Elementary school is the first opportunity most students have to learn about STEM; however, elementary teachers are sometimes the least confident and prepared to teach STEM concepts and practices. Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs are an established form of K-12 teacher professional development in which teachers are invited to work as members of a laboratory research team to increase their enthusiasm, knowledge and experience in STEM fields. The Engineering for Biology: Multidisciplinary Research Experiences for Teachers (MRET) of Elementary Grades was a 7-week summer program in which teachers were embedded as contributing members of engineering laboratory research teams and was established with the goals of (1) increasing teacher knowledge of STEM concepts and practices, (2) fostering mentoring relationships among researchers and teachers in each laboratory, and (3) guiding the translation of the teachers’ laboratory experience into the classroom through the development of STEM learning units. This exploratory study focuses on the second goal, and involves the use of developmental network theory to discriminate mentoring among participants within the summer 2017 and 2018 cycles of MRET. Using data collected in daily observations as well as daily activity and conversation logs submitted by all participants during the lab experience, post participation surveys, and post program semi structured interviews, we have characterized a network of mentoring that existed within the lab portion of MRET as being multidirectional and potentially beneficial to all members, including researchers as well as teachers. This finding challenges the currently accepted assumption that teachers are the primary beneficiaries of mentoring within RET programs. If demonstrated to be appropriate and transferrable to the RET context, such a perspective could enhance our understanding of the experience and be used for maximizing the outcomes for all participants.
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-8559-5028
University of Florida
[biography]
Gayle Evans is a Lecturer and doctoral candidate in Curriculum & Instruction, Science Education in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida. She is science coordinator for the UFTeach undergraduate secondary STEM teacher preparation program and previously worked as a high school science teacher. Her research interests include mentoring relationships and program development in STEM teacher preparation and professional development.
Kent Crippen is a Professor of STEM education in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research involves the design, development, and evaluation of STE
Chelsey S. Simmons, Ph.D., joined UF in Fall 2013 following a visiting research position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. Simmons received her B.S. cum laude from Harvard University and her M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her research lab investigates the relationship between cell biology and tissue mechanics, and their projects are funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and American Heart Association. She has received numerous fellowships and awards, including NIH's Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (2018), BMES-CMBE's Rising Star Award (2017), ASME's New Faces Award (2015) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship as a student. She teaches undergraduate Mechanics of Materials and graduate BioMEMS courses and was named MAE Teacher of the Year in 2017.
In addition to her engineering research and teaching, Simmons leads a $600k NSF-funded professional development program for elementary educators. Her efforts are bolstered by a legacy of education training and leadership, having received a Ph.D. Minor in Education and working as a founding officer and President of Stanford’s American Society for Engineering Education.
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