Professional Development for Rural STEM Teachers on Data Science and Cybersecurity

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Recruitment, Development, and Retention of Rural Teachers

Abstract

The professional development (PD) was a six-week long summer intensive NSF funded project that took place at a large University in Western Texas. It was designed to provide a research rich learning environment in data science and cybersecurity for STEM teachers in a region that is mainly rural. Because of geographical isolation, rural teachers lack the resources to prepare their K-12 students for STEM careers and often, find it difficult to bring innovative science teaching into their rural schools. The team comprised of nine teachers, six professors and five graduate students. Teachers collaboratively worked on research projects, developed units and lesson plans. Naturalistic observation, content analysis of teacher products and reflections provided data for the study.

Authors

• Faith Maina, Texas Tech University

• Julie Smit, Texas Tech University

• Abdul Serwanda, Texas Tech University

• Susan Mengel, Texas Tech University

• Jin Fang, Texas Tech University