Evaluation of Research Experience or Teachers (RET) Program Effectiveness as STEM Professional Development

The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) hosts a National Science Foundation funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program that focuses on STEM content surrounding the waterenergy nexus (WENG: Water-Energy Nexus for the Next Generation). The objectives of this program are to: 1) impact teacher participants by increasing their knowledge of the water-energy nexus and by expanding their perspectives on science, engineering and research, 2) to indirectly impact K-12 student’s learning, motivation and engagement by increasing teacher passion and awareness and by providing mentors for CSM in the K-12 classroom, and 3) to impact K-12 STEM curricula via the creation of standards-based active learning lessons infused with current research which will be available through local, regional and national forums. During the summer of 2017, we systematically evaluated the effectiveness of the WENG RET program through preprogram, post-program and weekly surveys, employing both quantitative and qualitative questions. By measuring teacher satisfaction/agreement (%) with respect to the following categories, post-program quantitative responses indicated high levels of program effectiveness; as a professional development program (94.4%), mentor relationships (88.9%), types of learning experiences (88.9%), program accomplishments (83.4%), personal impact (91.4%) and overall experience (92.3%). Quantitative responses from weekly program surveys show increasing levels of program satisfaction (in seven of eight categories) throughout the duration of the RET program. Ongoing work includes evaluation of qualitative survey responses to further measure program effectiveness and to assess self-efficacy in teacher participants. Results will help formulate the remaining summer WENG programs as well as future K-12 outreach at the Colorado School of Mines.