Integrating a K-12 Education and Outreach Initiative into a Sustainability Research Network (Work in Progress)
- Conference
- Location
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Seattle, Washington
- Publication Date
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June 14, 2015
- Start Date
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June 14, 2015
- End Date
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June 17, 2015
- ISBN
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978-0-692-50180-1
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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K-12 & Pre-College Engineering
- Page Count
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7
- Page Numbers
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26.984.1 - 26.984.7
- DOI
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10.18260/p.24321
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/24321
- Download Count
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459
Paper Authors
Daniel Wilson Knight University of Colorado, Boulder
Daniel W. Knight is the Program Assessment and Research Associate at Design Center (DC) Colorado in CU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering at the College of Engineering and Applied Science. He holds a B.A. in psychology from Louisiana State University, an M.S. degree in industrial/organizational psychology and a Ph.D. degree in education, both from the University of Tennessee. Dr. Knight’s research interests are in the areas of retention, program evaluation and teamwork practices in engineering education. His current duties include assessment, team development and education research for DC Colorado's hands-on initiatives.
Michael Hannigan University of Colorado - Boulder
Michael P. Hannigan is an Associate Professor in the University of Colorado's Department of Mechanical Engineering. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Southern Methodist University and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science from Caltech. Dr. Hannigan’s research group has been actively engaging in the development and validation of low cost air quality monitoring tools with the goal of developing spatial pollutant measurement datasets that will drive a new wave of understanding of pollutant sources, transport and fate. As this effort has progressed, his group has learned that these tools can also provide a conduit for hands-on learning and is now working on further K-12 and community curriculum development.
Madeline Polmear
University of Colorado, Boulder
orcid.org/0000-0002-7774-6834
Madeline Polmear is a student research assistant in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is interested in program assessment and education and outreach efforts surrounding oil and natural gas development. Ms. Polmear is in the fourth year of a concurrent Bachelor's/Master's degree program in environmental engineering.
Lisa Gardiner UCAR Center for Science Education
Lisa Gardiner is the K-12 Education Manager at the UCAR Center for Science Education and leads curriculum development and teacher professional development. She holds a B.A. in geology and marine science from Smith College, a Ph.D. in geology from University of Georgia, and an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction writing from Goucher College.
Katya Anna Hafich University of Colorado - Boulder
Katya Hafich is the Outreach and Education Coordinator for the NSF-funded AirWaterGas Sustainability Research Network, based at CU Boulder. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of New Mexico, and an M.A. in Geography from CU Boulder. She currently shares a joint appointment with AirWaterGas and the CU Boulder Office for Outreach and Engagement, where she focuses on K12 and community science outreach and education, specifically on climate and energy topics.
Ashley Monika Collier University of Colorado, Boulder
Ashley Collier is a graduate research assistant at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She holds a B.S. from CU Boulder in Environmental Engineering. Her work examines the various applications of low-cost, next-generation air quality monitoring systems. This includes deploying sensors to learn about spatial variability of pollutants, testing the use of sensor arrays to speciate for specific volatile organic compounds, and exploring this technology's usefulness in education/outreach and citizen science.
Abstract
Integrating a K-12 Education and Outreach Initiative into a Sustainability Research Network (Work in Progress)The National Science Foundation’s Sustainability Research Network (SRN) brings together adiverse body of stakeholders to conduct collaborative research into sustainability challenges. TheSRN under investigation, (Redacted), is focused on sustainable energy development within thecontext of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and brings together researchers, government officials,and citizens to research and disseminate findings related to fracking in the Mountain West. Onecontext targeted for dissemination is the K-12 setting, where K-12 and university teachers andstudents are developing and teaching curriculum and activities designed to facilitateunderstanding of responsible energy development.The (Redacted) SRN Education and Outreach (E&O) team is composed of STEM educators witha variety of technical backgrounds and depth of experience in K-12 settings. The E&O team hasdeveloped a series of goals to guide programmatic activity and these are as follows: (1) Enhancemulti-disciplinary education across network stakeholders, (2) Expose minority populations tonetwork education and outreach activities, (3) Integrate SRN research, education and outreachActivities and (4) Incorporate SRN into graduate education Practices. All four goals aretargeted through K-12 programming.SRN E&O K-12 programming is currently being piloted through three activities. These are ayear-long teacher workshop, a project-based, learning air quality monitoring program in twoschool districts – one with a significant minority population – in geographical areas that areaffected by fracking, and a planned Open House to bring together K-12 teachers with otherstakeholders for networking and dissemination of SRN research findings. SRN graduate studentshave been integrated into the process by assisting with curriculum and activity development,giving talks to the online teacher courses, and advising and coordinating high school studentresearch projects.Currently, the teacher workshop has reached maximum enrollment and begun the on-line portionof programming. The air quality monitoring program has begun in 5 high schools, wherestudents have been introduced to the low-cost next generation air quality monitors developed bythe (redacted) SRN team and are beginning to formulate research questions on air quality andenergy development. The Open House has been schedule for March 2015 and is in the planningstages.For assessment purposes, measurable criteria have been established to track progress againstprogram goals. Each criterion is then matched with an assessment tool to measure success. Forexample, a criterion was set that three on-line courses would be developed for the year-longteacher workshop and accomplishment against that criterion has been measured, in part, via ateacher survey. Additional assessment results and evaluation of findings will be further discussedin the paper.
Knight, D. W., & Hannigan, M., & Polmear, M., & Gardiner, L., & Hafich, K. A., & Collier, A. M. (2015, June), Integrating a K-12 Education and Outreach Initiative into a Sustainability Research Network (Work in Progress) Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24321
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