| NSF Org: |
DGE Division Of Graduate Education |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | March 2, 2010 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 6, 2015 |
| Award Number: | 0948021 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Laura Regassa
DGE Division Of Graduate Education EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | March 15, 2010 |
| End Date: | February 28, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $2,803,933.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $2,803,933.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2011 = $1,118,509.00 FY 2012 = $563,677.00 FY 2013 = $566,744.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300 DAVIS CA US 95618-6153 (530)754-7700 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1850 RESEARCH PARK DR STE 300 DAVIS CA US 95618-6153 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
IGERT FULL PROPOSALS, GRAD TEACHING FELLOWS IN K-12 |
| Primary Program Source: |
04001112DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001213DB NSF Education & Human Resource 04001314DB NSF Education & Human Resource |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
The Renewable Energy Systems Opportunity for Unified Research Collaboration and Education (RESOURCE) program will provide two-year fellowships to 25 PhD students in engineering disciplines over a five-year project. The intellectual theme for the project will be on the development of sustainable, energy efficient renewable energy technologies including solar, wind and biofuels. Graduate fellows will partner with 50 sixth grade school teachers to create innovative curriculum and educational tools that promote interest in renewable energy technologies and associated STEM disciplines. Fellows and teachers will collaborate on communicating STEM subjects to technical and non-technical audiences, leadership, team building, and teaching. This will enrich the communication of fellows? research and will also improve their ability to communicate to different educational communities including those from different cultural backgrounds.
The intellectual merit of the project is that it will create the model for a new approach to educating engineering graduate students, while helping GK-12 teachers develop the awareness of the university as a source of new content for renewable energy classroom lessons and laboratory experiments. It is anticipated that several of the training elements developed through this program will be incorporated as an integral part of other STEM graduate programs at UC Davis and research universities across the nation.
The broader impact of the project is that it directly addresses the national policy imperative to increase the participation of US citizens, particularly women and underrepresented minorities, in engineering studies and careers. Overall, RESOURCE will enhance the pedagogical impact of graduate education to society.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Renewable Energy Systems Opportunity for Unified Research Collaboration and Education (RESOURCE) program was a structured graduate training program that paired PhD students with elementary school teachers to develop and deliver Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) curriculum related to renewable energy and environmental sustainability. Since its inception in March of 2010, the RESOURCE program funded 1 and 2 year fellowships for 30 graduate students at UC Davis, provided professional development for 25 teachers, and reached over 2000 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students at 16 elementary schools in educationally disadvantaged communities. RESOURCE products included lessons and activities on general energy concepts (what is energy, renewable vs. nonrenewable energy, climate and environmental impacts) and on each fellow’s specific research. RESOURCE graduate fellows developed over 100 lesson elements resulting in 33 peer-reviewed engineering lessons and activities available at TeachEngineering.org.
In addition to teaching students about renewable energy and environmental sustainability, fellows mentored elementary school teams in Sacramento City Unified School District’s year-long Project Green program, an initiative to add a real-world application to classroom instruction about the environment and sustainable living (http://www.scusd.edu/post/project-green). In Project Green, student teams perform building audits in order to reduce resource consumption. The teams then present recommendations to a panel of experts to receive funding to implement the proposed changes at their schools. Teams coached by RESOURCE fellows did an exceptional job preparing and communicating their proposals and were awarded funding to improve infrastructure and resource use at their school sites.
Throughout the year, RESOURCE fellows participated in school MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement) activities, aimed at providing STEM enrichment opportunities for educationally disadvantaged students in grades 4-6. Fellows worked with about 450 MESA students per year, contributing to and leading MESA activities and facilitating MESA competitions for their schools. An Elementary MESA handbook was developed and made available to teachers to further sustain the activities of RESOURCE at the elementary level.
Last Modified: 03/20/2017
Modified by: Jean S Vandergheynst
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