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1. Lessons learned from evaluating three virtual Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) programs using common instruments and protocols

   Larson, Jean S. ; O'Donnell, Megan ; Eustice, Kristi L. ; Nichol, Carolyn A. ; Jaskie, Kristen ; Spanias, Andreas S. ; Fransworth, Kimberly ; Blain Christen, Jenniffer M. ; Lee, Mi Yeon ( January 2021 , Review directory American Society for Engineering Education)

   Due to the COVID-19 crisis preventing face-to-face interaction, three National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded centers employed a virtual/remote format for their summer Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Programs, reaching K-12 STEM teachers across the country. Teachers participated virtually from four different states by joining engineering research teams from four different universities in three different RET programs. Lab experiences depended on the nature of the research and institution-specific guidelines for in-lab efforts, resulting in some teachers conducting lab experiments with materials sent directly to their homes, some completing their experience fully online, and some completing portions of lab work in person on campus. Each teacher developed an engineering lesson plan based on the corresponding center’s research to be implemented either in person or virtually during the 2020-2021 academic school year. Research posters, created with support from graduate student and faculty mentors, were presented to industry partners, education partners, center members, and the NSF. Support for the teachers as they implement lessons, present posters, and disseminate their developed curricula, has continued throughout the year. Common survey and interview/focus group protocols, previously designed specifically for measuring the impact of engineering education programs, were adapted and used to separately evaluate each of the three virtual programs. Strengths and suggested areas of improvement will be explored and discussed to inform future use of the common evaluation instruments. Additionally, preliminary results, highlighting general successes and challenges of shifting RET programming to a virtual/remote format across the three centers, will be discussed. 

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2. Long-Term Outcomes of RET Programs on Female and Minority Student High School Graduation Rates and Undergraduate STEM Major Rates (Fundamental)

   Nichol, C. ; Crawford, C. A. ; Barr, C. ; Cerda, I. ( January 2021 , ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs are National Science Foundation (NSF) funded programs designed to provide K- 12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers with immersive, hands-on research experiences at Universities around the country. The NSF RET in nanotechnology encourages teachers to translate cutting-edge research into culturally relevant Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and engineering curriculum. Traditionally, the evaluation of RET programs focuses on the growth and development of teacher self-efficacy, engineering content knowledge gains, or classroom implementation of developed curriculum materials. However, reported methods for evaluating the impact of RETs on their female, minority student populations' high school graduation and undergraduate STEM major rates are limited. This study's objective was to compare RET high school student graduation rates and undergraduate STEM major rates across gender, race, and ethnicity to a comparison sample to determine the RET program's long-term impact on students' likelihood of pursuing STEM careers. The approach of collecting and analyzing the Texas Education Research Center Database (EdRC) data is a novel methodology for assessing RET programs' effectiveness on students. The EdRC is a repository of K-12 student data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Higher Education data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). This joint database contains demographic, course registration, graduation, standardized testing, and college major, among others, for all students that attended a K-12 public school in Texas and any college in Texas, public or private. The RET program participants at Rice University (2010 – 2018) taught numerous students, a sample size of 11,240 students. A propensity score matching generated the student comparison group within the database. Students' school campus, gender, race/ethnic status, and English proficiency status were applied to produce a graduation comparison sample size of 11,240 students of Non-RET participants. Linking the TEA database to the THECB database resulted in college STEM participants and comparison sample sizes of 4,029 students. The project team conducted a logistic regression using RET status to predict high school graduation rates as a whole and by individual variables: gender, Asian American, Black, Caucasian, and Latinx students. All models were significant at p less than 0.05, with models in favor of students RET teachers. The project team conducted a logistic regression using RET status to predict student STEM undergraduate major rates as a whole and by individual variables: Gender, Asian American, Black, Caucasian, and Latinx students. African American and Caucasian models were significant at p less than 0.05; Gender, Asian American, and Latinx models were marginally significant (0.05 less than p greater than 0.1), where RET students had higher STEM major rates than matched controls. The findings demonstrate that RET programs have a long-term positive impact on the students' high school graduation rates and undergraduate STEM major rates. As teachers who participate in the RET programs are more likely to conduct courses using PjBL strategies and incorporate real-world engineering practices, female and minority students are more likely to benefit from these practices and seek careers utilizing these skills. 

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3. Particle Engineering Research from the NSF ERC Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Program at NJIT

   Bilgili, E. ; Li, M. ; Zhang, L. ; Armani, M. ; Orbe, P. ; Aloia, M. ; Pielecha-Safira, B. ; Dave, R.N. ( November 2016 , AICHE Annual Meeting)

   We aim to give highlights of particle engineering research from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)’s Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program, which is a collaboration of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (ERC-SOPS) and the Center for Pre-College Programs. This NSF-funded program engaged pairs of 14 high school teachers in 2015 summer research program, where they performed research on various particulate materials and processes relevant to pharmaceutical products. In addition, various faculty and educational experts delivered workshops on technical writing, best research practice, effective collaboration in a team, pharmaceutical industry and process–formulation development, educational module development, etc. The teachers acquired the skills and knowledge of research and the subject of particle engineering and pharmaceutical engineering that they incorporated into their teaching practice. In the research component of the program, the teachers collaborated with graduate student mentors under the guidance of professors and worked on various particle–pharmaceutical engineering projects. In the educational component, the teachers came up with a professional development plan and prepared “educational modules”, which were delivered to high school students. While this presentation will expose few educational highlights including sample modules developed by the teachers, it will mainly focus on two summer research projects about the bioavailability enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs via drug nanoparticle composites and drug nanoparticle-laden polymer strip films. Through application of particle engineering approaches such as nanoparticle formation–stabilization and drug encapsulation within hydrophilic polymeric matrices, we have ensured fast redispersibility of drug nanoparticles from solid dosages and demonstrated significant improvement of the dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble drugs. 

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4. Development and Assessment of a Combined REU/RET Program in Materials Science

   Salzman, N. ; Ubic, R. ( April 2017 , ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   In this paper we present an evaluation and lessons learned from a joint Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program focused on energy and sustainability topics within a Materials Science and Engineering program at a public university. This program brought eleven undergraduate science and engineering students with diverse educational and institutional backgrounds and four local middle and high school teachers on campus for an 8-week research experience working in established lab groups at the university. Using the Qualtrics online survey software, we conducted pre-experience and post-experience surveys of the participants to assess the effects of participating in this summer research program. At the beginning of the summer, all participants provided their definition of technical research and described what they hoped to get out of their research experience, and the undergraduate students described their future career and educational plans. At the conclusion of the summer, a post-experience survey presented participants’ with their answers from the beginning of the summer and asked them to reflect on how their understanding of research and future plans involving research changed over the course of the summer experience. Many participants evolved a new understanding of research as a result of participating in the summer experience. In particular, they better recognized the collaborative nature of research and the challenges that can arise as part of the process of doing research. Participants acquired both technical and professional skills that they found useful, such as learning new programming languages, becoming proficient at using new pieces of equipment, reviewing technical literature, and improving presentation and communication skills. Undergraduates benefited from developing new relationships with their peers, while the teacher participants benefited from developing relationships with faculty and staff at the university. While most of the participants felt that they were better prepared for future studies or employment, they did not feel like the summer research experience had a significant impact on their future career or degree plans. Finally, while almost all of the participants described their summer research experience as positive, areas for improvement included better planning and access to mentors, as well as more structured activities for the teachers to adapt their research activities for the classroom. 

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5. WySLICE - Integrating Computer Science throughout Existing K-12 Core Disciplinary Areas

   Borowczak, Mike ; Burrows, Andrea C. ; Johnson, Mason ( July 2021 , 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access)

   Wyoming recently mandated that computer science instruction be provided in K-12 schools by 2022, and there is an urgent need for designing instruction that can integrate computer science into the teaching of other subjects. This project assembles a network improvement community comprised of partners from the University of Wyoming, community colleges, Wyoming school districts, the Wyoming Library System, the Wyoming Department of Education, and local software development firms. The community meets once monthly over the duration of the project to collaborate stakeholder agendas for meeting the project goals. The community enlists K-8 teachers from across the state to experience professional development and collaborate on integrating computer science into their instruction of STEM and social science topics. The project is producing units for teachers, who are implementing these units with support from master teachers and educational scholars. The community serves as a forum for teachers to debrief and learn from each other about ways to improve their instruction and design of the curricular units. Libraries in the state system act as partners for dissemination to rural areas of the innovative instructional approaches. WySLICE prepares 150 K-8 teachers and state librarians from all disciplines to integrate computer science into their teaching. The project is reaching almost half of all K-8 students in Wyoming. The research questions address how teachers use modeling practices as supports for student understanding of algorithms and coding in a variety of ways. The curricula involve cybersecurity as well as other topics relevant to measurement in mathematics and social studies topics that involve social concerns like voting. Data sources include teacher lesson plans and recordings of their instructional implementation, scoring of each of these according to a rubric, meeting notes of monthly meetings, and results from pre-post student assessments. The evaluation focuses on the meeting of project goals and the quality of the management of the network improvement community. This project is jointly funded by CS for All and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under DRL Grant #1923542 "CS For All:RPP - Booting Up Computer Science in Wyoming." 

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