Grand Challenges for Engineering Focused RET with Stratified Teams

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This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Site at North Carolina State University (NCSU)will focus on understanding the role stratified teaming plays on teacher professional development and eventual learning of students in the K-12 learning environment. Previous research on teaming for undergraduate engineering students, graduate students and teachers has shown dichotomous effects for each participant. In addition to the traditional products of an RET Site, which include classroom activities and techniques linked to cutting edge research that can be taken to the K-12 clasroom, this RET will also inform the body of knowledge concerning partnerships between K-12 schools and universities. The project research will enumerate the types and depth of effects on each of the six different constituents of the teams: K-12 teachers, pre-service teachers, community college faculty, undergraduate engineering students, graduate students in engineering and university faculty. The project is a collaborative effort between NCSU College of Engineering and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC). It will target a total of 36 in-service teachers from Durham and Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Public Schools and pre-service teachers from the Colleges of Education at NCSU and UNCC over three years. A team consisting of a K-12 teacher, a community college STEM faculty member, a pre-service teacher and an engineering undergraduate student will participate in an intensive six week summer research experience in the laboratory of a partnering engineering faculty member. Research topics will be focused on one of four sub areas of the Grand Challenges of Engineering: sustainability (solar energy), health (biomechanics), security (computer network security), and joy of living (aerospace engineering). Local industry will serve as both partners and participants in the program. The goals of the Site are to: 1) Create positive benefits for each participant (increased STEM efficacy for teachers, improved classroom technique for both teachers and faculty, increased engineering efficacy for undergraduate engineering students and enhanced retention); 2) Research the impact of participation in the RET on each participant as they return to their native environment; and 3) Discover elements of stratified team design that are most efficacious in meeting the above goals to inform the design of future RET programs.