RET Site: Engaging and Enabling Teachers through Advanced Manufacturing Research

在克莱姆森大学的RET网站"通过先进制造研究吸引和扶持教师"将每年接待来自南卡罗来纳州的10名高中教师和社区大学讲师，开展为期3年的项目。制造业是美国经济增长和创造就业机会的基础，并随着技术、材料和设计的改进而不断变化。虽然这一领域是美国经济增长的支柱，制造公司很难招募到有技术准备的劳动力。当教师有机会从事研究，亲眼目睹知识是如何构建的一个领域，并了解工作如何通过研究阶段（通过研究结果的传播确定研究问题）影响更大的工程或科学界，他们在课堂上的影响将增加，因为他们将这些经验纳入课堂活动。该教师研究经验（RET）计划的重点是为高中教师和社区大学教师提供经验，以提高他们对研究进展（科学探究）和先进制造领域的理解。所有教师将被要求设计和开发与他们的研究项目相关的课堂活动。 在克莱姆森大学的RET网站"通过先进制造研究吸引和扶持教师"旨在为来自南卡罗来纳州的30名高中教师和社区大学教师提供变革性的制造研究经验。 每位教师都将代理自己的研究项目，这些项目与先进制造材料或制造技术的开发有关。通过参与，教师对制造业的信心，新的制造业机会的知识，和研究过程预计将增加。在课程结束时，每位教师将能够传达研究过程，美国境内的制造业景观，制造业的就业机会和不同的教育途径到制造业的学生。这些目标包括：（1）为教师扩展先进和传统材料制造的内容知识，以支持融入新的STEM和劳动力发展教学材料;（2）让教师参与先进制造研究，担任首席研究员，并增加他们对研究如何导致知识发展的理解;（3）为教师提供专业发展（课程发展辅导等）（4）在教师、可再生能源技术领导团队和工业咨询委员会之间建立强有力的沟通，为教师改进课程模块提供支持;（5）提高教师在制造内容知识和探究式教学方面的自我效能;（6）增加教师对先进制造业地区就业机会的认识，以启发学生考虑从事先进制造业。RET的评估工作将导致对与劳动力发展、教师学习和专业发展以及中学后教育途径有关的区域重要问题的理解的增加。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

The RET Site ‘Engaging and Enabling Teachers through Advance Manufacturing Research’ at Clemson University will host 10 high school teachers and community college instructors from South Carolina each year for the 3-year project. Manufacturing is a foundation of economic growth and job creation across the U.S. and is constantly changing with improvements in technology, materials, and design. While this field is a pillar for economic growth within the U.S., manufacturing companies struggle to recruit a technically prepared workforce. When teachers have an opportunity to engage in research, seeing for themselves how knowledge is constructed for a field and understand how the work can influence the larger engineering or scientific community through the stages of research (identification of research questions through to the dissemination of the findings), their impact in the classroom will be increased as they incorporate these experiences into their classroom activities. This research experience for teachers (RET) program is focused on providing experiences for high school teachers and community college instructors to improve their understanding of how research progresses (scientific inquiry) and the field of advanced manufacturing. All teachers will be asked to design and develop classroom activities related to their research projects. The RET Site ‘Engaging and Enabling Teachers through Advanced Manufacturing Research’ at Clemson University seeks to provide transformative manufacturing research experiences for 30 high school teachers and community college instructors from South Carolina. Each teacher will have agency over their own research project related to the development of advanced manufacturing materials or manufacturing techniques. By participating, the teacher’s confidence about manufacturing, knowledge of new manufacturing opportunities, and the research process is anticipated to increase. At the close of the program, each teacher will be able to convey the research process, the manufacturing landscape within the U.S., manufacturing career opportunities and different educational pathways into manufacturing to their students. The goals include: (1) expanding content knowledge of advanced and traditional materials manufacturing for teachers to support integration into new STEM and workforce development teaching and learning materials; (2) engaging teachers in advanced manufacturing research where they take on the role as the lead researcher and increase their understanding of how research leads to knowledge development; (3) providing teachers with professional development (mentoring on curriculum development, etc.) both during their research experience and the following academic year; (4) creating strong communication between the teacher, the RET leadership team and industrial advisory board to provide the teachers with support as they refine their curriculum modules; (5) increasing teacher self-efficacy related to manufacturing content knowledge and inquiry-based teaching; (6) increasing teachers’ knowledge of regional career opportunities in advanced manufacturing to inspire their students to consider advanced manufacturing careers. The RET evaluation work will result in increased understandings of regionally-important questions related to workforce development, teacher learning and professional development, and post-secondary educational pathways.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.