Research Experiences for Teachers: Civil Engineering Instruction for Secondary Education Teachers

The goals of this Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program are to (1) provide a deeper understanding of civil engineering with tangible hands-on curriculum and (2) develop better abilities among middle and high school (secondary education) teachers in North Dakota (ND) to prepare their students to become future leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The objective of this proposal is to create and establish a RET Engineering site at North Dakota State University (NDSU) for secondary educators to deepen their knowledge on how civil engineering can be used to mitigate natural disasters in the region and globally.

The target audience for this program is 6th to 12th grade educators teaching in the STEM fields from schools that serve large populations of underserved and underrepresented groups including females, Hispanic, African American and Native American students. Teachers will be engaged in hands-on authentic research experiences revolving around the theme of “mitigating natural disasters” in the labs of NDSU Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) to help address issues impacting the region and globally from natural disasters including extreme weather, flooding, extreme temperatures, landslides, earthquakes, drought, wildfires, and volcanic activities.

These activities will allow them to bridge research experiences to improve content knowledge which will translate to improved secondary STEM education in their classrooms. Teachers will work with faculty and graduate students on these continuing projects during the six-week summer experience towards two outcomes: (1) gain proficiency in the technical content through their research and (2) develop a curricular module related to that research focus.

An additional focus of this RET program is to foster mentorship between current teachers and pre-service teachers primarily interested in STEM education. The program will provide pre-service teachers with a unique opportunity to create their own lessons based on research and teach the curriculum in the classrooms of the current STEM teachers. This will result in more hands- on classroom teaching experiences to better prepare pre-service teachers for their future careers.

The anticipated broader impacts of this RET program are to inspire young minds to continue to solve real-world problems related to natural disasters. As this program focuses on teachers that serve in under- represented and under-served populations relative to the engineering discipline, the curricular modules will directly contribute to an increased exposure and interest to STEM opportunities that these students would otherwise not receive.

Another impact of this program is to foster better relationships and networking between secondary educators, university faculty, and the civil engineering industry that will extend beyond the duration of the RET program. Ultimately, the program will improve curriculum and student preparedness for research and leadership within STEM disciplines. The theme of the RET program is to “mitigate natural disasters.” Publications and presentations from the authentic summer research experiences will disseminate solutions to issues faced during natural disasters including rapid assessment of at-risk infrastructure, real-time analyses of efficient evacuation routes, better simulations and models for flood protection, and evaluate potential secondary threats to the infrastructure.

The knowledge created from the research conducted as part of this program will help to rescue and save lives during and after a natural disaster, improve resource allocation, and create more resilient communities.

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.