It’s back! CPSPE’s Research Experience for Teachers program is under way for the summer of 2017
Dr. Kevin Cavicchi teaching RET participants about the history of polymers in Akron
Beginning Tuesday, eleven high school and middle school teachers will be coming to campus to work with research groups on subjects like chemistry, biology, and engineering. They will be working in CPSPE labs for eight weeks, at the end of which they can walk away with research experience that will help them develop new curriculum to take back to their classrooms.
RET participants working together on a project
In addition to the lab experience, participating teachers will take field trips to polymer industries such as NASA and Lubrizol. On a weekly basis they will have lunch with faculty to talk about what’s going on in the labs and present the highlights of their new curriculum. Participants may also choose to travel to the American Chemical Society conference and present their newly developed curriculum towards the end of the program.
“That’s an opportunity that teachers don’t get too often,” said John Fellenstein, content specialist for the Akron Global Polymer Academy and a former science teacher.
RET in itself is an exclusive opportunity. Since the program’s inception in 2012, only ten teachers have been able to participate each summer. This year, they have accepted eleven. Six of these are returning participants from last year’s program, while five are brand new applicants. All of them were selected as the most qualified out of a number of applicants, and while most are local, some will travel to Akron from places as far as Houston, Texas.
RET will run until August 3rd and will return next year, thanks to a generous three-year grant renewal from the National Science Foundation. UA and CPSPE will continue using their resources to better education inside their own classrooms and in high schools everywhere.