RET Site: Engineering Design Challenges and Research Experiences for Secondary and Community College Teachers

辛辛那提大学（UC）的教师研究经验（RET）计划，中学和社区学院教师的工程设计挑战和研究经验，为工程，数学，物理，化学，生物，和计算机科学从15个当地学区和教师从5个当地社区学院参加正在进行的研究项目，加州大学工程与应用科学学院的工程教授。招聘将侧重于少数民族教师和少数民族人口众多的地区，以便改善未来STEM专业多样性的好处可能会受到影响。将他们新获得的研究知识带回课堂，参与者将创建和实施将研究与课程联系起来的教学单元，鼓励团队合作和解决问题，并将科学和数学与真实的世界应用联系起来。通过这样做，他们将激励和鼓励学生继续参加STEM学科的课程，并在STEM领域追求职业生涯。在每年夏天的7周时间里，加州大学将接待来自不同学生群体的10名中学教师和3名社区大学教师。该方案的目标是：1）通过探索工程设计和挑战教学过程以及工程师用于解决开放式现实世界问题的关键研究技能，教育和丰富科学和数学RET参与者在课堂上的内容交付，2）提高等级6- 14名学生的科学和数学成绩，并激发对STEM职业的兴趣，因为受过工程培训的RET参与者提供了更好的指导以内容和设计为基础的教学，3）通过将他们的研究经验应用于课堂并将这些经验传达给同龄人，支持可再生能源技术参与者成为领导者。五个工程研究项目主题将提供解决国家工程院（NAE）在水，能源，大脑，基础设施和网络空间方面的重大挑战的研究经验。一名工程系教员和一名研究生研究助理将指导一个由两名参与者组成的小组;一名可再生能源技术专家将培训、支持和评论参与者的工作;工程教育资源人员将教育工程学科和职业的教师，工程师如何使用设计过程来解决真实的世界的挑战，并帮助他们为自己的班级制定适当的工程挑战。 每个参与者将开发一个独特的课程单元和海报，每个团队将制作一份研究项目报告，其中包括课堂实施计划，PowerPoint演示文稿，简短的研究视频和夏季期刊文章的草稿。每个参与者将在下一学年至少在一个教室实施课程单元。成果将通过专门的网站和区域STEM年会传播给其他参与者。

This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program, Engineering Design Challenges and Research Experiences for Secondary and Community College Teachers, at the University of Cincinnati (UC), creates opportunities for secondary school instructors of engineering, math, physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science from 15 local school districts and faculty from 5 local community colleges to participate in ongoing research projects conducted by professors of engineering at UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science. Recruitment will focus on both minority teachers and districts with high minority populations so that a benefit of improving diversity in future STEM professions may be impacted. Taking their newly acquired research knowledge back to the classroom, participants will create and implement units of instruction that tie the research to the curriculum, encourage team work and problem-solving, and link science and math to real world applications. By doing so, they will inspire and encourage students to continue taking coursework in STEM disciplines and pursue careers in STEM fields. Over a 7-week period each summer, UC will host a cohort of 10 secondary school teachers and 3 community college faculty participants from schools that encompass a diverse population of students. The program goals are to: 1) educate and enrich science and math RET participants' content delivery in their classrooms by exploring the engineering design-and-challenge instructional process and the critical research skills used by engineers to solve open-ended real-world problems, 2) improve grades 6-14 student science and math achievement and stimulate interest in STEM careers as a result of better instruction delivered by RET participants trained in engineering content and design-based instruction, and 3) support RET participants in becoming leaders by applying their research experiences in their classrooms and communicating those experiences to their peers. Five engineering research project topics will provide research experiences addressing National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges in Water, Energy, Brain, Infrastructure and Cyberspace. An Engineering Faculty Member and a Graduate Research Assistant will mentor a team of two participants; a RET Resource Person will train, support, and critique the work of the participants; and an Engineering Education Resource Person will educate the teachers on engineering disciplines and occupations, how engineers use the design process to solve real world challenges, and assist them in the development of an appropriate engineering challenge for their own classes. Each participant will develop a unique curricular unit and poster and each team will produce a research project report which includes a classroom implementation plan, a PowerPoint presentation, a short research video, and a draft of a journal article during the summer. Each participant will implement the curricular unit in at least one classroom during the following academic year. Results will be disseminated to other participants through a dedicated website and a regional Annual STEM Conference.