Board 284: First-Year Experience from Industries of the Future Research Experience for Preservice Teacher in STEM Settings

Weihang Zhu; Tomika W. Greer; Paige Evans; LEI Fan; Driss Benhaddou

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topics: Diversity and NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--46859
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/46859
Download Count: 70

Paper Authors

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Weihang Zhu University of Houston

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Dr. Weihang Zhu received his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from North Carolina State University and MS and BS in Mechanical and Energy Engineering. Currently he serves as Professor and Program Coordinator for the Mechanical Engineering Technology program in the Department of Engineering Technology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, Texas. His research expertise areas include engineering education, design and manufacturing, automation and robotics, machine learning/deep learning, computational optimization, and mariner and offshore safety.

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Tomika W. Greer University of Houston

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Dr. Tomika W. Greer uses critical HRD (human resource development) frameworks to conduct research related to postsecondary education/learning, job transitions, remote work, and work-life integration with a focus on helping women and marginalized groups manage and develop thriving and sustainable careers.

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Paige Evans University of Houston orcid.org/0000-0001-7175-0931

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Dr. Paige K. Evans is a Clinical Professor in the department of Mathematics at the University of Houston (UH) and the Associate Director of the teachHOUSTON program where she works with preservice secondary STEM teachers to teach innovative lessons as wel

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LEI Fan University of Houston

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Driss Benhaddou University of Houston

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Dr. Driss Benhaddou is an Associate Professor and fulbright Scholar, at the University of Houston, Texas. He is actively involved in optical networking and sensor networks research activities. He developed state of the art wireless and optical networking

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Abstract

In 2023, University of Houston (UH) at Houston, Texas was awarded an NSF Research Experience for Preservice Teachers (RE-PST) site grant titled “Industries of the Future Research Experience for Preservice Teachers in STEM Settings.” The goal of the project is to host 10 high school preservice teachers each summer to participate in Industries of the Future (IotF) research fields and then convert their experience into high school curriculum. In the 2020 report of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to the President of the USA, PCAST has recommended a set of bold actions to help ensure continued leadership in IotF, comprising artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), advanced manufacturing, advanced communications, and biotechnology. In summer 2023, the first cohort of 8 preservice teachers (PST) from the UH teachHOUSTON (tH) PST program participated in the RE-PST program at UH Cullen College of Engineering (CCOE). This six-week program, open to high school STEM PSTs in the tH program, sought to advance future educators’ knowledge of concepts in IotF as a means of enriching high school curriculums defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standard. Six UH CCOE professors each led workshops in a week. Five research mentors, assisted by student research assistants, mentored PSTs on various projects. The group also participated in field trips to local companies including Samson Controls, TechnipFMC, Beckhoff Automation, and SLB (Schlumberger). They worked with the professors in the teachHOUSTON on applying their knowledge learned to lesson plan design. Participants met weekly for Brown Bag teacher seminars to share their experiences and discuss curricula. On the final day of the program, the PSTs presented their curriculum prototype for their future field teaching to the group and received completion certificates. This summer is special in that this cohort of 8 PSTs participated in some activities together with 15 high school in-service teachers in the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program at UH. The common activities include one day workshop in SolidWorks design, field trips, and some curriculum development sessions. Two research mentors mentored both PST and in-service teachers. PST participants found the research experience with their mentors beneficial not only to them, but also to their future students according to our findings from interviews. Selected course modules will be submitted teachengineering.org for other K-12 educators to access.

Citation
Format

Zhu, W., & Greer, T. W., & Evans, P., & Fan, L., & Benhaddou, D. (2024, June), Board 284: First-Year Experience from Industries of the Future Research Experience for Preservice Teacher in STEM Settings Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--46859

TY - CPAPER
AB - In 2023, University of Houston (UH) at Houston, Texas was awarded an NSF Research Experience for Preservice Teachers (RE-PST) site grant titled “Industries of the Future Research Experience for Preservice Teachers in STEM Settings.” The goal of the project is to host 10 high school preservice teachers each summer to participate in Industries of the Future (IotF) research fields and then convert their experience into high school curriculum. In the 2020 report of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to the President of the USA, PCAST has recommended a set of bold actions to help ensure continued leadership in IotF, comprising artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), advanced manufacturing, advanced communications, and biotechnology. In summer 2023, the first cohort of 8 preservice teachers (PST) from the UH teachHOUSTON (tH) PST program participated in the RE-PST program at UH Cullen College of Engineering (CCOE). This six-week program, open to high school STEM PSTs in the tH program, sought to advance future educators’ knowledge of concepts in IotF as a means of enriching high school curriculums defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standard. Six UH CCOE professors each led workshops in a week. Five research mentors, assisted by student research assistants, mentored PSTs on various projects. The group also participated in field trips to local companies including Samson Controls, TechnipFMC, Beckhoff Automation, and SLB (Schlumberger). They worked with the professors in the teachHOUSTON on applying their knowledge learned to lesson plan design. Participants met weekly for Brown Bag teacher seminars to share their experiences and discuss curricula. On the final day of the program, the PSTs presented their curriculum prototype for their future field teaching to the group and received completion certificates. This summer is special in that this cohort of 8 PSTs participated in some activities together with 15 high school in-service teachers in the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program at UH. The common activities include one day workshop in SolidWorks design, field trips, and some curriculum development sessions. Two research mentors mentored both PST and in-service teachers. PST participants found the research experience with their mentors beneficial not only to them, but also to their future students according to our findings from interviews. Selected course modules will be submitted teachengineering.org for other K-12 educators to access.
AU - Weihang Zhu
AU - Tomika W. Greer
AU - Paige Evans
AU - LEI Fan
AU - Driss Benhaddou
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 284: First-Year Experience from Industries of the Future Research Experience for Preservice Teacher in STEM Settings
UR - https://peer.asee.org/46859
DO - 10.18260/1-2--46859
ER -