The Research Experiences for Teachers program titled "Exploring Career Opportunities through Water-Themed Engineering Research", or ECO-WaTER, offered three six-week long summer programs in 2019, 2021 and 2022 at the University of Kansas (KU). Twenty-seven in-service and one pre-service high school math and science educators engaged in water focused research across multiple engineering disciplines. In 2019, this program was also assisted by the UKanTeach program at KU.

ECO-WaTER research projects contributed to knowledge in water treatment and sustainability across multiple engineering disciplines. Methods were developed to remove PFOA from drinking water using zeolites and algal beads, and to isolate perchlorate-degrading soil enzymes. Electrocoagulation was used to remove boron from high-salinity oil and gas wastewater for irrigation purposes. Thermal methods for isolating water from Martian regolith were tested to assess the potential for 'mining' rocket fuel from Mars, and models were developed to assess the use of dry and wet cooling towers at thermal power plants. A cross-flow filtration oil/water separator made from annealed woven steel mesh was designed and tested. The effectiveness of nickel foam and mesh electrodes were investigated for use in hydrogen generation through water splitting. Hydrogels were characterized to determine compression, diffusion, and permeability for use in tissue engineering and biosensor development, and the use of different polymer blends examined to create hydrogels for water purification.

Participants transformed their research projects into 20 lesson plans and related activities to take back to the classroom. These resources integrate engineering with high-school science and math classes at all high-school levels. Created lessons give students the chance to design and test concepts like thermal distillation, hydrophobicity and membrane performance, electrocoagulation, water splitting and biocatalysis. Several lessons focused on water quality analysis and contaminant removal from drinking water.  One notable achievement of the ECO-WaTER program is the development of high school math lessons that feature real-life engineering applications of core concepts from the math curriculum. Partnering math and science teachers also produced lesson plans that spanned multiple classes across the math and science curriculum.

Human resources have been positively impacted in several ways. In-service high school teachers learned about research methods and instrumentation relevant to water treatment and analysis, electrochemistry, catalyst development, environmental microbiology, and materials analysis.  Professional development sessions enhanced participants' understanding of the engineering design process, engineering careers and practice, lab safety and research ethics. The program nurtured long-term professional collaborations between high school teachers and college faculty. In assessment surveys, participants consistently reported that the program increased their understanding of engineering and engineering careers, as well as their ability to transfer this understanding to their students. At least two teachers in each summer program came from the same school, which enhanced collaboration between multiple disciplines.

The program also gave educators the chance to work with people from different backgrounds, exposing them to new knowledge and pedagogical strategies. While participants were majority white, many taught at schools with high proportions of Black and Hispanic students as well as economically disadvantaged students. To promote inclusion of underrepresented groups, we enhanced the diversity of our participants by recruiting from more populated urban areas within Kansas, particularly Topeka and Kansas City, KS.

 RET participants enhanced their classroom infrastructure with educational resources and supplies needed to implement new curricula.

Academic year lesson implementation and follow-up assessments were affected by COVID-era changes from in-person to online learning and the postponement of the 2020 program. Post-lesson assessments from the first two cohorts did conclude that these lessons had an overall positive impact on student's opinions about STEM related subjects and careers. Student and teacher surveys both indicated that participation of KU mentors in the follow-up lessons had a positive impact on the lesson itself.

A survey of high-school teacher alumni from multiple RET programs funded at KU from 2010-2019 indicated that the lessons developed through the RET Programs have made considerable impacts on their teaching strategies and on student's interest in STEM fields. Additionally, the high-school teachers believed that the lessons had substantial impacts on students who are often underrepresented in STEM related fields.  These groups include female students, minority students, and students of low income. 

This project has significantly impacted society, educating more than one thousand students in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, making them better citizens with problem-solving skills and the knowledge base to address challenges facing the world today.  Published results will have impact at the national level as well.  The research has the potential to lead to several new technological advances of relevance to society, such as control of PFAS and other emerging drinking water contaminants and the development of new water and wastewater treatment methods utilizing hydrogels, hydrophobic membranes, and microbial enzymes.

Last Modified: 12/28/2022
Modified by: Edward Peltier