Assessment of a Collaborative NSF RET Program Focused on Advanced Manufacturing and Materials

Abstract

Sandra Preiss, is the Coordinator for the Dayton Regional STEM Center. She has served the STEM Center since December 2008 in various capacities. Her current role includes operational management; program management; innovation management; educator professional development; and curriculum generation and editing. Sandra, a licensed high school science educator, has taught in academic and informal educational settings ranging from early childhood through high school. ABSTRACTManufacturing is a key pillar to economic vitality and growth in the United States (US). However, the US faces increasing competition in the area of manufacturing from across the globe. As such, the future of the US's role in manufacturing requires innovation, cutting-edge and sustainable technologies, and new materials. Furthermore, this new era of manufacturing will require a well-educated and well-prepared STEM workforce. Since the task of inspiring and preparing K-12 students in STEM falls largely on K-12 teachers, it is critical that the teachers understand the role of materials and manufacturing in the US and are provided with the tools and knowledge that will empower them to get children excited about STEM as well as careers in materials and advanced manufacturing. The main objective of the Collaborative Research Experience for Teachers Program entitled Inspiring The Next Generation of a Highly-Skilled Workforce in Advanced Manufacturing and Materials was to provide current and future middle and high school teachers with the skills required to successfully engage their students in STEM learning experiences by immersing these teachers in real-world engineering research that was thematically centered around materials and advanced manufacturing. This collaborative RET site placed teachers and pre-service teachers with research mentors at one of three regional universities to work on engineering research projects that connect with regional strengths in advanced manufacturing and materials. Participating teachers and pre-service teachers joined other professionals in the region in an immersive materials "boot camp" facilitated by ASM prior to the start of their research experience. Field trips, guest speakers and group work that produced K-12 curriculum complemented the teams' research experience. During the culminating activities, the groups presented the STEM curriculum developed, the final laboratory project results and provided regular guided reflections regarding their efforts during the six-week program. Local System Change (LSC), Mathematics Teaching Efficacy and Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI) and Science Teaching Efficacy and Beliefs Instrument (STEBI) surveys were administered to identify changes in attitudes, beliefs and practices. Results of the evaluation suggest that this collaborative RET program was successful at meeting a majority of its nine objectives. Evaluation data shows that there was no significant changes at the 0.05 level in the teachers' responses to the MTEBI or STEBI. For the LSC, teacher responses were significantly h...

Board 118: Lessons Learned from a Collaborative NSF RET Program involving Three Regional Universities

“…The results from this RET program were disseminated through journal [16] and conference presentations and proceedings (e.g. ASEE, ASME, DESS conferences) [11,[16][17][18][19][20], professional development sessions, and TeachEngineering digital library [13][14][15]. Several participating teachers also attended conferences and presented their work [21,22].…”

“…These schools have a percentage of students on free/reduced lunch that ranges from 4.3% to 100% and a non-white population that ranges from less than 1% to greater than 95%. [10]. More targeted recruiting was done for the years 2 and 3 cohorts to increase the impact to minority serving schools.…”

Board # 105 :Collaborative Community-based Research Experiences in Materials and Manufacturing (Work in Progress)

“…5,6 The second summer cohort introduced 6 college students to the teaming of 6 new pre-service and an additional 12 in-service teachers majoring or teaching in STEM disciplines, respectively, in the Dayton, Ohio area providing 6 weeks of manufacturing and materials science experiences. This teaming of six groups included two in-service teachers, one pre-service teacher, one college student mentor and one faculty mentor.…”

Board # 145 : MAKER: Use of Natural Products in Manufacturing Engineering Education at a Minority-based Land-grant Institution

“…A platinum/ niobium mesh was used as the counter electrode. A 0.5 M KCl + 0.001 M K 3 Fe(CN) 6 (1:1 mixture ratio) was used as the electrolyte. Several drops of 1.0 M sulfuric acid was added to every 300 mL of test electrolyte.…”

“…1 Integration of research and development in the classroom and laboratory as a teaching strategy for student engagement and learning 2 is a practice that facilitates positive interactions among students, faculty, and the extended community. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Implementation of interdisciplinary research experiences that are realworld and team based combining undergraduate students from science and engineering disciplines with faculty in higher education alongside middle and high school in-service and preservice science and engineering educators creates Capstone experiences that are of intellectual interest to the undergraduate student.…”