AFS, the high-school student exchange program, and energy company BP have teamed up on a new study abroad program aimed at promoting intercultural understanding among high school students interested in pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math careers.
BP Global STEM Academies are full scholarship programs that include travel costs between participants’ hometowns and Brazil, Egypt, and the United States. The month-long programs provide exciting opportunities for students to boost STEM learning while developing such key competencies as language and problem-solving skills, collaboration, and the ability to build bridges across cultures.
Click HERE to apply. Deadline is March 31, 2018 11:59 Eastern Time
Questions? Please contact the AFS-USA BP Study Abroad Specialist at bpscholarship@afsusa.org or 1-646-751-2088 (office hours Monday- Friday 10 AM- 6 PM EST).
OK Go is a band that “likes to make stuff.” Its wildly popular creations include tech-themed music videos that feature synchronized treadmill routines (Here it Goes Again), walls of rapid-fire printers (“Obsession“), and zero-gravity gymnastics (“Upside Down & Inside Out“).
AnnMarie Thomas is an engineering educator and director of the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas. She likes to make stuff, too. In fact, she’s one of the founders of the Maker education movement whose accomplishments include a book (Making Makers: Kids, Tools, and the Future of Innovation), an arts-inspired method for teaching electric circuits using play dough and LEDs (Squishy Circuits), and ability to soar through the air on the trapeze.
Put them together and the result is OK Go Sandbox, a video-rich repository of STEAM activities, lesson plans, and design challenges that put the fun in such fundamentals as simple machines while developing students’ creativity.
The online portal, which debuted at the National Science Teachers Association’s national conference in Atlanta on March 15, provides classrooms with behind-the-scenes segments of OK Go productions coupled with teachers guide, worksheets, design challenges, and other resources. Among them: explaining simple machines using clips with the Rube Goldberg machine featured in the band’s hit “This Too Shall Pass” and “The One Moment of Math” based on the calculations needed to precisely locate and time various paint-splattering devices in “The One Moment” video.
OK Go Sandbox also will offer opportunities for teachers and students to communicate directly with the band and their collaborators. Learn more at: https://okgosandbox.org/
Activity from TeachEngineering.org, a searchable online library of teacher-tested lessons and activities developed by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s College of Engineering.
Summary
Working as engineering teams, middle school students design and create model beam bridges using plastic drinking straws and tape. Their goal is to build the strongest truss bridge while meeting the design criteria and constraints, experimenting with different geometric shapes and determining how shapes affect the strength of materials. Let the competition begin!
Grade level: 6-8
Time: 50 minutes
Engineering Connection
Beam bridges are the most common type of bridge designed by engineers and relatively easy to imagine and build. Yet, with truss designs, the possibilities are unlimited. To design bridges, engineers perform careful analysis of bridge geometries and the anticipated applied loads that so they can determine the exact place of the reaction forces. Engineers also consider the most effective materials to achieve a balance of tension and compression. Engineers determine the bridge type, design and materials; analyze site conditions, geologic and environmental factors; and establish detailed design plans and budget/funding schedules.
Learning Objectives
After this activity, students should be able to:
Describe and design model truss bridges.
Identify effective geometric shapes used in bridge design.
Identify several factors that engineers consider when design bridges.
Follow the engineering design process
Learning Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
International Technology and Engineering Educators Association
Structures rest on a foundation.
The selection of designs for structures is based on factors such as building laws and codes, style, convenience, cost, climate, and function.
Materials
Each group needs:
20 plastic drinking straws (not the bendy type)
scotch tape
scissors
measuring stick or ruler (or one for the class to share)
For the entire class to share:
small paper cup
200-300 pennies (to use as weight)
wooden support structure (or use two desks)
balance (for weighing, or count the pennies instead of weighing)
To make the wooden support structure (see Figure 5; optional; may use two desks instead):
two 7-inch (18-cm) pieces of 2 x 4 wood (for bridge abutments; use scrap 2 x 4s)
7 x 13-inch (18 x 33-cm) piece of .25-inch (.6-cm) thick wood (for water base between abutments)
hammer and nails
(optional) blue paint for the base of the support structure, to represent water under the bridge
Finished dimensions of the wooden support structure (optional; may use two same-height desks instead). Dimensions may vary from those below, but these particular dimensions can be made by using scrap 2 x 4s. The most important dimension is the inside length or span. The total length should allow for enough space to place the bridge on the “abutments.”
inside length “span” = 10 inches (25 cm)
total length (span plus two abutments) = 13 inches (33 cm)
abutment height = 3.5 inches (9 cm)
abutment width = 7 inches (18 cm)
Introduction/Motivation
After the Industrial Revolution, bridges became more and more sophisticated as iron and steel became more commonly available. By using iron and steel, engineers could design bridges capable of supporting larger loads and spanning greater distances, making it possible to link cities and communities through shorter, more direct routes and crossing obstacles such as waterways or other natural features that had previously blocked passage. Sometimes we take it for granted that bridges provide important links between places. They enable us to get to resources, conduct commerce, travel and visit other people. The design of bridges is important to the transportation networks we depend upon.
We know there are many different types of bridges. Who can name a type of bridge? (Answers include: Beam, truss, arch, suspension, and cable-stayed.) What makes a bridge a beam bridge? (Review these key points: A beam bridge is usually a simple structure made of horizontal, rigid beams. The beam ends rest on two piers or columns. The beam weight [and any other load] is supported by the columns or piers.) Where on a beam do the forces act? (Review these key points: Compressive forces act on the top portion of the beam and bridge deck, shortening these two elements. Tensile forces act on the bottom portion of the beam, stretching this element.)
Beam bridges are the most common type of bridges, and include truss bridges. Truss bridges distribute forces differently than other beam bridges and are often used for heavy car and railroad traffic. In a truss bridge, the beams are substituted by simple trusses, or triangular units, that use fewer materials and are simple to build.
Truss bridge construction rapidly developed during the Industrial Revolution; they were first made of wood, then of iron and finally of steel. During this time, different truss patterns also made great advances. Many truss systems originated in the mid-1800s are still in use today. The Howe Truss, one of the more popular designs, was patented by William Howe in 1840. His innovation was his use of vertical supports in addition to diagonal supports (see Figure 1). The combination of diagonal and vertical members created impressive strength over long spans; this made the truss design ideal for railroad bridges. Howe’s truss was similar to the existing Kingpost truss pattern. However, he used iron for the vertical supports and wood for the diagonal supports. Although iron and wood are not used as much today in modern bridges, the Howe Truss pattern is still widely used. See Figures 2-4 for other truss patterns.
Today, we are going to act as teams of engineers making bridge models. We have been hired by a city to create a bridge to cross one of the local rivers. However, the city does not want the bridge to affect the fish population in the river below it. Engineers always consider the design objective when creating models. Our design objective is to make a bridge that spans the river (scaled down to a distance of 10 inches [25 cm], supports the most weight for the cars that will pass over it, and does not disturb the river’s fish. To simulate the load of the cars, our bridge must have a place to securely hold a small cup in the center of the span. To demonstrate environmental limitations on the design, no part of the bridge may touch the “water” (or bottom of the wooden support structure) and the bridge cannot be taped to the wooden support structure. Engineers often have many design constraints or limitations that are part of their job assignments. Today, our design constraints not only include the environmental and weight constraints, but also limited budget and materials using straws and tape as our construction materials.
Procedure
Before the Activity
Figure 5. Wooden support structure for the testing station. Blue represents the water below the bridge. The end blocks represent bridge abutments.
Discuss truss bridges with students. Ask students to vote by a show of hands to the following question, “Which shape is more stable, triangles or squares?” Tally their responses and write the totals on the classroom board. Explain with visual demonstrations that squares are less stable than triangles. Do this by showing example straw shapes similar to those in Figures 6 and 7. Stand the shapes up on a desk and push down on the top of them. With very little force applied, the open square shape twists, while the square shape composed of inner triangles withstands much more force.
To each team, pass out 20 straws, scotch tape, scissors and a ruler. Remember, you are teams of engineers making model bridges using straws and tape as your construction materials. Think carefully about what your design will look like. The design objective is to make a bridge that spans the river and supports the most weight. Your bridge design must span a distance of 10 inches (25 cm), which means that the bridge must measure longer than that so it can rest on the abutments on each side of the river. Your bridge must have a place to securely hold a small cup in the center of the span. When we test your bridge, pennies will be added to the cup until the bridge collapses. That amount of pennies and its cup will be weighed. Other design constraints to consider are that no part of the bridge may touch the “water” (or bottom of the wooden support structure) and the bridge cannot be taped to the wooden support structure. Also, the materials are limited. While you can cut your straws to any length you want, you will not be given any additional (or replacement) straws even if you accidentally cut them to lengths you don’t want. So, think, sketch and measure before you cut. Another point to make: A bundle of straws taped together does not satisfy the “spirit” of this bridge-building activity. However, it is not necessary to have bridges look as if small cars could go over them. If necessary, show students example truss designs (see Figures 1-4) as examples of the approach to take (not to copy).
Figure 7. Examples of different cross-bracing techniques using the triangle shape.
Give the student teams time to create their bridges. Give students time to brainstorm ideas, draw sketches, and make plans and calculations before doing any cutting and taping with their limited number of straws.
Figure 8. Example straw bridge design (Howe-Kingpost) placed on the wooden support structure for strength testing.
Before strength testing the bridges, ask each team: Predict how much weight you think will make your bridge collapse. Record predictions on the board. Place each bridge on the wooden support structure (see Figure 8). Position a small paper cup on the bridge at the center of the span; do not place the cup at any other location. Gradually fill the cup with pennies until the bridge collapses or the cup falls off (see Figure 9). Weigh the cup and the pennies on the balance. Make a note of this weight, and record it on the board next to its prediction. Repeat to test all bridges. Note, it may be helpful to add a lot of pennies quickly at first until it appears that the bridge is beginning to fail. At that point, add fewer pennies at a time, more carefully and slowly. The winning bridge design is the one that supports the most weight, while meeting the design criteria and constraints.
Figure 9. This straw bridge was so strong that it took more than a cup of pennies to make it collapse.
Conclude by leading a class discussion of the bridge strength testing results. How would they improve their bridge design? Have students from each engineering team describe what they would do to make their bridges stronger.
Use plastic straws that are not the flexible or “bendy neck” type. If only flexible type straws are available, cut off the straw ends that contain the flexible sections. Since this reduces the straw length, give students 25 straws per group.
Using a balance to calculate the weight of the pennies in the cup is a quick method to determine how much weight each straw bridge held before it collapsed. If a balance is not available, count the number of pennies for weight comparison.
If rulers are not available, measure the span by marking its width on another piece of paper as a handy reference. Or, explain how students can obtain simple measurements using full sheets of copy paper (8 ½ x 11 inches). For example, with a 10-inch span, it would be desirable to make the bridge about 11 inches or equal to the longer dimension of the paper.
Assessment
Pre-Activity Assessment
Voting & Demo: Ask students to vote by a show of hands their opinions to the following question. Tally the votes and write the totals on the classroom board.
Which shape is more stable: triangles or squares? (Explain with visual demonstrations that squares are less stable than triangles. Stand some example tape and straw shapes [Figures 6 and 7] on a desk and push down on the top of them. With very little force applied, the empty square shape twists, while the square shape composed of inner triangles withstands much more force.)
Activity Embedded Assessment
Prediction: Before testing, ask teams to predict how much weight will collapse their bridges. Record predictions on the board.
Post-Activity Assessment
Re-Engineering: Ask students how they might improve their bridge designs, and have them sketch or test their ideas.
Activity Extensions
Ask students if they know about the engineering design process. It is the design, build and test loop used by engineers around the world. The steps of the design process include: 1) define the problem, 2) come up with ideas (brainstorming), 3) select the most promising design, 4) communicate the design, 5) create and test the design, and 6) evaluate and revise the design. Have students reflect upon the bridge-making activity and list what they did for each step of the design process.
Truss patterns are used for more than bridge design. Ask students to note all the real-world applications in which they see truss systems used during one week. Possible examples: the structural members found in roofs (look up into your garage or basement), floors, ceilings and construction of other structures, plus ramps, radio towers, crane arms, and components of other types of bridges. Even a geodesic dome is considered a truss in the shape of a sphere. Can you see triangle geometry in the shape of a bicycle frame? Have students report back to class to share their findings.
Activity Scaling
For lower grades, as students design and build straw bridges to span 10 inches (25 cm), permit them to place intermediate supports in the “water.”
For higher grades, have students design and build straw bridges to span a distance of 20 inches (50 cm) using the same amount of material and no intermediate supports in the “water.”
Contributors
Jonathan S. Goode; Joe Friedrichsen; Natalie Mach; Chris Valenti; Denali Lander; Denise W. Carlson; Malinda Schaefer Zarske
This digital library content was developed by the Integrated Teaching and Learning Program under National Science Foundation grant no. 0338326. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.
Each year, the President of the United States recognizes up to 108 extraordinary teachers of mathematics and science (including computer science) for their work in the classroom. Nominations of K-6th grade teachers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. trust territories (Guam, and Defense Department schools, are currently being accepted through April 1. (Awards alternate every year between recognizing elementary and secondary school educators.)
To nominate a deserving teacher, go to www.paemst.org. Once nominated, teachers must complete the application by May 1, 2018. Selected teachers will receive recognition from the President, a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation, and an opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C. for the celebration and professional development activities.
Since 1983, more than 4,700 teachers have been recognized for their contributions in the classroom and to their profession. (See last year’s award winners.) The National Science Foundation administers the PAEMST on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Emily Roebling was a proper Victorian wife, determined to remain in her husband’s shadow. Yet, she became a early female pioneer in engineering. Emily Roebling, as much as any single person, was responsible for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.
The bridge changed – and took – many lives. Of the estimated 23 people killed during its construction, the most notable was Emily’s father-in-law, John Roebling, who designed it. His foot crushed by metal pilings, Roebling developed lock-jaw from an infection and died. His son Washington, Emily’s husband, then became chief engineer of the largest suspension bridge ever built at the time, and the first structure to span New York’s East River.
As its massive towers began to rise from the riverbed, the bridge brutalized its builders. A new system of pneumatically sealed boxes, called caissons, transported workers to the muddy floor so they could erect the underwater foundations. But when the caisson was raised, workers left the pressurized environment too rapidly. Afterward, they began to suffer from decompression sickness, or “the bends,” a malady little understood at the time. Reactions ranged from cramping to acute physical pain and even blindness and death. Among the stricken was Washington Roebling himself, who became bed-bound and partially blind for the rest of the bridge’s construction.
With a husband ill and near death on many occasions, a brother reeling from an investigation into his Civil War activities, and a young son to raise, Emily took on an additional role: as emissary, passing on to assistant bridge builders the in-depth instructions penned by her husband. When writing became too painful for Washington, Emily transcribed as he dictated each minuscule detail. Eventually, she took over all his important meetings and began visiting the bridge up to three times a day.
Through meticulous work with her husband, Emily studied mathematics, bridge specifications, and the special intricacies of cable construction. When the council that governed the bridge construction demanded that Washington be fired for lack of leadership, Emily ensured that didn’t happen. She also met with politicians, the press, and assistant engineers. Thirteen years after construction began, the bridge opened, and Emily was the first person to cross it, in honor of her contributions. Today, visitors to the East tower of the Brooklyn Bridge can still view the bronze plaque that dedicates the structure to Emily, Washington, and John Roebling – in that order. “Back of every great work we can find the self-sacrificing devotion of a woman,” it states.
In later life, Emily continued to expand her horizons. She drove her own carriage, attended the coronation of the Russian czar, and studied law at New York University. She supported the burgeoning women’s movement. Her final student essay, “A Wife’s Disabilities,” argued for equal legal rights for women. She died of cancer at 58.
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For more information and resources on the Brooklyn Bridge, see the PBS Website.
Do you know a young high school woman who enjoys engineering and could serve as an inspiring role model for other girls?
Encourage her to become an EngineerGirl Ambassador for the 2018/19 school year!
Ambassadors design, develop, and implement a project in their local community to encourage younger girls – particularly those with little access to engineering role models – to think about engineering careers and give them practical experience in engineering design. They receive training and support from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) through the EngineerGirl website, and work with local sponsors and receive guidance and support from EngineerGirl staff.
Projects fall into two broad categories. Ambassadors can facilitate an engineering experience for younger students, such as supporting a local Girl Scout troop earning badges for programming. Or they can create something that promotes engineering and engineering careers to younger students. Examples include developing a video series about engineering in your community that could be used to introduce engineering lessons in elementary classrooms or developing an engineering scavenger hunt for after-school programs.
Each Ambassador receives:
An all-expenses-paid trip for the student and a chaperone to the SWE national conference. (October 18-20, 2018, in Minneapolis, MN)
Project funding of up to $250.
Leadership development and membership in a community of like-minded young women from around the country.
The opportunity to be considered for a $1000 scholarship.
A certificate and letter of recognition from the National Academy of Engineering that may be sent with college applications.
A free one year SWE membership upon acceptance to a university engineering program.
Alumni Ambassadors may continue to participate in the private community and may be invited to participate in other activities over time.
The road to becoming an engineer is rarely easy, but for Dr. Pamela McCauley Bush it was especially challenging. A welfare-supported teenage mother in high school, Bush was repeatedly told that higher education and a successful career were too much to hope for. Undaunted, she worked persistently towards her goal of becoming an engineer, ultimately earning a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in industrial engineering – the first African-American woman to be granted an engineering doctorate in her home state of Oklahoma.
After serving on the MIT faculty and acting as a management consultant for NASA, Dr. Bush and a female colleague decided to found their own company. Tech-Solutions, Inc is a small engineering consulting business that helps government and private agencies develop solutions to management and efficiency issues.
In addition to running Tech-Solutions, Dr. Bush currently is a professor at the University of Central Florida, where she leads the Ergonomics Laboratory and has won numerous teaching awards. There she conducts research in disaster management. Her 2012 book, Transforming Your STEM Career Through Leadership and Innovation: Inspiration and Strategies for Women, offers a practical, research-based guide for individuals, organizations, and communities seeking to increase innovation and nurture innovators.
There is no better time than now for young African-Americans to pursue a STEM education, McCauley-Bush maintains. “We no longer have to fight to sit in front of the bus, to go to class, or to gain an education. However, in many cases, today’s fight is to convince each other of the opportunities we should pursue,” she writes in a recent blog post. Given the $1 trillion in purchasing power of African Americans, “it would benefit our community to participate in the industry creating these technologies,” she writes.
Appearing on CNBC’s The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch, a show about creative entrepreneurship, she elaborated on her background and what motivated her to keep pursuing engineering:
Curt Tomasevicz likes to begin class by telling students about his educational background and what makes him qualified to teach engineering at his alma mater, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His credentials include a bachelor’s and master’s in electrical engineering and he’s working on a Ph.D. in biological engineering.
Then he mentions spending 10 years on the U.S. national bobsled team and going to three Olympics – a career that included pushing for the legendary Steven Holcom and winning gold as part of the “Night Train” four-man sled at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
“Sometimes I can kind of see some of them looking at each other like, ‘Is he kidding?’ They don’t always completely believe me,” Tomasevicz told TeamUSA News back in October.
Tomasevicz, 37, was always interested in math and science growing up and worked for an electrical engineer in high school. At Nebraska, he majored in engineering and he played football from 2000 to 2003 before joining the U.S. bobsled team in 2004. He ended his Olympic run with a bronze medal in the four-man competition at Sochi in 2014.
Moving back home to Nebraska, Tomasevicz gave motivational talks while contemplating his next career move. After speaking to students at the university’s annual Engineers Week event about setting goals and living their dreams, a former professor approached and asked if he’d be interested in teaching a sports and engineering class. He’s now leading a new Intro to Engineering: Athletics pilot program that combines sports, training, and engineering, the Omaha World-Herald reports. The course offers a window on the various disciplines – mechanical, biological, and electrical engineering – before students must choose a major.
He puts a lot of his Olympic champion’s knowledge and experience into his lessons. When teaching physics concepts like momentum and conversion of energy, for example, he will “talk about curling stones and how when they collide with each other very little energy is wasted; it all goes into the collision itself and transfers into the movement of the other stone.” Speed and acceleration include references to downhill skiing, bobsled, and skeleton, where gravity is the only real propulsion outside of the push. He’s even had former bobsled engineer Bob Cuneo talk to the class by Skype about the process of designing a sled and all the challenges that engineers need to be able to solve.
So how does standing in front of a room full of college students compare to standing at the top of a bobsled track at the Olympics?
“Honestly, I think I get just as nervous — if not more so — teaching just because when you’re competing you’re not looking your audience in the eye,” Tomasevicz, whose doctoral research involves optimizing in the university’s Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab. “They may still be judging you, but you’ve prepared so much for that moment that there’s not much more you can do at that point. Interacting with students, I have to have that play between us I guess and go from there.”
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Back in the summer of 2016, seventh grade science teacher Shawn Bell attended a new program at the University of Arkansas Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems that was designed to provide authentic, hands-on research experiences for K-12 STEM educators.
He took five short courses with various faculty, then developed a lesson plan centered around thermal energy, heat transfer, and how temperature related to kinetic energy. The center’s staff then partnered with Hellstern Middle School to pilot the lessons in its sixth grade science classrooms that October. The resulting lesson plans and activities, which are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards, are available to any teacher through the university’s Center for Math and Science Education, where Bell is now a science specialist.
The National Science Foundation’s Engineering Directorate sponsors paid summer research experiences for teachers (RET) at universities across the country. The program typically covers some travel costs and a weekly stipend for the duration – typically up to eight weeks.
Studies and testimony from teachers show that such authentic, hands-on research experiences can have profound effects on teacher effectiveness and student learning. Since 2011, for example, the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering has helped 70 middle and high school teachers and their 10,400 students learn STEM content through innovative, hands-on approaches instilled through this process. In a paper presented at the American Society for Engineering Education‘s 2017 Annual Conference, professor Gisele Ragusa found:
32.7% gain in performance in teacher performance
21.5% gain in science teaching efficacy
35.3% gain in student science knowledge
35.4% gain in student science literacy
35.1% gain in science interest and motivation
William J. Furiosi II, a high school science teacher who participated in lung-cancer detection research at the University of Central Florida’s Center for Research in Computer Vision, made this video about his 2016 summer experience. One suggestion: more knowledge of coding would have helped!
Check with your local university for research opportunities or click the links below. Applications typically are due March 1, 2018.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.MIT’s Science and Engineering Programs for Teachers hosts up to 50 high school STEM educators for a week of immersive professional development. This year focuses on two tracks: “Broadening Participation in STEM,” which aims to support teachers in acquiring skills to support women and underrepresented minorities in STEM, and “Bringing Project-Based Learning & Inquiry into STEM Classrooms,” focused on increasing inquiry and student choice through games, technology, and curriculum that can be brought into various content and classrooms. Workshops run Sunday, June 24 – Saturday, June 30, 2018. Apply by Feb 15, 2018.
NASCENT: The National Science Foundation engineering research center in Nanomanufacturing Systems for mobile Computing and Energy Technologies (NASCENT) is a partnership between The University of Texas at Austin, The University of New Mexico, The University of California at Berkeley, Indian Institute of Science, and Seoul National University. Housed at the University of Texas, Austin, the seven-week summer research program for teachers in nanomanufacturing includes a $800/week stipend and $1,500 to purchase classroom materials. Program runs from June 11 to July 27, 2018.Apply buy January 31.
Northeastern UniversityCenter for STEM Education – Six week program for middle and high school math and science teachers, and community college STEM faculty, to develop a lesson in the teacher’s field of interest. Click HERE for database of past lessons or to Apply.
University of Notre Damehosts a number of outreach programs for teachers, including RET (picture shown in this blog post summary). Unclear if there are any plans to host an RET program in 2018.
The online portal, which debuted at the National Science Teachers Association’s 
