RET Site: More than Automotive--Toward a Healthier, Sustainable Society (MATHS2)

About This Grant

Under this three-year RET Site: More than Automotive–Toward a Healthier, Sustainable Society (MATHS2) ten participants each year will engage in engineering research featuring the automotive industry and translate their experiences into creative curricula for their students. Teacher participants will engage in cutting-edge research in areas intersecting engineering, health care and sustainability. A special focus is the concept of ‘What is an engineer?’ where participants will examine different areas of engineering and the impact of engineering in society and potential careers. This site is structured around a thoughtful coupling of both state-of-the-art engineering research experience with research-driven educational coaching on how to translate these experiences into K-12 classroom curricula. Two key outcomes of this program include an interactive, online repository of the curricular elements developed through the program and an annual workshop geared toward area teachers to enhance engagement in STEM instruction. The MATHS2 RET Site, located in the metro-Detroit area, attempts to shift the local vernacular on ‘What is an engineer?’ from an automotive stereotype to a broader portrait of problem solvers that tackle society’s most pressing issues. This shift in perspective can translate to broader K12 student participation in STEM educational and career pathways, particularly in the metro-Detroit area, as well as supporting student learning aligned with engineering education strands. Collaborative research experiences between teacher participants and faculty mentors span several interdisciplinary fields that range from optimizing algae as a feedstock for biodiesel production to developing socially assistive robots for healthcare. Weekly cohort workshops will develop course materials and curricula with education faculty. Regular workshops and seminars to deepen teachers’ engineering knowledge and strengthen their pedagogical strategies. Pragmatic follow-up plans include 2 site visits to the RET teachers’ classrooms, an annual K-12 teacher training workshop on phenomenon-driven and inquiry-oriented learning and development of an interactive online repository of the curricular elements developed through the program. The key outcomes of this RET site are to help quantify the extent to which non-automotive engineering applications increase participation and efficacy in STEM for students. In addition, the classroom lessons or units will be disseminated through an annual teacher workshop as well as an online, interactive repository (Teach Engineering). 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.