Tuere Bowles

Social media for sustainable engineering communication

This paper provides an overview of current research on social media applications, including user demographics and how social media websites define themselves. The paper also describes user activities using social media and suggests known strengths and weaknesses of social media, and concludes by outlining several recommendations for developing strong online communities.

Middle and high school teachers' implementation reflections of photonics and optics curriculum in a qualitative study

The purpose of this paper is to describe middle and high school science teachers’ self-reported experiences learning and adopting novel optics and photonics content. The hybrid teacher professional development program design, theoretical framework, methodology, findings, and implications related to teachers’ adoption decisions of optics and photonics content will be reported in the paper.

Lighting the Way: Photonics Leaders II (PL2) Optics and Photonics Teacher Professional Development

A sample group of nineteen teachers completed the second phase of the Photonics Leaders II Optics and Photonics professional development program. Participants took a basic Physics content knowledge test that was designed by a Professor of Physics. The test was completed before the teachers participated in the program and at the end of the program to gather data for statistical inquiry. Statistical studies on pre-test and post-test data indicated significant gains in physics content knowledge over time, and that instructors teaching at the middle school level or only teaching one subject area scored significantly lower during the pretest. Reports from previous participants are summarized to disseminate the percentage of teachers who have incorporated at least one workshop activity and the kind of activity performed. The concerns and limitations reported by previous participants are reviewed as well.

Piloting photonics curriculum in staff development

The papers goal is to inform outreach coordinators and scientists of strategies used to develop a Light Emitting Diode (LED) curriculum module for high school students. Field-testing the weeklong LED curriculum, teachers acquired new instructional strategies to develop students career and global workforce skills in STEM disciplines. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) funded program session will highlight initial findings of the developmental process, review data of the pilot study with middle and high school teachers participating in a teacher workshop and student program offered by The Science House of North Carolina State University.

Book Review: Making Community Connections: The Orton Family Foundation Community Mapping Program

tivity. It may be difficult for educators to convince employers of the benefits of promoting critical thinking and problem posing in their employees, who may use their new skills to advocate for change. The book lacks practical advice for selling the concept of learner-centered education to the employers. Without the cooperation of the organization, the workplace educator will find it very difficult to implement the practical suggestions that are the major contribution of this book.