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Impacts Of An Engineering Research Experience For Teachers On Classroom Integration Of Stem Concepts In Grade 6 12 Science

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Conference

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Publication Date

June 22, 2008

Start Date

June 22, 2008

End Date

June 25, 2008

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Engineering Professional Development for K12 Teachers

Tagged Division

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Page Count

16

Page Numbers

13.699.1 - 13.699.16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--3699

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/3699

Download Count

449

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Paper Authors

biography

Brant Miller University Of Minnesota

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Brant Miller is a doctoral student in Science Education at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. He received his B.S and M.S degrees from Black Hills State University in the field of Education. Before pursuing his doctoral work, Brant was a middle school science teacher for six years. His research interests include the infusion of engineering content into the K-12 curricular framework and professional development for K-12 STEM teachers.

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biography

Tamara Moore University Of Minnesota Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-7956-4479

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Tamara J. Moore is a Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Engineering Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Education, her M.S.Ed. in Mathematics Education and her B.S. in Mathematics from Purdue University. Tamara taught high school mathematics for seven years prior to pursuing her doctorate. Her research interests include curriculum development, the learning of complex problem-solving in mathematics and engineering, teamwork, and integration of engineering into the K-12 STEM classroom.

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Impacts of an Engineering Research Experience for Teachers on Classroom Integration of STEM Concepts in Grade 6-12 Science

Abstract

The main objective of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) Research Experience for Teachers (RET) Site: “Inspiring Educators in Rural America through Research” is to provide an authentic research experience to practicing middle and high school science, math, and technology teachers. It is our goal that from this research experience the teachers can take back to their respective classrooms knowledge, and content which they will readily share with their students. After completing three summer sessions and subsequent workshops of our RET program, we feel very confident in endorsing this model of professional development as effective and noteworthy. This study looks at the evaluation data from the 2007 cohort of teachers in the SDSM&T RET program and at one teacher in depth. This paper will answer the research question: In what ways does the experience in the SDSM&T RET program effect teacher perception of change in teaching practices? To answer this question: a longitudinal case study was conducted specifically looking at one teacher who participated during the 2007 RET program.

Introduction

A great amount of effort has gone into improving the science education of our young people1, 2. From curriculum reform to parent programs, many avenues have been explored to find the answers to best practices and effectiveness for all students no matter what the student is bringing to the metaphoric education table. The complexity and interrelatedness of the issues are overwhelming. For the purposes of this paper, the professional development of K-12 science teachers in a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) will be the focus. The RET model is a promising approach to providing K-12 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) educators the professional development experiences needed to garner authentic student achievement. The main objective of the SDSM&T RET program is to provide an authentic research experience to practicing middle and high school science, math, and technology teachers. It is our goal that from this research experience the teachers can take back to their respective classroom knowledge and content which they will readily share with their students. After completing three summer sessions and subsequent workshops of our RET program, we endorse this model of professional development as effective and noteworthy. This study looks at the evaluation data from the 2007 cohort of teachers in the SDSM&T RET program and at one teacher in depth. This paper will answer the research question: In what ways does the experience in the SDSM&T RET program effect teacher perception of change in teaching practices? To answer this question: a longitudinal case study was conducted specifically looking at one teacher who participated during the 2007 RET program.

Miller, B., & Moore, T. (2008, June), Impacts Of An Engineering Research Experience For Teachers On Classroom Integration Of Stem Concepts In Grade 6 12 Science Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3699

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2008 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015