RET Site: Culturally Responsive Energy Engineering Education in Rural/Reservation Elementary Schools

The new Montana Engineering Education Research Center (MEERC) RET Site will provide unique professional development opportunities for at least thirty rural and reservation elementary teachers to engage in authentic energy research and engineering education, and then share these experiences with their colleagues and students. Evidence shows that young students who identify with engineering are more likely to pursue engineering careers, and that teachers with higher self-efficacy have students with better learning outcomes.

The MEERC RET Site will focus on improving teachers’ self-efficacy for engineering education through an immersive six-week experience combining hands-on energy research within engineering faculty laboratories with customized field trips to energy industry facilities and co-located cultural venues and structured curriculum development activities. Elementary teacher participants will work directly with engineering and education faculty, research staff and students on energy topics ranging from building energy systems and biomass energy to sustainable transportation infrastructure and innovative materials batteries, wind turbines and solar cells.

The MEERC RET Site will also convene an industry advisory board (IAB) comprised of regional energy industry representatives to share their career experiences and facilitate customized tours of industry-scale energy facilities including a conventional power plant, a petroleum refinery, a wind turbine farm, a cement plant, a hydroelectric dam, and a community-scale solar power plant. Additionally, the Site IAB will work directly with the participating elementary teachers to help them develop and implement energy-engineering curricula, including facilitating engaging in-class demonstrations and visits (virtual or actual) to nearby industrial facilities.

Through customized, expert-guided and reflective tours of cultural venues and curriculum development activities, the MEERC RET Site Project Team will also work with teachers on essential understandings from Montana’s Constitutional Article, Indian Education for All, which aims to recognize and preserve the distinct and unique cultural heritages of American Indians. Throughout the academic year, the Site Project Team will help the elementary teachers develop, integrate, and assess culturally responsive energy curricula within their rural/reservation classrooms.

Hundreds of rural and reservation elementary students will be directly impacted by the year-round development, integration and assessment of culturally responsive engineering education modules within their elementary science curricula via this interdisciplinary project. Structured two-way knowledge exchanges highlighting elementary teachers’ perspectives and assets will help create a collegial and collaborative ecosystem among academia, industry, and elementary teachers aimed at promoting more inclusive STEM identity formation opportunities, and ultimately a more diverse STEM workforce.

Three overarching goals of the new Montana Engineering Education Research Center (MEERC) RET Site are to (1) promote engineering identity formation among diverse rural and reservation students by (2) increasing elementary teacher self-efficacy in culturally responsive engineering education via (3) establishing a collaborative ecosystem among regional elementary schools, industry and academia focused on energy research and diversifying the future engineering workforce. To achieve these goals, the three-year MEERC RET Site Project will facilitate an engaging, holistic and integrated six-week summer experience for at least thirty elementary teachers, which (1) provides authentic energy-related research experiences within engineering laboratories and with appropriate scaffolding and connections to elementary settings, coupled with (2) customized, guided and reflective tours of Montana energy industry facilities and nearby cultural venues, all while (3) fostering development, integration and sharing of unique and high-impact energy-related engineering curricula in elementary classrooms.

Motivated by the efficacy of early STEM identify formation in students pursuing STEM careers and leveraging both existing partnerships and diverse energy-related research, pre- and in-service elementary teachers (grades 3-5) will be recruited from Montana’s rural and reservation communities to participate in the MEERC RET Site at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman. Following structured orientations, trainings and two-way knowledge exchange opportunities, Site participants will engage in hands-on energy-related research experiences, working with engineering faculty and students and contributing directly to funded research projects such as building energy systems, biomass energy conversions, fluid flow processes, materials for energy conversion technologies, and sustainable transportation systems.

Site participants will tour regional energy-related industrial facilities, including a conventional electric power plant, an oil refinery, a hydroelectric dam, a wind farm, a cement plant, and solar power projects. These site visits will be facilitated by MSU engineering alumni, who will comprise an Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for the Site, which will also engage directly with teachers and classrooms.

A unique and integral feature of the MEERC RET Site will be customized, expert-guided and research-informed tours of regionally co-located venues with local Indigenous cultural significance, including a buffalo jump, pictograph caves, various museums, and monuments. Participants will also engage in research-informed activities to help build cultural awareness and incorporate indigenous engineering practices, such as tipi raising, hide tanning and food preparation - as they relate to energy.

Throughout the six-week experience, teachers will work with education experts to develop their own ways to integrate energy-related engineering educational experiences within their elementary class settings. The Site Project Team will also work with teachers on essential understandings from Montana’s Constitutional Article, Indian Education for All (IEFA), which aims to recognize and preserve the unique cultural heritages of American Indians.

During the following academic terms, the Site Project Team will continue to support participating teachers and their integration and assessment of engineering classroom activities developed through their Site experiences. Project products will be shared widely through established venues at MSU and elsewhere, including teachengineering.org, the American Society for Engineering Education PreK-12 Facebook Group, and a newly established Open Education Resource hub being designed and built by the MSU Library in tandem with Montana PBS Learning Media, which reaches thousands of users.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.