STEM High School Teaching Enhancement Through Collaborative Engineering Research on Extreme Winds

Abstract

The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program on Hazard Mitigation at the University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington) involved area high school STEM teachers in engineering research with faculty and graduate students. The primary objective of the project is to train participating teachers in inquiry based research learning, research design, execution and implementation and eventually to apply this knowledge of engineering and technological innovation to their high school STEM classrooms. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project included a total of seven research projects with the common theme of natural and man-made hazards. The RET extreme wind project setup and results are described in this article. The project was implemented through classroom lectures, hands on training, field trips and workshops, enhanced lesson plans for high schools, and teacher professional development. The project had significant positive impact on enhancing the engineering research interest of the participating teachers. The classroom learning experience of the high school students of these teachers were greatly enhanced through the RET knowledge and enhanced lesson plans, increasing their interest in engineering as a career.