RET Site: The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) RET Site on Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure for Urban Communities

RET 站点：德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校 (UTA) RET 站点，关于城市社区可持续和有弹性的基础设施

• 批准号: 2055705
• 负责人: Nur Yazdani
• 金额: $ 59.64万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Arlington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-12-01 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055705&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RET; Site; University; Texas; Arlington

This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) project will advance knowledge within and across engineering disciplines, physics, education/assessment, and unique challenges of sustainable and resilient urban infrastructure, by finding solutions for critical issues. This is important with the deteriorating infrastructure, its widespread failures and extensive human, economic and societal effects, increased worldwide occurrence of hazards, and the critical need for economic and environmental conservation in urban settings, such as in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Metroplex with a population of seven million. Teachers will be immersed in hands on cutting-edge research under expert mentoring and intellectual collaboration, designed to broaden their educational experience and student learning. Addressing original research questions for each project will enable teachers to find transformative solutions with potential for practical applications. Teachers will be engaged in research activities and provided with financial, mentoring, and other supports to transfer the research into their school curricula. They will integrate engineering topics and innovatively address state education standards. Significant student fractions in the target school districts are underrepresented minorities, economically disadvantaged or at risk of dropping out. Allowing teachers to tailor curricular modules in STEM courses related to solutions of real-world engineering problems will improve student engagement. Further, teachers will employ universal design for learning in their teaching and assessment, improving education opportunities for all students. Increased student engagement in STEM courses and exposure to practical applications is expected to increase student interest in engineering education and careers. The societal benefits of sustainable and resilient infrastructure will enhance this impact, considering the nation’s failing infrastructure and recent challenges in extreme events. The project will enhance long-term collaboration among pre- and in-service teachers, university faculty/students and industrial/academic mentors. Strong societal impacts from improved public safety, health, and welfare, through investigating and devising solutions to challenges of urban infrastructure are expected.This is a new RET Site with seven participating school districts, as follows: Arlington, Duncanville, Everman, Grand Prairie, Irving, Kennedale, and Mansfield, all in the DFW metroplex. The main and sub-fields of the research are infrastructure sustainability and resiliency, engineering (civil, industrial, electrical); science (physics), education and assessment. The project involves participation of 12 high school level STEM teachers in the summer RET Site. Teachers will actively participate in six summer projects over six weeks each summer. The RET Site is designed to improve: (1) teachers’ ability to include engineering topics into their course modules; (2) high school students’ perceptions of and interest in STEM majors and careers; and (3) high school student engagement. The project will provide pre-service and in-service high school teachers, primarily from inner city and other high-needs schools, with stipends/support for engagement in research with faculty/students, industrial/academic advisors and prior RET teachers. Summer activities include curricular module development, workshops, webinars, mentoring and site visits. Follow-up during the academic year includes a workshop to share developed modules with non-RET teachers, classroom visitations, evaluation, and dissemination. The teachers will be tracked for five years post the RET program. An external evaluator will perform formative/summative process and outcome evaluations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个教师研究经验（RET）项目将通过寻找关键问题的解决方案，推进工程学科、物理学、教育/评估以及可持续和弹性城市基础设施的独特挑战的内部和跨领域知识。这一点非常重要，因为基础设施不断恶化，普遍存在故障，对人类、经济和社会产生了广泛影响，全球范围内的灾害发生率增加，以及城市环境中对经济和环境保护的迫切需要，例如拥有700万人口的达拉斯-沃斯堡（DFW）大都市。教师将在专家指导和智力合作下沉浸在最前沿的研究中，旨在拓宽他们的教育经验和学生的学习。解决每个项目的原始研究问题将使教师能够找到具有实际应用潜力的变革性解决方案。教师将参与研究活动，并提供资金、指导和其他支持，以便将研究成果转化为学校课程。他们将整合工程主题，创新地解决国家教育标准。在目标学区，有相当一部分学生是代表性不足的少数民族、经济上处于不利地位或有辍学风险的学生。允许教师根据实际工程问题的解决方案定制STEM课程中的课程模块，将提高学生的参与度。此外，教师将在教学和评估中采用通用学习设计，改善所有学生的受教育机会。增加学生对STEM课程的参与和对实际应用的接触，有望提高学生对工程教育和职业的兴趣。考虑到国家基础设施的失败和最近极端事件的挑战，可持续和弹性基础设施的社会效益将增强这种影响。该项目将加强职前和在职教师、大学教师/学生和工业/学术导师之间的长期合作。通过对城市基础设施挑战的调查和设计解决方案，有望改善公共安全、健康和福利，从而产生强大的社会影响。这是一个新的RET站点，有七个参与的学区，如下：阿灵顿，邓肯维尔，艾弗曼，大草原，欧文，肯纳代尔和曼斯菲尔德，都在DFW大都会区。研究的主要和子领域是基础设施的可持续性和弹性，工程（民用，工业，电气）；科学（物理）、教育和评估。该项目涉及12名高中水平的STEM教师在夏季RET站点的参与。教师将积极参与六个暑期项目，为期六周。RET网站旨在提高：(1)教师将工程主题纳入其课程模块的能力；(2)高中生对STEM专业和职业的认知和兴趣；(3)高中生参与度。该项目将提供职前和在职高中教师，主要来自内城和其他高需求学校，与教师/学生、工业/学术顾问和以前的RET教师一起参与研究的津贴/支持。暑期活动包括课程模块开发、研讨会、网络研讨会、指导和实地考察。学年期间的后续工作包括与非ret教师分享开发模块的研讨会、课堂访问、评估和传播。这些教师将在RET项目结束后接受为期五年的跟踪调查。外部评估人员将执行形成性/总结性过程和结果评估。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。