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This work-in-progress research-to-practice paper presents the development and pilot implementation of curriculum that introduces semiconductor contents in a high school calculus class. The demand for chips soared through the COVID-19 pandemic, exposing our country's semiconductor manufacturing and supply chain risks. The need to reassert US semiconductor leadership will require training a well-educated workforce, starting at the K-12 level. Meanwhile, K-12 STEM teachers often juggle the conflicting requirements of standardized tests and the need to cultivate 21st-century skills, deeper learning, and transferable knowledge, among others. This paper presents a pilot implementation that could address both problems. Selected teachers attended an NSF-funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) summer program to learn about chip design basics. They also received curriculum development support to design new modules on semiconductor topics that would attract their students' interests.
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COVID-19 Professional Development in Hawaiʻi: Teachers as Public Health Educators
Teacher leadership and agency can provide time sensitive, trusted information during times of uncertainty. A Native Hawaiian teacher’s place and culture-based COVID-19 lessons inspired a multidisciplinary team funded by NSF and NIH to develop four place-based, culturally responsive COVID-19 curricular modules. Educator-led outreach via in-person and online presentations was coupled with a project website that provided K-12 educators with independent learning to support teaching of COVID-19 in the contexts of: 1) historical epidemics in Hawai’i, 2) student inquiry into family health, 3) protection and prevention, and 4) vaccines, variants, and disinformation. Major findings include high ratings from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander educators, increased downloads of modules following outreach, selection of Module I History of Infectious Diseases in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific as most valuable, and high engagement of elementary teachers. Teachers were most concerned about students mental health and disinformation. Those who taught the curriculum gave higher rating to leadership and governance in their schools and communities and were most interested in professional development as public health educators. Findings suggest that place-, culture-, and inquiry-based curriculum and professional development situated in students’ lives and communities has the potential to support teachers as public health leaders and communicators during times of change and uncertainty.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1721356
- PAR ID:
- 10536691
- Editor(s):
- NA
- Publisher / Repository:
- NARST
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Denver, CO
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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