmental engineering; gain an understanding of how models and other computational tools are used in engineering and science and; broaden their interest in STEM careers; (c) PhD students will: deepen their understanding of research design through teaching that skill to others; gain an understanding of how to translate research to science teaching and communication and; gain experience in mentoring and team building..