Research Experience for Teachers

The National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Teachers works to give teachers hands-on engineering experiences.

Research shows that students who form an identity of being interested in science, technology, engineering and math before the age of 12 are more likely to end up in a STEM field.

However, most elementary-age students have little exposure to engineering.

The National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Teachers program aims to change that. The program works to give teachers hands-on engineering experiences and help them turn those experiences into lesson plans that they can take back to their classrooms.

Montana State University in Bozeman recently established a Research Experience for Teachers, or RET, site, and NorthWestern Energy partnered with MSU to help teachers see engineering in action.

In July, 10 teachers and students studying to become teachers got a special tour of Madison Dam, led by two NorthWestern Energy engineers and the hydro plant foreman. The tour was a chance for teachers to see firsthand what an engineer’s job might look like.

“We touch so many different disciplines doing our work,” said BJ Cope, NorthWestern Energy Engineer.

Participants in Montana State University’s Research Experience for Teachers program tour Madison Dam.

The teachers learned about how hydro facilities produce clean, carbon-free energy, and how we can change flows to generate more or less electricity.

MSU's Research Experience for Teachers site is also working to incorporate engineering into Montan's Indian Education for All curriculum with the goal of getting more Native American students interested in engineering.

“Ultimately we want to have more engineers and more diverse engineers,” said Paul Gannon, MSU Engineering Professor and one of the leaders of the RET site.

Kalani Madrona is one of the pre-service teachers in the RET program. He’s studying education at MSU.

Kalani grew up in a small town in the Mojave Desert in California. From a young age, he was interested in science and engineering, but he had little exposure to the subjects, beyond the basics, in his rural school.

“Coming to college, I felt like I was at a huge disadvantage,” he said.

Kalani plans to pursue a master’s degree in STEM education and hopes to eventually start a program to train paraprofessionals to help special needs students get more exposure to STEM education.

He expects what he’s learning in the RET program is going to be extremely helpful to him down the road.

“I think it’s going to transform a lot of teachers here,” he said. Transforming teachers is the goal of the program. Paul wants teachers to feel comfortable teaching students about engineering and introducing engineering topics in the classroom.

Madison Dam is a 13-megawatt hydro plant.

Becky Hammack was transformed by the RET program. Becky taught middle school science and engineering in Oklahoma for 12 years. She participated in RET for two years as a teacher and then got a grant to start an elective engineering class.

“It really inspired me,” she said.

Becky now teaches at MSU’s College of Education and helps lead MSU’s RET site. Becky helps the RET program participants take what they learn through hands-on research and develop engineering curricula to use in their classroom.

“Programs like this are really beneficial because they give teachers real-world exposure,” she said.