2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper reports two years’ experience from our implementation of the NSF project 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. IotF topics include 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). In summer 2024, the second cohort also had 8 PSTs. This six-week 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. Enrichment activities include research workshops, field trips to local companies, and lesson plan design. Compared to the first year, the research mentors are more experienced in assigning research topics and working more closely with PSTs. This paper provides details on the commonality and improvement in the second year’s implementation, in comparison to the first year. Some follow up activities from the first cohort is also reported. Overall, 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.