Introduction

The UTeachEngineering Engineering Summer Institutes for Teachers (ESIT) will build on the Cockrell School of Engineering’s successful experiences in in-service teacher training to develop and deliver an innovative professional development opportunity to secondary engineering teachers from across the state. Developed by the Cockrell School of Engineering in collaboration with the Colleges of Education and Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin and the Jonsson School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas and the College of Engineering at The University of Texas at El Paso, ESIT will guide teachers in an exploration of the fields of engineering and the unique pedagogical requirements of engineering education while preparing them to pass the Texas engineering educators’ certification exam.

ESIT is unique in its commitment to developing and delivering teacher training opportunities in collaboration with other schools and colleges of engineering across the state. We have identified our first two replication sites (UT Dallas and UT El Paso) and are planning to identify three more replication sites within the next two years. Teachers who have completed the ESIT program at UT Austin, UT Dallas or UT El Paso will be encouraged to deliver workshops and other professional development opportunities to introduce colleagues to engineering and to prepare them to pass the Texas engineering educators’ certification exam.

The ESIT application process will be competitive with selection based on a candidate’s demonstrated academic capacity and potential to grow into a teacher leader with expertise in content- and inquiry-based pedagogy. ESIT alumni who wish to pursue a Master’s degree after completing the ESIT program will be encouraged to apply to the UTeachEngineering Master of Arts in Science and Engineering Education (MASEE) degree program, where their ESIT courses may count toward a MASEE degree.

Overview

• The full ESIT program will be completed in one 6-week summer session at UT Austin, UT Dallas, UT El Paso or another ESIT replication site.
   
• Summer course work will consist of six credit hours that may* be applied toward the UTeachEngineering Master of Arts in Science and Engineering Education (MASEE) degree program. (*A decision on this will be made as quickly as possible.)
   
• Scholarships will be available to subsidize costs of tuition. Housing and travel assistance will be provided as needed for the summer sessions. 
   
• ESIT alumni who are selected to disseminate content regionally will be offered stipends and supported with a variety of video and Web-based resources, including the following:

• Professionally recorded and edited ESIT sessions and short features demonstrating how to set up activities, how to design and implement effective and interdependent cooperative group work, how to use probing questions to elicit student thoughts and encourage critical thinking, and how to assess students based on the inquiry techniques employed.
   
• Additional features including short lectures on relevant content and Socratic discussions with ESIT participants led by content experts, education faculty, and UTeachEngineering master teachers.
   
• Online access to video resources, an online library of research-based lesson plans and lesson studies, and all written documentation and manuals associated with the annual ESIT sessions.
   
• Interactive Web features such as a discussion board to allow ESIT and MASEE alumni to share best practices and address challenges; an “Ask an Expert” feature to provide ESIT and MASEE alumni with continuing access to content experts in science, engineering, and pedagogy; and an eventual online mentorship program.

Innovative New Courses

ESIT will offer two innovative new courses in engineering education.

• Foundations in Engineering and Design will introduce teachers with limited training in engineering to the scope of engineering, basic foundations of engineering science, and engineering design. The course will be designed to cover essential elements as defined by the State of Texas in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for engineering, and will prepare enrollees to pass the engineering teacher certification exam. A student laboratory will be dedicated to the course.
   
• Project-Based Lesson Development in Engineering will offer ESIT participants the opportunity to collaborate with their peers to develop innovative, project-based lessons for use in their engineering, science, and math classrooms. Additionally, participants will learn about current theories of learning and conceptual development in engineering and how these theories support the development of high-quality lessons. All lessons developed through the ESIT program will go into the UTeachEngineering Lesson Library, where they may be accessed and utilized by all UTeachEngineering participants.