2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In 2022, the US Congress passed the Chips and Science Act, which aimed to bring more advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to the US while mitigating supply chain risks and maintaining US technological and economic leadership. With $52 billion in Federal and $210 billion in private investments committed to date, the US is facing a new problem: not enough workers. The shortage of STEM students was just one of many causes. A more important one may be that most high school curricula today do not have any materials related to semiconductors, even though transistors were invented in the 1940s.

To address the problem, we proposed a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) site on chip design funded by the National Science Foundation. Ten high school and community college teachers were recruited around the State to learn about chip design basics for six weeks. As part of the RET, teachers were also required to translate their experience into new curriculum modules suitable for their students. At the end of the RET, we asked how teachers felt about implementing the new modules they developed in the next academic year. This paper summarizes the results of this evaluation.

First, teachers still require a lot of hand-holding after their RET training. This is probably because the learning of semiconductors is not a one-time deal but a continuous learning process. Teachers reported the desire for continual access to training videos, industry engineers, faculty, and graduate students for Q&A.

Second, peer-to-peer support is essential to sustain the momentum. Teachers enjoyed learning semiconductors as a cohort and needed to feel that they were not alone in teaching semiconductors to their students. Many teachers proposed multiple ways to stay connected and share their lessons learned once they implement their modules in the classroom.

Third, the curriculum needs to be student-centric and tailored to their students’ interests. For some teachers, semiconductor careers may be a hard sell because their students don’t see any jobs within our State. For others, hands-on activities are what their students like the most. For others, career statistics will persuade students, and they continue looking for ways and materials to hit that message home.

The data in this paper was collected using qualitative methods, such as exit interviews and one-on-one feedback. The pedagogical approach used during our RET training includes two workshops on a tri-part framework for curriculum design: cultural relevance, concept-based understanding, and backward design.

The takeaway message of this paper is that the end of RET teacher training is not the end. It is only the start. A complete understanding of the teacher’s perspective and the challenges they face implementing these new modules are critical to the success of any similar semiconductor workforce training and curriculum development effort.