2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In 2023, University of Houston (UH) at Houston, Texas was awarded an NSF Research Experience for Preservice Teachers (RE-PST) site grant titled “Industries of the Future Research Experience for Preservice Teachers in STEM Settings.” The goal of the project is to host 10 high school preservice teachers each summer to participate in Industries of the Future (IotF) research fields and then convert their experience into high school curriculum. In the 2020 report of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to the President of the USA, PCAST has recommended a set of bold actions to help ensure continued leadership in IotF, comprising artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), advanced manufacturing, advanced communications, and biotechnology. In summer 2023, the first cohort of 8 preservice teachers (PST) from the UH teachHOUSTON (tH) PST program participated in the RE-PST program at UH Cullen College of Engineering (CCOE). This six-week program, open to high school STEM PSTs in the tH program, sought to advance future educators’ knowledge of concepts in IotF as a means of enriching high school curriculums defined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standard. Six UH CCOE professors each led workshops in a week. Five research mentors, assisted by student research assistants, mentored PSTs on various projects. The group also participated in field trips to local companies including Samson Controls, TechnipFMC, Beckhoff Automation, and SLB (Schlumberger). They worked with the professors in the teachHOUSTON on applying their knowledge learned to lesson plan design. Participants met weekly for Brown Bag teacher seminars to share their experiences and discuss curricula. On the final day of the program, the PSTs presented their curriculum prototype for their future field teaching to the group and received completion certificates. This summer is special in that this cohort of 8 PSTs participated in some activities together with 15 high school in-service teachers in the Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program at UH. The common activities include one day workshop in SolidWorks design, field trips, and some curriculum development sessions. Two research mentors mentored both PST and in-service teachers. PST participants found the research experience with their mentors beneficial not only to them, but also to their future students according to our findings from interviews. Selected course modules will be submitted teachengineering.org for other K-12 educators to access.