Developing Photonics Education in Iowa's Rural Secondary Schools

光子学是一个快速发展的领域，包括与激光和光学相关的科学和技术。光子学应用在许多行业都很重要，从国防到制造业再到医疗保健。 这一广泛的应用基础为美国的光子技术人员创造了持续的高需求。在这个项目中，印度山社区学院将寻求通过鼓励中学生进入光子技术人员职业的途径来增加光子技术人员的数量。该项目将重点关注农村高中生，他们很少有机会学习最先进的技术。该项目将使农村高中学生获得大学学分，直接转入两年的光子学学位。这个双学分的机会将定位学生入学，完成学位课程，并获得在高需求的光子学领域的工作。该项目还将测试混合在线教学的潜力，将先进的技术教育带入农村学区的教室，这些学区的预算往往有限。农村高中教师也将接受光子学相关的专业发展。该项目的主要目标是增加爱荷华州农村高中学生在光子学技术员职业道路上的人数。使用的方法包括：1）开发和提供双学分，混合在线光子学课程，直接衔接到两年的光子学学位; 2）为爱荷华州高中教师提供专业发展研讨会和后续援助，帮助他们在课堂上融入更多的光子学概念; 3）举办光子学暑期研究所，为爱荷华州农村高中学生和教师提供更深入的领域知识。光子学课程的混合在线格式将联合收割机传统的在线学习与实验室和其他活动的在线协作学习相结合。该项目将建立在中西部光子学教育中心完成的工作基础上，该中心是印第安山社区学院的ATE区域中心，专注于教育中西部的光子学技术人员。由中西部光子学教育中心开发的便携式光子学套件将用于本项目开发的混合在线课程的实验室活动。这些工具包帮助学生通过实践活动学习光子学概念，而无需装备整个实验室。还将利用行业伙伴关系来加强项目活动。该项目的材料，结果和最佳实践将被广泛传播，以促进其他社区学院采用或调整的方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是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的支持。

Photonics is a rapidly growing field that encompasses the science and technologies related to lasers and optics. Photonics applications are important in many industries, ranging from defense to manufacturing to healthcare. This broad application base creates a continued high demand for photonics technicians in the United States. In this project, Indian Hills Community College will seek to increase the number of photonics technicians by encouraging secondary school students to enter a pathway that leads to photonics technician careers. The project will emphasize rural high school students who rarely have learning opportunities in state-of-the-art technologies. The project will enable rural high school students to earn college credit that transfers directly to a two-year photonics degree. This dual credit opportunity will position the students to enroll in, complete a degree program, and obtain a job in the high-demand photonics field. The project will also test the potential of hybrid online instruction to bring advanced technical education into the classrooms of rural school districts, which often have limited budgets. Rural high school teachers will also receive photonics-related professional development.The primary goal of this project is to increase the number of rural Iowa high school students in photonics technician career pathways. Methods used will include: 1) developing and offering dual credit, hybrid online photonics courses that articulate directly to a two-year photonics degree; 2) providing professional development symposiums and follow-up assistance to Iowa high school teachers to help them incorporate more photonics concepts in their classes; and 3) hosting a photonics summer institute to provide rural Iowa high school students and teachers with more in-depth knowledge of the field. The hybrid online format for the photonics courses will combine traditional online learning with online collaborative learning for labs and other activities. The project will build on work completed by the Midwest Photonics Education Center, an ATE Regional Center at Indian Hills Community College that focused on educating photonics technicians in the Midwest. Portable photonics kits developed by the Midwest Photonics Education Center will be used for lab activities in the hybrid online courses that will be developed in this project. These kits help student learn photonics concepts through hands-on activities, without the need to equip an entire lab. Industry partnerships will also be leveraged to enhance the project activities. The project materials, results, and best practices will be widely disseminated to facilitate the adoption or adaptation of the approach by other community colleges.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.