Research Experiences for Teachers

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Science and Mechatronics Aided Research for Teachers with an Entrepreneurship expeRience (SMARTeR) at New York University Tandon School of Engineering is a professional development opportunity for NYC Middle School and High School teachers. Funded by the National Science Foundation, under its Research Experience for Teachers Site program, SMARTeR helps teachers provide their students enhanced STEM educational content through mechatronics research and entrepreneurship training.

After two weeks of introduction to research teachers are paired in engineering labs where they will participate in cutting edge research opportunities. Teachers will then be supported as they take their research experience and transform it into lesson plans for their students.  

With Teachers as Partners, the Project is: 

• Develops and refines curricula to the NGSS that promote project-based, hands-on, instruction to help students learn, understand, and apply underlying science and math content through robotics activities.

• Foster teachers’ skills and attitudes for integrating mechatronics-based learning in required science and math classes.

• Enable teachers to use their students’ interest in technology to help them learn science and math content. 

• Use mechatronics and entrepreneurship as a means to expose teachers to tools, techniques, and models of authentic engineering design.

• Introduce K-12 teachers and their students to the processes of entrepreneurship including business planning, social entrepreneurship, new product development, intellectual property, and raising funding.

Teachers Will:

• Discover the science and math inherent in mechatronics activities.

• Understand how to address the engineering design content of the Next Generation Science Standards.

• Integrate real-world, hands-on, learning activities aligned with STEM standards into curriculum.

• Be able to provide their students with a solid foundation for future college-level study in STEM disciplines.

• Mentor students to participate in entrepreneurship competitions, and develop laboratory activities in their schools using an equipment kit (microcontroller and components) provided by SMARTeR.

• Form a professional learning community for ongoing support.

• Have personal experience, after shadowing industry professionals, to increase student STEM career-awareness.

• Mechatronics will convey new & accessible representations of STEM content.
• Support for active, collaborative learning for standards-aligned physical science and math courses. 
• Teachers will receive a mechatronics/robotics kit for use during summer that they can take back to school. Schools must invest in additional equipment for classroom use.
• Teachers who have shadowed industry professionals will give students concrete examples of STEM careers, increasing STEM learning engagement.
• Teachers can leverage technology entrepreneurship lessons to promote STEM learning motivation and engagement.

• Teachers must be math or science certified (will also consider CTE teachers).

• Regular teaching appointment at a middle or high school located in a New York City borough.

• Three years of full-time teaching experience in science, math, or pre-engineering disciplines.

• Endorsement by the school principal.

Duration: Six weeks: July 8 to August 16, 2019.

• Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:30 A.M.—5:00 P.M.

• Where: NYU Tandon School of Engineering, 6 MetroTech, Brooklyn, NY 11201

• During the academic year: follow-up with industry mentors, one meeting all teachers as a professional learning community and one or more classroom visits by an NYU graduate student researcher or faculty, help students participate in an annual Inno/Vention competition.

Open House: February 27, 2019 at 4:30pm- 5:30pm (optional)

STIPEND: Project participants who successfully complete all requirements will receive a stipend of $7,500. Income tax obligations are the responsibility of the teachers.

Responsibilities: To receive a full stipend, participants are required to:

• Attend all training, research, and presentation activities.

• Complete assigned engineering research, oral presentation, research report and project web page.

• Participate in academic year follow-up activities.

• Mentor students to participate in an Inno/Vention student idea competition.

• Conduct classroom impact assessment and provide the results for reporting to NSF.