A Sustainable Energy Concepts Professional Development Model for Rural Schools and Its Extension to a Systemic Approach for Integrating STEM Research and Education

普渡大学通过机构整合创新（I-3）项目，“农村学校的可持续能源概念专业发展模式及其扩展到集成STEM研究和教育的系统方法”汇集了NSF/EHR Noyce奖与普渡大学围绕I-3综合主题的其他项目，以扩大参与和研究与教育的整合。 这是一项创新性的努力，旨在建立一种系统的方法，将跨学科的STEM研究活动与教育追求联系起来，并特别注重扩大农村社区对STEM学科的参与。 该项目模式旨在使农村高中教师参与研究人员及其研究活动。 农村教师及其学生将参与全球“大挑战”研究工作，最初与生物燃料和可持续能源有关，以激发对STEM学科的兴趣。 该项目采用两个层次的方法：1。教育和研究一体化模式，其中包括两个部分：a）一个专业发展计划，从事农村职前和在职高中教师在印第安纳州周围的可持续能源研究活动;和B）支持教师在改革他们的课程和课堂实践中纳入可持续能源的概念。2.普渡大学正在通过整合以下项目来利用其在跨学科研究和教育参与方面的现有优势：美国国家科学基金会资助的诺伊斯学者农村高中STEM教师准备计划;伍德罗·威尔逊STEM去农村倡议;能源部能源前沿研究中心：C3Bio;现有的I-STEM（印第安纳州STEM）资源网络和普渡农村学校网络。该项目由普渡大学的教育研究中心探索学习研究中心（Discovery Learning Research Center）与教务长办公室（Office of the Provost）和研究副校长办公室（Office of the Vice President for Research）合作协调。该项目的模型开发部分通过与C3 Bio的科学家合作开发的可持续能源主题的短期课程，为在职和职前教师团队提供夏季经验。 这些团队参加（并获得研究生院学分）以问题为基础的学习（PBL）暑期课程，他们在其中开发自己的可持续能源PBL单元，用于他们的教室。 在学年期间，教师们通过区域峰会、网络会议和社交网络继续相互交流，并与普渡大学的科学家和项目人员交流。 每年，领导小组审查评价数据，以制定一个将研究与教育相结合的可推广框架。该项目直接影响到大约40名农村在职教师、80名职前农村教师及其所有学生。 另有约400名农村在职教师及其学生通过该项目的学年外联活动受到间接影响。 该项目的最终成果是开发一种将研究与教育相结合的系统方法，使普渡大学能够通过使用改进的项目模型将尖端的STEM研究与教育持续整合，从而维持STEM教育的转型。 开发，设计和评估将提供描述性和经验性的程序模型，可以在其他情况下复制/修改。此外，该项目将有助于农村STEM教育的研究基础。 这包括确定和了解影响农村学校教师培养和留用的因素，以及影响农村学生学习STEM学科的培养和招聘的因素。

The Purdue University Innovation through Institutional Integration (I-3) project, "A Sustainable Energy Concepts Professional Development Model for Rural Schools and Its Extension to a Systemic Approach for Integrating STEM Research and Education" brings together an NSF/EHR Noyce award with other Purdue University programs around the I-3 integrative themes for broadening participation and the integration of research and education. It is an innovative effort to establish a systemic approach which connects interdisciplinary STEM research activities with educational pursuits and has a deliberate focus on broadening participation in STEM disciplines in rural communities. The project model is designed to engage teachers in rural high schools with researchers and their research activities. Rural teachers and their students will be involved in global "grand challenge" research endeavors, initially associated with biofuels and sustainable energies, in order to spark interest in STEM disciplines. The project uses a two-tiered approach: 1. The education and research integration model which consists of two parts: a) a professional development program that engages rural pre-service and in-service high school teachers in Indiana around sustainable energy research activities; and b) support of teachers in transforming their curricula and classroom practice by incorporating concepts of sustainable energy. 2. Refinement and establishment of a systemic approach for integrating research and educational activities using this model.Purdue University is leveraging its existing strengths in interdisciplinary research and educational engagement through the integration of the following projects: the NSF funded Noyce Scholars program for Preparation of Rural High School STEM Teachers; the Woodrow Wilson STEM Goes Rural Initiative; the Department of Energy Energy Frontier Research Center: C3Bio; the existing I-STEM (Indiana STEM) Resources Network; and the Purdue Rural Schools Network. The project is coordinated by the Discovery Learning Research Center, an educational research center at Purdue, in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Research.The model development component of this project provides summer experiences for teams of in-service and pre-service teachers through short courses in sustainable energy topics, developed in coordination with the scientists of C3Bio. These teams take part in (and receive graduate school credits for) a problem-based learning (PBL) summer course in which they develop their own PBL units on sustainable energy to use in their classrooms. During the academic year, teachers continue their interactions with one another, as well as with Purdue scientists and program personnel, through regional summits, web-enabled meetings and social networking. Each year, the leadership team reviews evaluation data towards developing a generalizable framework for integrating research with education. The project directly impacts approximately forty rural in-service teachers, eighty pre-service rural teachers and all of their students. An additional approximately 400 rural in-service teachers and their students are indirectly impacted through academic year outreach activities of the project. The ultimate outcome of this project is to develop a systemic approach to integrating research with education, allowing Purdue University to sustain the transformation of STEM education through the continued integration of cutting-edge STEM research with education using the refined project model. The development, design, and evaluation will provide descriptive and empirical program models that can be replicated/modified in other situations. In addition, the project will contribute to the research base on rural STEM education. This includes identifying and understanding factors that have an impact on improving preparation and retention of teachers in rural schools, as well as on the preparation and recruitment of rural students to STEM disciplines.