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1. Building Interest in Technology Careers through a Five-Week Saturday Program

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--42663  

   Wosczyna-Birch, Karen (June 2023, ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition)

   The goal of this program, funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) program, is to provide additional professional and technical skills to cohorts of high school students through a five-week Saturday Program. The curriculum is continuously reviewed and modified to address current skills needed by the technician workforce. While this program was originally proposed and planned as in-person, the leadership team decided to shift to a virtual environment as the pandemic caused the closure of community college campuses where the program was to be held. Program modalities and curriculum were modified to shift to an online experience. In Fall 2022, the program was able to return to an in-person format. The program’s leadership team disseminates best practices through presentations, social media, publications, and workshops at national conferences. The four-day Summer Teachers’ Workshop brings high school and community college educators from throughout the United States to experience the same program that is used for the high school students. The Program’s outreach efforts and the national dissemination of best practices for engaging underrepresented populations in technology careers has a national impact that will potentially increase the diversity of the technician workforce. The program has inspired participants to have confidence in their own abilities. Principals from participating high schools have commented that students who attended the Program have demonstrated an improvement in their academics and behavior due to the knowledge of professional and technical skills that they have gleaned from the program. The program has provided inner-city students from four high schools with out-of-school, hands-on educational programs focusing on professional skills, technical writing and engineering technology competencies. Participant demographics will be discussed in this paper as diversity is a key objective of the program. The program utilizes industry-driven, project-based learning (PBL) and lessons in career and college readiness to prepare students for the workforce. Each student session consists of five consecutive Saturdays and is taught by a team of high school teachers, community college faculty, and instructors with expertise in professional skills, teambuilding, leadership, technical writing, coding, and STEM disciplines. 

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2. An After-school STEM Program with a Novel Equitable and Inclusive Structure

   Matthew Aldeman, Jeritt Williams (June 2023, Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education 2023 Annual Conference)

   An interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students at Illinois State University is partnering with the Chicago Public Schools district (CPS) and non-profit Community-Based Organizations in four Chicago neighborhoods to create a new after-school STEM program known as SUPERCHARGE. Funded by NSF, the primary purpose of the project is to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who pursue STEM fields at the postsecondary level. Faculty from STEM and STEM education program areas as well as the National Center for Urban Education at Illinois State University comprise the leadership team for the project. Guided by the National Research Council’s STEM Learning Ecosystem Model, SUPERCHARGE will contribute to the disruption of inequities that hinder access to STEM career pipelines for participants by serving as a bridge between informal high school academic experiences, STEM-related higher education programs, and STEM-related career pathways. Research to determine the impact of the program on students' interest, understanding, and self-efficacy towards STEM careers, as well as teachers and undergraduate students’ understanding of promoting change, will also be conducted. The Partnerships in Education and Resilience (PEAR) Common Instrument for students and teachers, and interviews with stakeholders are being used to support data gathering and program feedback. These data sources will be used for program assessment and future research. 

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3. Exploring technical college student’s collaborative problem solving and teamwork skills in multi-educational level engineering design teams

   https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2286315  

   Herro, Danielle; Frady, Kristin; O’Hara, Robert (November 2023, European Journal of Engineering Education)

   Manufacturing engineers work in teams with a wide range of skills and credentials. Teamwork and collaborative problem solving (CPS) skills enable higher productivity and efficiency. However, these skills are largely absent from engineering education curricula and research in contexts involving multi-educational teams inclusive of technical college engineering students. We address this gap in research and practice through a qualitative case study exploring the contributions, experiences, and perspectives of technical college students working in multi-educational level teams to solve real-world engineering manufacturing problems. Data analyses resulted in six themes: (1) positive team culture, (2) valuing industry skills, (3) sharing responsibilities to iteratively make changes, (4) applying technical roles, (5) peer interactions, and (6) career preparation. Technical college students’ perceptions of challenges and successes are also discussed. Results imply that to effectively promote CPS and teamwork in similar contexts educators and industry leaders should consider the importance of (1) valuing students’/workers’ current professional identities while promoting productive conflict, (2) respecting differing team roles while encouraging skill development, and (3) fostering future career skills. 

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4. 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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5. Supporting Teacher Self-efficacy and TPACK: Teaching Louisiana Wetlands Using Virtual Field Trips

   Olokunde, Temitope; Jones, Nastassia N. (March 2023, Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference)

   Langran, E.; Christensen, P.; Sanson, J. (Ed.)

   Education about natural environments and their connection to ecosystems has the potential to foster environmental literacy and stewardship. Fostering environmental awareness in students helps them to learn about STEM topics in nature through hands-on classroom lessons with immersive experiences. Virtual reality technology serves as an educational tool that provides immersive learning experiences, which makes it relevant to developing environmental knowledge. This study focuses on Louisiana’s natural environment, particularly the Louisiana wetlands that exist near communities with little to no STEM training opportunities for teachers and students in K-12 schools. A virtual reality themed professional development program was established in Louisiana, to equip STEM teachers with virtual reality skills to immerse students into simulated field experiences of Louisiana wetlands. Integrating virtual reality technology into the teaching of Louisiana wetlands, helps put STEM concepts in a real-world context that is relatable to teachers and students living in these areas. This study draws insight from the teachers’ learning experiences as they participated in the professional development program. 

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