Education and Outreach in Materials Science and Engineering EOT
Reaching the community and inspiring students into pursuing careers in STEM is an important part of PREM. EOT: Education and Outreach in Materials Science and Engineering was created in order to advance diversity in all four PREM institutions by recruting underrepresented students from K-12. Using as leverage the unique environments of all four instititution, we are able to provide students with diverse research experiences related to the projects within PREM.
Research Experiences for Teachers (RET)
The RET program provides teachers with training by project experts suchs as PI’s, Post Docs and Graduate Students. These experiences are given in PREM facilities and inspired by their research.Every year two teachers are selected to have an authentic research experience in PREM .
Exciting K-12 Students and Teachers about Materials Science and Engineering
Research Experiences for Teachers (RET): The main objective of this project is to provide middle and high school teachers an authentic research experience that will enhance their classroom teaching. The UPRM and the Wisconsin MRSEC have collaboratively run a cross-cultural RET program in Wisconsin and Puerto Rico since 2010.
Last summer we had two RET teachers. Faculty and graduate students from UPRM and the MRSEC mentored the teachers in developing projects and classroom modules with concepts from the research topics from their own labs. The teachers implemented the modules in their own classrooms during the academic year. The program also included professional development activities such as: 1) inclusive teaching, 2) ethics in context: ethics of technology, and 3) five REU seminars. The MRSEC supported six teachers in the program, the PREM and UPRM supported two teachers, and faculty collaborators supported three additional teachers for a total cohort of eight.
The RET program culminated in a capstone week wherein the UW and UPRM teachers met in PR from July 15 to 22, 2023 to share their projects, cultures, and teaching experiences. During capstone week, each RET participant led the group through their classroom activity. These presentations were designed to enable the teachers to pilot their activity with colleagues and encourage participants to adopt one another’s activities in their classrooms. The teachers also participated in a series of educational fieldtrips and learned about the culture, education system, and natural history of PR. These field trips included a cultural workshop about Bomba dance from Mayagüez and visits to Magueyes Island, the Río Camuy Cave Park, and El Yunque National Forest. The capstone week also provided an opportunity for extensive networking between teachers including in person discussions about potential collaborations and sharing of classroom activities.
Science on Wheels
Science on Wheels is a URPM program that collaborates with PREM by providing students with research experience that help motivate them into purisuing careers in STEM.
EVENTS:
“Ask me anything” – Science Festival
DOCUMENTS:
5th Crystalization Competition:
Teacher’s Guide – 5th Crystallization Competition
Module – 5th Crystallization Competition
RET Summer 2019: