The goal of the three-year Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site on Sustainable Electronics is to provide high school STEM teachers, through intensive summer research with _______ University and ______ University faculty, with the knowledge and skills to equip their students to become part of a technologically adept workforce as well as informed designers and users of sustainable products.
In our paper, we present results from a unique professional development opportunity that would leverage the expertise of engineering scholars at _______University and ______ University through the RET Site: Sustainable Electronics. This program trains 11 high school STEM teachers for six weeks during the summer, and provides an intensive research experience. Complementing the research is a series of other professional development activities to enhance teacher quality, such as field trips and presentations from members of the Industrial Advisory Board. The teachers are provided funding and support to implement new, standard-based curricula into their science courses at their respective high schools. Teacher’s research projects’ results, as well as their curricula, will be presented in the paper. We will also present the insights we gained from the surveys and focus groups we conducted with the teachers to evaluate the program.
The topic of environmentally sustainable electronics provides both context and application to many scientific and engineering principles. Each teacher’s research project is mapped to specific HS science standards, which guides development of HS curricula. Environmental sustainability as a general context should help broaden female and minority participation in engineering and heighten interest among high school science students.
Dr. Inez Hua is Professor in the Lyles School of Civil Engineering and the Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering. Her research and teaching areas include aquatic chemistry, water pollution control, environmental sustainability in engineering education, and sustainable electronics. Dr. Hua has a Ph.D and an MS in Environmental Engineering and Science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and a BA in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.
http://orcid.org/https://0000-0002-4229-6183
Florida International University
[biography]
Monica E. Cardella is the Director of the School of Universal Computing, Construction, and Engineering Education (SUCCEED) at Florida International University. She is also a Professor of Engineering and Computing Education in SUCCEED and FIU's STEM Transformation Institute
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