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.

这项针对教师（RET）项目的研究经验将通过为关键问题找到解决方案，从而在工程学科，物理学，教育/评估以及可持续和抵抗城市基础设施的独特挑战中提高知识。这对于基础设施恶化，其宽度失败以及广泛的人类，经济和社会影响，全球危害的发生以及对城市环境中经济和环境保护的迫切需求，例如在达拉斯 - 沃思价值（DFW）METROPLEX中对经济和环境保护的关键需求，这一点很重要。在专家心理和智力合作下，教师将沉浸在尖端研究中，旨在扩大他们的教育经验和学生学习。解决每个项目的原始研究问题将使教师能够找到具有实用应用潜力的变革性解决方案。教师将从事研究活动，并提供财务，心理和其他支持，以将研究转移到其学校课程中。他们将整合工程主题，并创新地解决国家教育标准。目标学区的大量学生分数的代表性不足，在经济上处于不利地位或有辍学的风险。允许教师在STEM课程中量身定制与现实世界工程问题解决方案有关的课程模块，将改善学生的参与度。此外，教师将采用普遍的设计来学​​习和评估，从而改善所有学生的教育机会。学生参与STEM课程的参与度增加，并且预计对实际应用的接触将增加学生对工程教育和职业的兴趣。考虑到该国失败的基础设施以及极端事件中的最新挑战，可持续和抵抗基础设施的社会利益将增强这种影响。该项目将增强在服务前和服务教师，大学教职员工以及工业/学术导师之间的长期合作。通过调查和设计解决城市基础设施挑战的解决方案，可以提高公共安全，健康和福利的强烈社会影响。这是一个新的RET网站，拥有七个参与学区，如下所示：Arlington，Duncanville，Everman，Everman，Everman，Grand Prairie，Grand Prairie，Irving，Kennedale，Kennedale和Mansfield在DFW Metroplex中。研究的主要和子场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STEM教师参与夏季RET网站。每年夏天，教师将在六个星期内积极参加六个夏季项目。 RET网站旨在改进：（1）教师将工程主题包括在其课程模块中的能力； （2）高中生对STEM专业和职业的感兴趣； （3）高中生的参与。该项目将为内城和其他高需求学校提供服务前和服务中的高中教师，并为与教师/学生，工业/学术顾问和先前的RET教师提供压力/支持。夏季活动包括当前的模块开发，研讨会，网络研讨会，心理访问和现场访问。该学年的后续活动包括一个与非退休教师共享开发模块的研讨会，课堂访问，评估和传播。 RET计划后，将对老师进行五年的跟踪。外部评估将执行形成性/总结过程和结果评估。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准来评估值得支持。