Progress 02/01/15 to 01/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Math teachers in middle school, high school and undergraduate level science education were the target audience for the program. Both in-service and pre-service (undergraduate and graduate science education students) were specific target audiences for the training program. This project target audience was selected because teachers of students aged middle school through college level have the greatest potential to assist students in exploring career options. Research conducted by a graduate student funded by this project (Nirav Patel, PhD Candidate, Cornell University) confirmed the most effective way to reach students on the topics relating to renewable energy is through their teachers. A National Assessment of Adult Literacy in 1993 concluded that most Americans read at about an 8th grade level. When developing written materials and course materials, the project targeted grade 8 reading level to reach the widest number of young adults by targeting the average US adults reading level. In addition, the grant team targeted inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups. Two of the mirror training sites were held at 1890 Land Grant institutions University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University. In addition, the project included a goal of having at least one-half of the participants attending the Train-the-Trainer sessions at Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute were selected from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Graduates of the Train-the-trainer program assisted in leading laboratory sessions during the regional 1-week Teaching Partners workshops. Program advertisement and recruitment activities were designed to support this goal. ABOUT OUR AUDIENCE: From 2011-2016, the program trained over 400 Teaching Partners and through these educators, has reached over 7000 students. In addition to these teachers, another 477 teachers participated in training workshops that were less than one week in length (e.g., one-day and weekend workshops). Names and contact information was collected from all participants, however demographics and changes in content understanding data only were collected on those attending at least one-week workshops or longer Train-the-trainer and internships. Of these, a set of 394 teachers provided sufficiently complete demographics information to provide the following summary. The group of teachers attending the program from 2011-2016 were 68% female and 32% male. The grade levels taught by our attendees were 5% K-5th grade; 27% 6th-8th grade; 75% 9th-12th grade; 20% undergraduate level; 9% public/informal educators. The majority of our participants had more than 10 years of teaching experience (44%); while those teaching 5-10 years (19%) and those teaching 1-5 years (23%) were approximately even. Teachers with less than 1 year experience made up 5% of the group and pre-service teachers (training to be teachers) made up 9% of the group. Thirty-eight percent (38%) reported teaching in a school that provides free or reduced lunches to at least 50% of their students. Ethnicity reported was as follows: Caucasian/White (67%); African American/Black (15%); Asian (8%); American Indian/Native American (3%); Latino (2%); Other/Decline to respond (5%). When asked the primary subject taught, teaching partners responded: Biology (31%); Environmental Sciences (18%); Chemistry (10%); Engineering (9%); Agriculture (8%); Technology (6%); Math (5%); and Other (13%). Teaching partners attended from 30 different US States, with more teachers attending in States where workshops were held. For example, NY had at least 3 workshop sites each year (Cornell, Boyce Thompson and either Wings of Eagles or Pace Law School or Dutchess County Cooperative Extension). Approximately 32% of attendees were from NY State, 19% from Maryland, 14% from Delaware, 13% from Ohio, and 7% New Jersey. The remaining 15% traveled to attend workshops in NY, MD, DE, OH or NJ from the following States: Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Workshops originating in the BBEP program continue through the USDA NIFA NEWBioCAP program at Penn State University and West Virginia University however those data are not included in this report and will be included in the NEWBio program reporting. Changes/Problems:No major changes in approach to year 5 program tasks and goals. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The program provided 19,047 hours of professional development training, not counting classroom-follow visits for teachers in the one-week and three-week workshops. Train-the-trainer 3-week training sessions 2011, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2012, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2013, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2014, Cornell University at Delaware State, Dover, DE One-week Workshops 2011 Pace University, Manhattan, NY 2011 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2011 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2011University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2011 The Ohio State Fairgrounds, Columbus, OH 2012 Pace University, White Plains, NY 2012 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2012 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2012 University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2012 The Ohio State Fairgrounds, Columbus, OH 2013 Cornell Cooperative Extension, Dutchess County, NY 2013 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2013 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2013 University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2013 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2013 Rutgers Eco-Complex, Bordentown, NJ 2014 Cornell Cooperative Extension, Dutchess County, NY 2014 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2014 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2014 University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2014 The Ohio State University, Tri-State Workshop, Indianapolis, IN 2014 Rutgers Eco-Complex, Bordentown, NY 2015 National STEM Teachers Workshop, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY (49 teachers) 2015 University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Washington, DC, Capitol Hill Holiday Inn (12 teachers) Twenty Internships opportunities were provided at the following locations: Cornell University (2) USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center, Big Flats, NY (4) Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (4) Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center (3) Delaware State University (2) Pace University Energy & Climate Center (2) University of Maryland Eastern Shore (2) NY State Ag Experiment Station (1) One-day and Half-day workshops: March 5, 2011, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (Grasses to Sugars Workshop) BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY April 9, 2011, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) May 7, 2011, BTI Teacher Spring Return, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination and a Local Bioeconomy) July 11-15, 2011, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination, NY State Agriculture, BrachyBio! and Biomass to Bioenergy) July 18-22, 2011, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY October 15, 2011, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) October 29, 2011, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (BrachyBio! Biofuels from Biomass Workshop) November 8, 2011, Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) December 14, 2012 NY Ag Experiment Station Geneva, NY, October 2012 National Science Foundation's Northeast Noyce Scholars Conference in Boston, MA, November 5, 2012 Adirondacks Youth Climate Summit in Tupper Lake, NY January 14, 2012, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Grasses to Sugars Workshop) March 24, 2012, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (BrachyBio! and Biomass to Bioenergy Workshop) May 5, 2012, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Grasses to Sugars Workshop) July 9-13, 2012, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY July 16-20, 2012, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination, BrachyBio!, Biomass to Bioenergy) June 26, 2014, Chemistry in a Biobased Economy, Findlay High School, Findlay, OH June 27, 2014, Chemistry in a Biobased Economy, University School, Hunting Valley, Ohio July 10, 2014, Chemistry in a Biobased Economy, Centerville High School, Centerville, Ohio April 13, 2013, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (Biofuel Farm Pilot Workshop) July 17-21, 2013, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY July 30-August 3, 2013, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination, Algae to Energy) November 3, 2013, Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) March 29, 2014, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) April 26, 2014, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) July 8-12, 2015, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Algae to Energy, Engineering and Systems Thinking for Biofuels, and Switchgrass Germination) July 24-28, 2014, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY September 6, 2014 SUNY Cortland Master Teacher Workshop (Algae to Energy Workshop) November 13, 2014, Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) March 12, 2015, National Science Education Conference, Chicago, IL (Algae to Energy Teacher Workshop with BBEP Alumni co-workshop leader Gary Silverman) July 13-15 2015, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Algae to Energy, Engineering and Systems Thinking for Biofuels, and Switchgrass Germination) June 15-26, 2015, Delaware State University BBEP at Chinese Immersion Summer Camp, Dover, DE July 12-15, 2015, Delaware State University BBEP at Stars Summer Camp, Delaware State University, Dover, DE August 3-7, 2015, Delaware State University BBEP at Youth Enrichment Summer Camp, Dover, DE August 24, 2015, Syracuse City School District STEM Teacher Professional Development Workshops, Syracuse, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) November 7, 2015, "Make your own Algae Bioreactor Workshop, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY November 14, 2015 Water Quality and biobased renewable energy workshop, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY January 14, 2016, Teacher & Students Engineering Workshop Part 1 (Algae to Jet Fuels and Engineering approaches to problem solving), Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY January 29, 2016, Teacher & Students Engineering Workshop Part 2 (Algae to Jet Fuels and Engineering Approaches to Problem Solving), "Green Carpet Expo" Teacher and student design solutions display event at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through workshops, presentations and web-based information What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Deliverable: Provide Train-the-trainer program to 50 teachers with at least 50% from an 1890 Institution. Over the course of the entire grant, the total number of teachers receiving the Cornell Certified Train-the-trainer program (2011-2016) is 51 teachers.Of these, thirty (30) teachers were from an 1890 Institution. Sixty-two percent (60%) of the teachers attending the Cornell Train-the-trainer program (2011-2016) were from an 1890 institution (including Delaware State University (24) University of Maryland Eastern Shore (6) and Bluefield State College (1). Deliverable: Train 250 Teachers in one-week Teaching Partner Workshops. Over the course of the entire grant, the total number of teachers receiving the one-week Teaching Partner Workshop training program was 296 teachers. In addition to these training sessions, 39 other mini-workshops were held as outreach, reaching another 544 teachers (no surveys or demographics available on teachers attending the mini-workshops, only workshop attended and in most cases, names and contact information). Teachers attending a one-week or longer program were surveyed before and after the program to determine program effectiveness. We measured significant (20%) increases in content understanding and significant increases in comfort-level in teachers faced with teaching the topic after the workshop. Deliverable: Create at least one new training tool each year over the 5 year grant period. Over the course of the entire grant, the team created 14 new training tools including seven classroom kits (one was licensed by Carolina Biological Supply), a lab workbook containing 20 activities and aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, a companion Primer booklet, three teaching videos were produced, a SmartBoard biobased ethanol curriculum, a set of 20 PowerPoint files for teachers to use/edit to fit their classroom Deliverable: Provide a way for program content and learning to continue after the end of federal support. To address this deliverable, we partnered with a science museum in central southern tier of New York State. The Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY. BBEP partners spent the last year of the program training their staff to continue sharing information about Sustainable Biobased energy and products through future museum programming and two BBEP museum installations (Science on a Sphere and Algae to Jet Fuels Flight Simulator Stations), BBEP website content archiving on the museum's site. The Penn State NEWBio program will host a BBEP workshop at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center the summers of 2016 and 2017 toward continuation of building strong teacher-museum connections using BBEP materials as workshop content. The BBEP program Teaching Partners reported at least 20 significant impacts to either their local schools or communities. These are described in the program's 2015 Program Impacts Report through a series of teacher-vignettes. A few are shared here in abbreviated form. 1. NY Teacher Tammy Morgan didn't know about anerobic digestion (AD) until she took a tour at a BBEP workshop. Tammy returned to BBEP and worked as an intern performing a feasibility study on AD using community food scraps. The following year she applied for a grant from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and received a $1.6 million grant to install an anaerobic digester in her community. The installation is under way near Lake Placid, NY. 2. NC Teacher Morina Ricablanca's special education students faced barriers to participating in the local Science Fair. Using BBEP grass-to-sugar kits (now licensed by Carolina Biological) as a foundation for project-based learning, four of her special needs students won the school Science Olympiad. Three of the students were invited to the regional competition and one proceeded to the National level competition using a variation of the BBEP Anaerobic Digestion experiment. Morina recalled one of her Special Education students enjoyed the BBEP glucose test strip measuring so much she proclaimed, "Science can be fun!". 3. PA Teacher Brianna Miller created a new Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science course for AP credit based on the BBEP Lab, Biomass to Biofuel: Grasses for Ethanol Production. Prior to this her school had no AP courses for Environmental Science. 4. OH Teacher Andrea Harpen reported BBEP has had a huge impact on the number of students participating in research in sustainability agriculture at her rural school. For example, the year before BBEP no science fair projects related to agriculture. After BBEP approximately 30% of her students were inspired to research ag-related projects in the first year! Andrea's credits BBEP with completely changing her Chemistry class, now working closely with biobased industry partners, Andrea reports she now relates all chemistry lessons to biobased career development opportunities for her students. 5. OH Teacher Rachel Sanders reports being inspired to write BBEP-related curriculum after attending a BBEP workshop. She has helped form an agbioscience-based State Certified STEM high school: The Global Impact STEM Academy (GISA). Today Rachel is developing and deploying agbioscience STEM classes based on food, fiber, alternative energy and environmental issues. Remembering the businesses she toured during BBEP, Rachel prepares students in GISA by running her school lab like a business facility. 6. AZ college Teacher, Professor Pushpa Ramakrishna reports prior to attending a BBEP Workshop she wanted to expand her understanding of sustainability by also learning about biobased energy and biobased products. Today, her courses include the BBEP Algal Photobioreactors (created at University of Maryland Eastern Shore and expanded at Boyce Thompson Institute), BBEP power point slides, and Mining for ChoCOALate (developed at Cornell Cooperative Extension Genesee County. In addition, Bioenergy and Bioproducts have become a part of the Sustainable World curriculum at Maricopa Community College. 7. DE Teacher Karen Horikawa teaches at a Quaker school. Karen was excited by BBEP labs and lessons because they were a good fit for her school's core values of sustainability and environmental stewardship. Karen found the multidisciplinary nature of the topic area opened new doors between teachers within her school and forged interdivisional discussions. Teachers of higher level biology and ecology courses and Karen have been enabled to connect their classes on the topics of biochemistry, genetics and bioenergy. 8. TX Teacher Elizabeth Spike incorporated several of the BBEP lessons into her classroom in creative ways including changing the organic chemistry unit for 10th graders to include making biodiesel! She has found her students, many from oil and gas company families, are very interested in learning about alternative sources of energy. This is an industry sector important to their families and they are excited to learn more about it. Having the tools to make the topic experiential was very helpful. 9. MD Teacher Sara Chen changed her perspectives about teaching sustainability after taking a BBEP workshop. Prior to BBEP she felt the available lessons for sustainability were based on instilling fear as a motivating factor. Through BBEP she found a very different perspective on what the topic of sustainability has to offer her students. She reported the BBEP inventory was well-designed and offered fun experiments that allow the students to take charge and expand their explorations into real world challenges of creating more sustainable products and energy. 10. NY Teacher Rodney Dotson reports BBEP's role play activity completely changed the way he teaches, now integrating science, agriculture and performance arts to explore the wide range of social issues arising from transitioning from a petroleum based to biobased economy. His students have performed before city councils in the NY City area.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
1) Mitra, M. 2014. Addressing the global trilemma of food, energy, and environment. Are
seaweeds the ideal candidates? Key note address at the Conference Exploring Basic
and Applied Sciences for Next Generation Frontiers. Nov 14-15, Jalandhar, India.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
2) Nagchaudhuri, A. 2014. Biofuels and renewable energy: engineering mechanics, robotics and control systems; precision agriculture and remote sensing. Key note address at the Conference Exploring Basic and Applied Sciences for Next Generation Frontiers. Nov 14-15, Jalandhar, India.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
3) Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., Henry, X., and Shirvani, C. 2015. Sustainability in Bioenergy Academy for Teachers (BEAT): Changing perspectives and practices towards greening the curricula. Presented at the 7th International Conference on Engineering Education in Sustainable Development, Vancouver, June 9-12. The proceeding has been accepted for publication as a book chapter in the World Sustainability Series, Springer Publishers.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
4) Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., Henry, X., and Shirvani, C. 2015. Bioenergy Academy for Teachers promotes transdisciplinary content in STEM education. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Engineering Education, Seattle, June 14-16, 2015.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
(1) Guo, M., W. Song, and J. Buhain. 2014. Bioenergy and biofuels: history, status, and perspective. Renew. Sustain. Energ. Rev. 42:712725.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
(2) Song, W., R. Apointe, and M. Guo. 2015. Production potential and logistics of biomass feedstocks for biofuels. In: M. Mitra and A. Nagchaudhuri (ed.) Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. Springer: New York, NY (in review)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
(3) Rochford, K., Mitra, M., Waguespack, Y., Nagchaudhuri, A., Henry, X. 2015. Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds in Species of Gracilaria from Maryland Coastal Bays. Submitted to Phytochemistry. Under Review
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
(4) Rutzke, C and M. Rutzke, 2015. Heating in the northeastern U.S. with a biomass pellet stove: Lessons learned in a rural residential setting. In: M. Mitra and A. Nagchaudhuri (Ed.) Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. Springer: New York, NY (accepted, in review)
|
Progress 02/01/11 to 01/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Math teachers in middle school, high school and undergraduate level science education were the target audience for the program. Both in-service and pre-service (undergraduate and graduate science education students) were specific target audiences for the training program. This project target audience was selected because teachers of students aged middle school through college level have the greatest potential to assist students in exploring career options. Research conducted by a graduate student funded by this project (Nirav Patel, PhD Candidate, Cornell University) confirmed the most effective way to reach students on the topics relating to renewable energy is through their teachers. A National Assessment of Adult Literacy in 1993 concluded that most Americans read at about an 8th grade level. When developing written materials and course materials, the project targeted grade 8 reading level to reach the widest number of young adults by targeting the average US adults reading level. In addition, the grant team targeted inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups. Two of the mirror training sites were held at 1890 Land Grant institutions University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University. In addition, the project included a goal of having at least one-half of the participants attending the Train-the-Trainer sessions at Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute were selected from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Graduates of the Train-the-trainer program assisted in leading laboratory sessions during the regional 1-week Teaching Partners workshops. Program advertisement and recruitment activities were designed to support this goal. ABOUT OUR AUDIENCE: From 2011-2016, the program trained over 400 Teaching Partners and through these educators, has reached over 7000 students. In addition to these teachers, another 477 teachers participated in training workshops that were less than one week in length (e.g., one-day and weekend workshops). Names and contact information was collected from all participants, however demographics and changes in content understanding data only were collected on those attending at least one-week workshops or longer Train-the-trainer and internships. Of these, a set of 394 teachers provided sufficiently complete demographics information to provide the following summary. The group of teachers attending the program from 2011-2016 were 68% female and 32% male. The grade levels taught by our attendees were 5% K-5th grade; 27% 6th-8th grade; 75% 9th-12th grade; 20% undergraduate level; 9% public/informal educators. The majority of our participants had more than 10 years of teaching experience (44%); while those teaching 5-10 years (19%) and those teaching 1-5 years (23%) were approximately even. Teachers with less than 1 year experience made up 5% of the group and pre-service teachers (training to be teachers) made up 9% of the group. Thirty-eight percent (38%) reported teaching in a school that provides free or reduced lunches to at least 50% of their students. Ethnicity reported was as follows: Caucasian/White (67%); African American/Black (15%); Asian (8%); American Indian/Native American (3%); Latino (2%); Other/Decline to respond (5%). When asked the primary subject taught, teaching partners responded: Biology (31%); Environmental Sciences (18%); Chemistry (10%); Engineering (9%); Agriculture (8%); Technology (6%); Math (5%); and Other (13%). Teaching partners attended from 30 different US States, with more teachers attending in States where workshops were held. For example, NY had at least 3 workshop sites each year (Cornell, Boyce Thompson and either Wings of Eagles or Pace Law School or Dutchess County Cooperative Extension). Approximately 32% of attendees were from NY State, 19% from Maryland, 14% from Delaware, 13% from Ohio, and 7% New Jersey. The remaining 15% traveled to attend workshops in NY, MD, DE, OH or NJ from the following States: Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Workshops originating in the BBEP program continue through the USDA NIFA NEWBioCAP program at Penn State University and West Virginia University however those data are not included in this report and will be included in the NEWBio program reporting. Changes/Problems:No major changes in approach to year 5 program tasks and goals. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The program provided 19,047 hours of professional development training, not counting classroom-follow visits for teachers in the one-week and three-week workshops. Train-the-trainer 3-week training sessions 2011, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2012, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2013, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2014, Cornell University at Delaware State, Dover, DE One-week Workshops 2011 Pace University, Manhattan, NY 2011 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2011 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2011University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2011 The Ohio State Fairgrounds, Columbus, OH 2012 Pace University, White Plains, NY 2012 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2012 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2012 University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2012 The Ohio State Fairgrounds, Columbus, OH 2013 Cornell Cooperative Extension, Dutchess County, NY 2013 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2013 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2013 University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2013 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2013 Rutgers Eco-Complex, Bordentown, NJ 2014 Cornell Cooperative Extension, Dutchess County, NY 2014 Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY 2014 Delaware State University, Dover, DE 2014 University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD 2014 The Ohio State University, Tri-State Workshop, Indianapolis, IN 2014 Rutgers Eco-Complex, Bordentown, NY 2015 National STEM Teachers Workshop, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY (49 teachers) 2015 University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Washington, DC, Capitol Hill Holiday Inn (12 teachers) Twenty Internships opportunities were provided at the following locations: Cornell University (2) USDA NRCS Plant Materials Center, Big Flats, NY (4) Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (4) Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center (3) Delaware State University (2) Pace University Energy & Climate Center (2) University of Maryland Eastern Shore (2) NY State Ag Experiment Station (1) One-day and Half-day workshops: March 5, 2011, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (Grasses to Sugars Workshop) BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY April 9, 2011, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) May 7, 2011, BTI Teacher Spring Return, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination and a Local Bioeconomy) July 11-15, 2011, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination, NY State Agriculture, BrachyBio! and Biomass to Bioenergy) July 18-22, 2011, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY October 15, 2011, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) October 29, 2011, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (BrachyBio! Biofuels from Biomass Workshop) November 8, 2011, Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) December 14, 2012 NY Ag Experiment Station Geneva, NY, October 2012 National Science Foundation's Northeast Noyce Scholars Conference in Boston, MA, November 5, 2012 Adirondacks Youth Climate Summit in Tupper Lake, NY January 14, 2012, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Grasses to Sugars Workshop) March 24, 2012, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (BrachyBio! and Biomass to Bioenergy Workshop) May 5, 2012, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Grasses to Sugars Workshop) July 9-13, 2012, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY July 16-20, 2012, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination, BrachyBio!, Biomass to Bioenergy) June 26, 2014, Chemistry in a Biobased Economy, Findlay High School, Findlay, OH June 27, 2014, Chemistry in a Biobased Economy, University School, Hunting Valley, Ohio July 10, 2014, Chemistry in a Biobased Economy, Centerville High School, Centerville, Ohio April 13, 2013, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (Biofuel Farm Pilot Workshop) July 17-21, 2013, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY July 30-August 3, 2013, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Switchgrass Germination, Algae to Energy) November 3, 2013, Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY (Switchgrass Germination Workshop) March 29, 2014, Cornell Science Sampler Series, NY, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) April 26, 2014, Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, Ithaca, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) July 8-12, 2015, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Algae to Energy, Engineering and Systems Thinking for Biofuels, and Switchgrass Germination) July 24-28, 2014, BBEP Teacher Workshop, BTI, Ithaca, NY September 6, 2014 SUNY Cortland Master Teacher Workshop (Algae to Energy Workshop) November 13, 2014, Science Teachers Association of New York State (STANYS) Annual Conference, Rochester, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) March 12, 2015, National Science Education Conference, Chicago, IL (Algae to Energy Teacher Workshop with BBEP Alumni co-workshop leader Gary Silverman) July 13-15 2015, Curriculum Development in Plant Biology Teacher Institute, BTI, Ithaca, NY (Algae to Energy, Engineering and Systems Thinking for Biofuels, and Switchgrass Germination) June 15-26, 2015, Delaware State University BBEP at Chinese Immersion Summer Camp, Dover, DE July 12-15, 2015, Delaware State University BBEP at Stars Summer Camp, Delaware State University, Dover, DE August 3-7, 2015, Delaware State University BBEP at Youth Enrichment Summer Camp, Dover, DE August 24, 2015, Syracuse City School District STEM Teacher Professional Development Workshops, Syracuse, NY (Algae to Energy Workshop) November 7, 2015, "Make your own Algae Bioreactor Workshop, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY November 14, 2015 Water Quality and biobased renewable energy workshop, Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY January 14, 2016, Teacher & Students Engineering Workshop Part 1 (Algae to Jet Fuels and Engineering approaches to problem solving), Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY January 29, 2016, Teacher & Students Engineering Workshop Part 2 (Algae to Jet Fuels and Engineering Approaches to Problem Solving), "Green Carpet Expo" Teacher and student design solutions display event at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through workshops, presentations and websites What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Deliverable: Provide Train-the-trainer program to 50 teachers, with at least 50% from an 1890 Institution. Over the course of the entire grant, the total number of teachers receiving the Cornell Certified Train-the-trainer program (2011-2016) is 51 teachers.Of these, thirty (30) teachers were from an 1890 Institution. Sixty-two percent (60%) of the teachers attending the Cornell Train-the-trainer program (2011-2016) were from an 1890 institution (including Delaware State University (24) University of Maryland Eastern Shore (6) and Bluefield State College (1). Deliverable: Train 250 Teachers in one-week Teaching Partner Workshops. Over the course of the entire grant, the total number of teachers receiving the one-week Teaching Partner Workshop training program was 296 teachers. In addition to these training sessions, 39 other mini-workshops were held as outreach, reaching another 544 teachers (no surveys or demographics available on teachers attending the mini-workshops, only workshop attended and in most cases, names and contact information). Teachers attending a one-week or longer program were surveyed before and after the program to determine program effectiveness. We measured significant (20%) increases in content understanding and significant increases in comfort-level in teachers faced with teaching the topic after the workshop. Deliverable: Create at least one new training tool each year over the 5 year grant period. Over the course of the entire grant, the team created 14 new training tools including seven classroom kits (one was licensed by Carolina Biological Supply), a lab workbook containing 20 activities and aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, a companion Primer booklet, three teaching videos were produced, a SmartBoard biobased ethanol curriculum, a set of 20 PowerPoint files for teachers to use/edit to fit their classroom. Deliverable: Provide a way for program content and learning to continue after the end of federal support. To address this deliverable, we partnered with a science museum in central southern tier of New York State. The Wings of Eagles Discovery Center, Horseheads, NY. BBEP partners spent the last year of the program training their staff to continue sharing information about Sustainable Biobased energy and products through future museum programming and two BBEP museum installations (Science on a Sphere and Algae to Jet Fuels Flight Simulator Stations), BBEP website content archiving on the museum's site. The Penn State NEWBio program will host a BBEP workshop at Wings of Eagles Discovery Center the summers of 2016 and 2017 toward continuation of building strong teacher-museum connections using BBEP materials as workshop content. The BBEP program Teaching Partners reported at least 20 significant impacts to either their local schools or communities. These are described in the program's 2015 Program Impacts Report through a series of teacher-vignettes. A few are shared here in abbreviated form. 1. NY Teacher Tammy Morgan didn't know about anerobic digestion (AD) until she took a tour at a BBEP workshop. Tammy returned to BBEP and worked as an intern performing a feasibility study on AD using community food scraps. The following year she applied for a grant from New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and received a $1.6 million grant to install an anaerobic digester in her community. The installation is under way near Lake Placid, NY. 2. NC Teacher Morina Ricablanca's special education students faced barriers to participating in the local Science Fair. Using BBEP grass-to-sugar kits (now licensed by Carolina Biological) as a foundation for project-based learning, four of her special needs students won the school Science Olympiad. Three of the students were invited to the regional competition and one proceeded to the National level competition using a variation of the BBEP Anaerobic Digestion experiment. Morina recalled one of her Special Education students enjoyed the BBEP glucose test strip measuring so much she proclaimed, "Science can be fun!". 3. PA Teacher Brianna Miller created a new Advanced Placement (AP) Environmental Science course for AP credit based on the BBEP Lab, Biomass to Biofuel: Grasses for Ethanol Production. Prior to this her school had no AP courses for Environmental Science. 4. OH Teacher Andrea Harpen reported BBEP has had a huge impact on the number of students participating in research in sustainability agriculture at her rural school. For example, the year before BBEP no science fair projects related to agriculture. After BBEP approximately 30% of her students were inspired to research ag-related projects in the first year! Andrea's credits BBEP with completely changing her Chemistry class, now working closely with biobased industry partners, Andrea reports she now relates all chemistry lessons to biobased career development opportunities for her students. 5. OH Teacher Rachel Sanders reports being inspired to write BBEP-related curriculum after attending a BBEP workshop She has helped form an agbioscience-based State Certified STEM high school: The Global Impact STEM Academy (GISA). Today Rachel is developing and deploying agbioscience STEM classes based on food, fiber, alternative energy and environmental issues. Remembering the businesses she toured during BBEP, Rachel prepares students in GISA by running her school lab like a business facility. 6. AZ college Teacher, Professor Pushpa Ramakrishna reports prior to attending a BBEP Workshop she wanted to expand her understanding of sustainability by also learning about biobased energy and biobased products. Today, her courses include the BBEP Algal Photobioreactors (created at University of Maryland Eastern Shore and expanded at Boyce Thompson Institute), BBEP power point slides, and Mining for ChoCOALate (developed at Cornell Cooperative Extension Genesee County. In addition, Bioenergy and Bioproducts have become a part of the Sustainable World curriculum at Maricopa Community College. 7. DE Teacher Karen Horikawa teaches at a Quaker school. Karen was excited by BBEP labs and lessons because they were a good fit for her school's core values of sustainability and environmental stewardship. Karen found the multidisciplinary nature of the topic area opened new doors between teachers within her school and forged interdivisional discussions. Teachers of higher level biology and ecology courses and Karen have been enabled to connect their classes on the topics of biochemistry, genetics and bioenergy. 8. TX Teacher Elizabeth Spike incorporated several of the BBEP lessons into her classroom in creative ways including changing the organic chemistry unit for 10th graders to include making biodiesel! She has found her students, many from oil and gas company families, are very interested in learning about alternative sources of energy. This is an industry sector important to their families and they are excited to learn more about it. Having the tools to make the topic experiential was very helpful. 9. MD Teacher Sara Chen changed her perspectives about teaching sustainability after taking a BBEP workshop. Prior to BBEP she felt the available lessons for sustainability were based on instilling fear as a motivating factor. Through BBEP she found a very different perspective on what the topic of sustainability has to offer her students. She reported the BBEP inventory was well-designed and offered fun experiments that allow the students to take charge and expand their explorations into real world challenges of creating more sustainable products and energy. 10. NY Teacher Rodney Dotson reports BBEP's role play activity completely changed the way he teaches, now integrating science, agriculture and performance arts to explore the wide range of social issues arising from transitioning from a petroleum based to biobased economy. His students have performed before city councils in the NY City area.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Guo, M., W. Song, and J. Buhain. 2014. Bioenergy and biofuels: history, status, and perspective. Renew. Sustain. Energ. Rev. 42:712725.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Song, W., R. Apointe, and M. Guo. 2015. Production potential and logistics of biomass feedstocks for biofuels. In: M. Mitra and A. Nagchaudhuri (ed.) Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. Springer: New York, NY (in review)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Rochford, K., Mitra, M., Waguespack, Y., Nagchaudhuri, A., Henry, X. 2015. Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds in Species of Gracilaria from Maryland Coastal Bays. Submitted to Phytochemistry.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Rutzke, C and M. Rutzke, 2015. Heating in the northeastern U.S. with a biomass pellet stove: Lessons learned in a
rural residential setting. In: M. Mitra and A. Nagchaudhuri (Ed.) Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. Springer: New York, NY.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Mitra, M. 2014. Addressing the global trilemma of food, energy, and environment. Are seaweeds the ideal candidates? Key note address at the Conference Exploring Basic and Applied Sciences for Next Generation Frontiers. Nov 14-15, Jalandhar, India.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Nagchaudhuri, A. 2014. Biofuels and renewable energy: engineering mechanics, robotics and control systems; precision
agriculture and remote sensing. Key note address at the Conference Exploring Basic and Applied Sciences for Next Generation Frontiers. Nov 14-15, Jalandhar, India.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., Henry, X., and Shirvani, C. 2015. Sustainability in Bioenergy Academy for Teachers
(BEAT): Changing perspectives and practices towards greening the curricula. Presented at the 7th International
Conference on Engineering Education in Sustainable Development, Vancouver, June 9-12. The proceeding has been accepted for publication as a book chapter in the World Sustainability Series, Springer Publishers.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., Henry, X., and Shirvani, C. 2015. Bioenergy Academy for Teachers promotes
transdisciplinary content in STEM education. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Engineering Education, Seattle, June 14-16, 2015.
|
Progress 02/01/14 to 01/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience: Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Math teachers in middle school, high school and undergraduate level science education are the target audience for the program. Both in-service and pre-service (undergraduate and graduate science education students) are specific target audiences for the training program. This project target audience was selected because teachers of students aged middle school through college level have the greatest potential to assist students in exploring career options. A National Assessment of Adult Literacy in 1993 concluded that most Americans read at about an 8th grade level. When developing written materials and course materials, the project will continue to target grade 8 to 9, to reach the widest number of young adults by targeting the average US adults reading level. In addition, the grant team targets inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups. Two of the mirror training sites were held at 1890 Land Grant institutions University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University. In addition, in 2014 we recruited 100% of participants attending the Cornell Train-the-trainer workshop were from a Historically Black College and University (Delaware State University, Dover, DE). Twenty pre-service/in-service teachers studying or teaching at DSU attended the Train-the-trainer program in 2014. Certified Master Teacher Trainers also traveled to other workshop locations andassisted in leading laboratory sessions during the regional 1-week Master Teachers workshops. Changes/Problems: During the current reporting period, a new federallaw was passed that allows for an increase in the rate of the indirect costs charged by Universities. Because this is a continuation award, the rates can be renegotiated annually and are not tied to the original agreement. The universities involved (with the exception of The Ohio State University) all elected to accept the new higher indirect costs rate. This resulted in an unanticipated loss in programmatic funds.Among other changes presented in the year 5 application (which is completed during the current reporting period), a portion of the next year's planned scope of work was reduced to cover this change in federal law. This including moving the national conference from Washington, DC to Horseheads, NY where costs are lower,and providing for one teacher from each US State to attend. During the financial analysis at the close of this reporting period, University of Maryland Eastern Shore determined they had sufficient funds remaining from this year to provide an additional workshop for 10 Maryland area teachers to be held in Washington, DC during the next reporting period (as described above). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In 2014, we provided professional development opportunities (workshops and internships) to a total ofninety-five (95) teachers. Two additional workshops were held (6-Penn State and 5-West Virginia University) under a separate CAP Grant (NewBIO) and these 11 participants are counted as part of the NewBIO annual report (not included here) If the PSU and WVU participants are counted, the total number of workshopparticipants in a 2014 BBEP workshop is 106. Theninety-five BBEP-supported teachertraineesincluded 20 teachersin the Cornell Train-the-trainer program;13 teachers at the Boyce Thompson Institute workshop; 10 teachers at Delaware State University workshop, 11 teachers at University of Maryland Eastern Shore workshop, 20 teachers at the Tri-State workshop (Ohio State, Perdue and Michigan State), 7 teachers at the Rutgers workshop, and 12 teachers at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County workshop. In addition to the Workshop participants, twointernship positions were supported; 1 undergraduate at Boyce Thompson Institute and an undergraduate from Delaware State University servedin aCornell internship position. The DSU/Cornellstudent intern is an undergraduatein media technologyfrom Delaware State University (supported by Cornell University). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In the current reporting period, in addition to one-day workshops held through Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute andvideos released to the internet,The Ohio State University also has disseminated to communities of interest through the "OBIC Sustainable World Tour" to promote the Biobased Promise. The tour is a first-of-its-kind public awareness campaign to optimize marketplace engagement and promote biobased alternatives. It includes interactive exhibits transported by a biobased-branded vehicle to encourage consumers to purchase biobased alternatives and excite young people about future careers in sustainability. The OBIC SWT has attended 20 events including 4-H camp, Bioenergy & Bioproducts Education Program Workshop, Biofuel plants, Biobased product retailer events, Cincinnati Zoo, Classrooms/schools, Dayton Dragons Baseball Game, Farm Science Review, Ohio FFA Convention, and the Ohio State Fair.A teacher from the BBEP workshop has been in contact with OBIC to arrange a visit to her school.OBIC estimates that a total of 2,561 attendees were reached in Ohio, Washington,DC, Indiana, Delaware and Kentucky. List of locations and attendees available upon request. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the final reporting period (Feb 2015-Jan 2016) the team has planned the following objectivesto accomplish the program's goals: 1) Hold a national conference targeting teachers in all 50 US States. The national conference will be held in Horseheads, NY. Target participation: 50 teachers. 2) Hold a regional conference in Washington DC hosted by University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Target participation: 10 teachers. 3) Develop curriculum and materials and purchase Science on a Sphere for inclusion in a permanent display of NIFA'S Bioenergy & Bioproducts Education Programsinformationat Wings of Eagles Discovery Center (a science museum in Central NY). 4) Complete and release into public domain the following: all program lesson plans, videos, lab workbook, primer, teachers database. 5) Final report The following FTE's refer to persons working at all program locations combined to carry out the project (i.e.,not workshop participants).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In 2014, we provided the Cornell Certified Train-the-trainer workshop training to 20 teachers (19 pre-service teachers and one in-service teacher) from Delaware State University. Over the course of the entire grant, the total number of teachers receiving the Cornell Certified Train-the-trainer program (2011-2015) is Fifty (50) teachers. Of these, thirty (30) teachers were from an 1890 institution. That is, sixty percent (60%) of the teachers attending the Cornell Train-the-trainer program (2011-2015) were from an 1890 Institution. These thirty teachers were from the following Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Delaware State University (24), University of Maryland Eastern Shore (6), and Bluefield State College (1). All workshop participants take a pre-workshop and post-workshop content quiz to assess program effectiveness in delivering content. In 2014, the participants had an average pre-workshop quiz score of 45.8 (+/- 5.1) and a post-workshop quiz score of71.9 (+/- 4.7), demonstrating an increase in content understanding after attendingthe workshop. In addition, all workshop sites measured a significant increase in teacher-comfort level with teaching the topics presented (sustainability, systems thinking, bioenergy, biofuels, biochemicals and bioplastics) as a result of the workshop. All workshop participants received hands-on teaching materials and labkits to bring back to their classrooms. In 2014, the program distributed over 400 kits andover 100 lab workbooks and primers to attendees.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Mitra, M., and Nagchaudhuri, A. 2014. STEM Collaborative Projects in Precision Agriculture and Renewable Energy. Presented at Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India. January 9-10. Special seminar for faculty in STEM. (Invited)
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Guo, M, W. Song, and J. Buhain. 2014. Bioenergy and biofuels: history, status, and perspective. Renew. Sustain. Energ. Rev. (In review)
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Song, W., R. Apointe, and M. Guo. 2014. Production potential and logistics of biomass feedstocks for biofuels. In: M. Madhumi and A. Nagchaudhuri (ed.) Practices and Perspectives in Sustainable Bioenergy: A Systems Thinking Approach. Springer: New York, NY
|
Progress 02/01/13 to 01/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Math teachers in middle school, high school and undergraduate level science education are the target audience for the NBBEP program. Both in-service and pre-service (undergraduate and graduate science education students) are specific target audiences for the training program. This project target audience was selected because teachers of students aged middle school through college level have the greatest potential to assist students in exploring career options. A National Assessment of Adult Literacy in 1993 concluded that most Americans read at about an 8th grade level. When developing written materials and course materials, the project will continue to target grade 8 to 9, to reach the widest number of young adults by targeting the average US adults reading level. In addition, the grant team targets inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups. Two of the mirror training sites were held at 1890 Land Grant institutions University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University. In addition, we will continue to recruit with the goal of having at least one-half of the participants attending the Certified Master Teacher training sessions at Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute selected from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Certified Master Teacher Trainers will assist in leading laboratory sessions during the regional 1-week Master Teachers training sessions. Program advertisement and recruitment activitiesare designed to support this goal. Changes/Problems: The following changes were discussed and approved by USDA program management and by the NBBEP Advisory Panel members. 1) The program has had difficulty in attracting participants from 1890 institutions. Our goal was to attract at least 50%of participants in the Train-the-trainer program from an 1890 institution. In order to increase the number of participants from an 1890 institution participatingin the Train-the-trainer program, Cornell will hold the 2014 Train-the-trainer program at an 1890 institution (Delaware State University, Dover, DE). 2) The program will begin planning for a National conference in 2015, in which all sites will participate and provide repeating training sessions for participants. Speakers will include previous participants and will be held in Washington, DC. Subcontract budgets will provide salaries at 2014 levels, and the remaining funds will be utilized to bring teachers to the conference (travel, lodging, conference fees). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In year 3 of the program (2013) the NBBEP team provided professional development for 74 educators. The opportunities for training include one-week Master Teacher Workshops throughout the summer in DE, MD, OH, NY (2 locations), NJ, and two additional sites, WV and PA,funded through the USDA-NIFA-funded NewBIO CAP grant. Internship opportunities were available in New York, Ohio and Delaware during 2013.Teaching Fellowships were provided for 10 teachersfrom the Northeastern US,held at Cornell University and followed byassisting with a one-week workshop atthe other workshop locations. From 2011-2013, the program has trained 15 interns, 29 Certified Master Teacher Trainers (34% from an 1890 institution) and 174 Master Teachers in Bioenergy and Bioproducts Education. The program has provided 13,960 hours of professional development experience to 218 educators in the first three years of operation. The multiplier effect into classrooms is significant with 85% of the 2013 teachers reporting reaching more than 75 studentseach year. In year 3 NBBEP (2013) programs alone, over 1200 middle and high school students have been reached through their teachers' participation and an estimated total of over 3600 middle and high school students were reached through teacher participation in years 1 -3 combined. Supplemental one-day workshops also were provided in Ohio and New York, reaching over 100 additional teachers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In addition to NBBEP workshops, information about the program and demonstrations of some program tools were provided to local schools, superintendents meetings, and to 4H groups. Some program tools were provided to a 4H camp in New York that held a bioenergy day. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period, we will hold the Cornell Train-the-Trainer program at Delaware State University in order to engage more participants from an underserved institution of higher learning. At this writing, 21 participants from Delaware State Universitywill attend the 2014 Cornell Train-the-trainer program workshop. Of these participants, 8 will be selected to travel to one ofthe workshop sites to assist with training an additional 10 teachers at each site. In addition, the team will continue totest and refinetoward completion of the Biobased Industry Career Day video, Transitioning Bioenergy & Bioproducts Primer, Lab workbook, and additional teaching tools. Planning for the 2015 National Conference (to be held in Washington, DC in 2015) also will be accomplished during the next reporting period. In May 2014, each program workshop site will beta-test their workshop-concept for the 2015 National Conference. In 2014, the program will expand the tools offered through collaboration with the other USDA NIFA AFRI education CAP (POSOH, at Wisconsin). Arrangements have been made to train NBBEP Site Directors on at least one POSOH curriculum during autumn of the next reporting period. NBBEP and POSOH team members will meet by SKYPE or other online video meeting to learn the methods of teaching at least one POSOH engagement activity prior to the 2014 summer workshopsto assist in distribution through 2014 summer workshops.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Bioenergy & Bioproducts Education Program's professional development workshops and teaching tools for educators are advancing preparation of the future workforce through training teachers that attend our workshops. In the first three years of the program, more than 1900 kits, videos and engagement activities have been distributed to classrooms through 218 program participants (42%reported they were from high-needs school districts). The program has trained 15 interns, 29 Certified Master Teacher Trainers (34% from an 1890 institution) and 112 Master Teachers in Bioenergy and Bioproducts Education. The program has provided 13,960 hours of professional development experience to 218 educators in the first three years of operation. The multiplier effect into classrooms is significant with 85% of the 2013 teachers reporting reaching more than 75 students each year.In year 3 NBBEP (2013) programs alone, over 1200 middle and high school students have been reached through their teachers' participation and an estimated total of over 3600 middle and high school students were reached through teacher participation in years 1-3 combined. However the efforts of the NBBEP team are strongly focused on inspiring and equipping teachers, who in turn carry the information forward to their students. The team of Site Directors providing BBEP workshops in 7 states (NY, NJ, PA, WV, OH, MD, DE) inspires creation, invention, and innovative community-systems based thinking.During year 3, a teacher that was inspired by what she learned about Anaerobic Digestion at a 2011 NBBEP workshop was awarded $1.5 million to install an anaerobic digestor in her community near Lake Placid, New York. It was a 2011 NBBEP workshop tour to the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment facility and the information regarding Anaerobic Digestion of wastes, that really started Mrs. Tammy Morgan, (High school science teacher in Lake Placid, NY)thinking about her own school and their ability to utilize waste for energy. Anaerobic Digestion, a process whereby microbes, in an oxygen free environment, break biodegradable material down into constituent molecules and then convert the molecules into methane gas, is used to extract energy from waste. After her participation in the weeklong NBBEP Master Teacherstraining program, Mrs. Morgan completed a NBBEP internship to explore her ideas about what anaerobic digesters might do for her school community. During this time, Mrs. Morgan was encouraged to think about a project involving Bioenergy that could be implemented at her school or in her community. As she began thinking about her own school and community, Mrs. Morgan was bothered by the amount of energy being “wasted” in the form of biodegradable material. Armed with the knowledge she had gained during the training program, Mrs. Morgan began researching ways to set-up small anaerobic digesters fueled by food scraps and waste from the Lake Placid Middle-High School cafeteria. After speaking with researchers and studying the technology in more detail, Mrs. Morgan began to realize that the concept of utilizing waste for energy could potentially be used on a community-wide scale. It was this realization that spurred Mrs. Morgan to begin developing a plan where the town of North Elba, NYmight install an Anaerobic Digester to handle food waste and other organic material. These plans involve the creation of a small paired Anaerobic Digester and Compost facility whereby the community waste could be converted to produce solid and liquid fertilizer as well as methane gas for producing power. Upon returning to upstate New York, Mrs. Morgan began working with The Wild Center, a non-profit facility dedicated to environmental education in the Adirondacks, on plans for the community-centered Anaerobic Digester. Her efforts paid off. In 2013, Mrs. Morgan led a team that was awarded over $1 million in funding to install the community-centered Anaerobic Digester! The NBBEP team continues to be inspired by the teachers that attend our workshops, such as Mrs. Tammy Morgan.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., and Rutzke, C. 2013. "Energizing the STEAM curricula with Bioenergy and Bioproducts". Presented at the Annual Meeting of American Association of Engineering Education in Atlanta, June 23-26, 2013. BEST PAPER AWARD GIVEN TO Dr. Mitra BY THE ENERGY CONVERSION AND CONSERVATION DIVISION of the ASEE. Also, this paper is published as a peer-reviewed conference proceedings of the 2013 Annual Meeting of American Association of Engineering Education in Atlanta, June, 23-26, 2013.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Nagchaudhuri, A., Yilmaz, E., Daughtry, C., Bland, G., and Mitra, M. 2012. UMES STEM Faculty, Students, and Staff Collaborate
to Address Contemporary Issues related to Energy, Environment, and Sustainable Agriculture. Proceedings of 2012 Annual Conference of American Society for Engineering Education. San Antonio, TX. 2012.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Nagchaudhuri, A. and Mitra, M. 2013. Cross-Disciplinary experiential learning and research projects in agricultural automation, environmental stewardship, and remote sensing. Invited Seminar at the BVB College of Engineering and Technology, August 17, 2013.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Mitra, M. 2013. Implementation of algal photobioreactors for research and education in classrooms. Presented at the
International Symposium on New Horizons in Bioenergy Research (NHBR-2013), Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India, January 14-16, 2013. Invited Oral Presentation.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., and Rutzke, C., 2012. Northeast Bioenergy and Bioproducts Institute at University of Maryland Eastern Shore: Enhancing Bioenergy Literacy for Educators in STEAM. Proceedings of the World Engineering Forum 2012. Buenos Aires, Argentina, October, 2012 (Oral Presentation)
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Nagchaudhuri, A., Mitra, M., Marsh. L., Schwarz, J., Daughtry, C., and Teays, T. 2012. Multidisciplinary student experiential learning project provide a platform to address contemporary issues related to energy, environment, and sustainable agriculture at a land-grant university. Proceedings of the World Engineering Forum 2012. Buenos Aires, Argentina, October, 2012. (Poster).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Rutzke, C., Fleming, T., Guo, M., Hall, D., Mitra, M., and Wojnar, Z., 2012. National Bioenergy and Bioproducts Education Programs. Presented at the USDAs Principal Investigators meeting in collaboration with ASA, CSSA, and SSSA International Annual meetings in Cincinnati, OH, October 21-24, 2012. Invited.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2011
Citation:
Ru, Jesse, Amanda Gurung, and Tiffany Fleming, Applying plant science research to the classroom using research-based inquiry labs. Plant Genome Research Program 10th Annual Summer Symposium, August, 2011, Ithaca, NY
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2011
Citation:
Bioproducts Demos, Ithaca School District Networking Fair, October 2011, Ithaca, NY
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Fleming, T., Authentic Bioenergy Research in Secondary Classrooms: A Model for Science Teacher Professional Development and Student Engagement. Bioenergy Opportunities in Upstate New York Agriculture Consortia on Renewable Energy and Sustainability. Tompkins County Community College, April 2012, Dryden, NY
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Bioproducts Demos, Ithaca Sciencenter, Kelsey Killoran intern, July 2012, Ithaca, NY
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Fleming, T., Biofuel Bumper Crop: How Much Does Environmental PH Matter? Science Teacher Association of New York State Annual Conference, November 2013 Rochester, NY
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Killoran, Kelsey, Amanda Gurung and Tiffany Fleming, Developing Classroom Resources That Introduce High School Teachers and Students to Systems Analyses of Bioenergy Production in the United States. Plant Genome Research Program 11th Annual Summer Symposium, August 2012
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Fleming, T., Community Germination Studies for Bioenergy Feedstock Development: Authentic Research in New York Classrooms. Poster at the National Sungrant Conference, Science for Biomass Feedstock Production and Utilization. Poster Session, October, 2012 New Orleans, LA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Rebecca Shackleton, Amanda Gurung, Tiffany Fleming,
Shih-Chi Hsu, and Meiya Li, Growing algae: Exploring algal biodiesel in the high school classroom. Plant Genome Research Program 12th Annual Summer Symposium, August 2013, Ithaca, NY
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Nirav S. Patel1, Corinne J. Rutzke, Mingxin Guo, Tiffany Fleming, Madhumi Mitra, Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, Zywia Wojnar, Dennis Hall, Dustin Homan, Leah Bug, Serpil Guran, David DeVallance, Richard Stedman, 2013 presentation, "BIOENERGY AND BIOPRODUCTS EDUCATION PARTNERS (BBEP): HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS ATTITUDES TOWARD RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION (REE)", National Institute of Food & Agriculture (NIFA), Institute of Bioenergy, Climate and Environment (IBCE), Project Directors Meeting, October 2013, Washington, DC
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Bioproducts Demos, Beverly J Martin Science Fair, Amanda Gurung Spring 2013, Ithaca, NY
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Awesome Algae and Blooming Biofuels, Ithaca Sciencenter, Rebecca Shackleton intern, July 27 2013, Ithaca, NY
|
Progress 02/01/12 to 01/31/13
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The National Bioenergy & Bioproducts Education Programs (NBBEP) 2nd Site Directors' Planning meeting was held in Philadelphia in February 2012. The PD, all Site Directors, Project Coordinator and Lab Coordinator attended. The team discussed year 1 successes, challenges, and plans for year 2 including selection of kit activities and Learning Standards to be utilized in program materials. Bi-weekly teleconferences were held including the PD and all Site Directors. Recruitment efforts through mass mailing and email blasts provided sufficient response to fill the program sites to capacity, but earlier, more targeted recruitment will be carried out for year 3 programs. In December of Year 2 a recruitment brochure was developed for year 3 that shows each Site's logo on the front so that prospective participants will quickly recognize the opportunity as 'local'. Each site received 400-500 brochures for distribution. Certified Master Teacher Trainers (CMTTs) came to Cornell University in June for the train-the-trainer program. CMTTs were provided training in the program's focus areas (Sustainability, Systems Thinking, Biomass, BioPower, Biofuels, Bioheat, BioProducts, Environment, Policy). A full suite of kits, engagement activities, powerpoints, handouts and videos were given to participants for their classrooms. The CMTTs then departed for their One-week workshop sites where they assisted Site Directors in preparations, scheduling and logistics. The five one-week programs were held between July 16 and August 17. Participants were surveyed to assess program content quality and to detect changes in content knowledge through pre and post surveys. Cornell graduate student, Nirav Patel, also surveyed all participants to assess changes in attitudes and perceptions about renewable energy for his PhD research project. Mr. Patel also visited teachers in each school of the program following the summer programs to gain information on the program's impact on students of teachers who participated (where permitted). Over 1200 students have been reached by 2012 programs. Content knowledge and comfort level with teaching bioenergy and bioproducts topics increased in participants at all sites. In October 2012, the team met again in Cincinnati, OH for the Annual USDA PI meeting presentation, followed by 3 days of planning meetings and the Annual Advisory Panel Meeting in nearby Covington, KY. USDA Division Director, Bioenergy, Mark Poth also attended the Advisory Panel meeting. The Advisors made helpful suggestions verbally and in writing. The meeting was run by the Advisory Panel Chair, Larry Walker. The Advisory Panel recommended expanding recruitment from the two participating Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to a broad national recruitment from all HBCU. Advisors also selected two SmartBoard competition awardees for the best Bioenergy Day. In addition, half-day and one-hour versions of the program were presented at NY Ag Experiment Station Geneva, NY, National Science Foundation's Northeast Noyce Scholars Conference in Boston, MA, and the Adirondacks Youth Climate Summit in Tupper Lake, NY reaching an additional 33 educators in 2012. PARTICIPANTS: The project director, Dr. Corinne Rutzke, Cornell University, serves as the point of contact with USDA program management and is responsible for overall project management of the multi-site Summer NBBEP Workshops. Assisting are Co-Project managers, Mr. Dennis Hall, Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center, Ms. Zywia Wojnar, Pace Energy and Climate Center. All training sites will provide an intensive one-week Master teachers training session. The Site Directors are: 1) Dr. Mingxin Guo, Delaware State University, 2) Mr. Dennis Hall, Ohio Bioproducts Innovation Center, 3) Dr. Madhumi Mitra and Dr. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, Ms. Zywia Wojnar, Pace University Energy and Climate Center, White Plains, NY, and Ms. Tiffany Fleming, Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY. The program includes a Train-the-trainer 3-week workshop site in Ithaca, NY (Biofuels Research Laboratory on the Cornell campus and Boyce Thompson Institute on the Cornell Campus) and 5 Mirror training sites: 1) Dover, DE at Delaware State University, 2) Columbus, OH at the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center, 3) Princess Anne, MD at University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 4) New York City, NY at Pace University Energy and Climate Center and 5) Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, NY. Each mirror training site has a Training Site Director (Co-PD) who is responsible for coordination of all site project personnel, schedule, budget, and reporting. Lists of all workshop participants are available upon request through the PD. TARGET AUDIENCES: Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture and Math teachers in middle school, high school and undergraduate level science education are the target audience for the NBBEP program. Both in-service and pre-service (undergraduate and graduate science education students) are specific target audiences for the training program. This project target audience was selected because teachers of students aged middle school through college level have the greatest potential to assist students in exploring career options. A National Assessment of Adult Literacy in 1993 concluded that most Americans read at about an 8th grade level. When developing written materials and course materials, the project will continue to target grade 8 to 9, to reach the widest number of young adults by targeting the average US adults reading level. In addition, the grant team targets inclusion of participants from underrepresented groups. Two of the mirror training sites were held at 1890 Land Grant institutions University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Delaware State University. In addition, we will continue to recruit with the goal of having at least one-half of the participants attending the Certified Master Teacher training sessions at Cornell University and Boyce Thompson Institute selected from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities. Certified Master Teacher Trainers will assist in leading laboratory sessions during the regional 1-week Master Teachers training sessions. Program advertisement and recruitment activities will be designed to support this goal. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The program is being expanded to two new one-week workshop sites in 2013 through the NewBIO CAP grant (Pennsylvania State University and West Virginia University will each host one-week workshops in 2013.)
Impacts
In year 2 NBBEP (2012) programs, over 1200 middle and high school students have been directly reached through their teachers' participation and an estimated total of over 2400 middle and high school students were reached through teacher participation in years 1 and 2 combined. During year 2, a competition was held and two SmartBoards were awarded to two year 1 participants for the best "BioEnergy Day" events (Mr. Brooks Twilley, PS duPont Middle School, Wilmington, DE and Mr. Rodney Dotson, Center for Quality in Urban Education, New York, NY.) Mr. Twilley teaches 7th grade Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to 240 students/year. His classes serve both the general school population and honors and gifted students. PS duPont is an urban Title-1 school. Mr. Twilley described the NBBEP workshop impacts, "Throughout the week we were exposed to example after example of workable classroom concepts that highlighted bioenergy and bioproducts." Mr. Twilley brought the activities back to his classroom and also further developed one of the program activities (Nova's documentary of African American scientist: Percy Julian, Forgotten Genius) and created an exercise where students create a resume and cover letter application for Percy Julian as if he were applying today for a job at a major chemical company. Mr. Twilley's exercise will be included for distribution to future NBBEP teachers. Changes in knowledge and changes in actions as a result of the NBBEP training workshops and products were observed and documented in our educator-participants in the Year 2 professional development workshops. As in the first year, year two pre-and-post-content-knowledge evaluations demonstrated an increase in bioenergy and bioproducts understanding by participants at all workshop sites. In an evaluation survey of the program at Cornell, one teacher wrote, " The program exceeded all my expectations and was a life altering event. I have learned a great deal, even about teaching methodology and techniques. The bioenergy and bioproducts content was so refreshing and so timely. I gained a great deal of information about jobs and research in this area. This will help me in my teaching and student advising. I gained information from this experience to use in my teaching freshman seminar and other life science classes." We received similar comments at all program workshop sites. In the first two years of the program, more than 1270 kits, videos and engagement activities have been distributed to classrooms through 134 program participants. The program has trained 10 interns, 19 Certified Master Teacher Trainers and 112 Master Teachers in Bioenergy and Bioproducts Education. The program has provided 10,280 hours of professional development experience to 134 educators in the first two years of operation. The multiplier effect into classrooms is being assessed at this writing.
Publications
- Killoran, K., A. Gurung, and T. Fleming, 2012. Developing Classroom Resources That Introduce High School Teachers and Students to Systems Analyses of Bioenergy Production in the United States, Plant Genome Research Program 11th Annual Student Symposium, Ithaca, NY.
- Mitra, M., Nagchaudhuri, A., and Rutzke, C., 2012. Northeast Bioenergy and Bioproducts Institute at UMES: Enhancing Bio-energy Literacy for Educators in STEAM. Proceedings World Engineering and Education Forum (WEEF), October 15-18, 2012, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Progress 02/01/11 to 01/31/12
Outputs
(N/A)
Impacts
There were several exciting changes in knowledge and changes in actions generated as a result of the NBB training workshops and products observed and documented in our educator-participants in the Year 1 professional development workshops for educators. One exciting impact was a change in understanding in many of our teachers regarding how many different careers are tied to agriculture. One science teacher remarked that previously they had been steering students away from agriculture and telling students it is not a viable career choice. Some of the teachers previously did not realize that much of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math or STEM curriculum is needed for careers that support agriculture. The team attended the USDA NIFA PI meeting and presented year 1 outcomes. One of the NBB career videos (video titled "What is a Farmer") generated a great deal of interest. This interest and request for copies of the 1 minute role-of-a-farmer video has resulted in Cornell University issuing six (no-cost) Copyright Permissions to six non-profit organizations at this writing. For the NBB workshops, we performed pre and post workshop tests on content knowledge in the area of bioenergy and bioproducts for the 67 teachers in Year 1. Compilation of the test results of the 20-question multiple choice test revealed an average pre-workshop score of 59.51 (standard error 1.75 for 67 participants) and a post-workshop average score of 81.56 (standard error 2.8 for 67 participants). This increase in content knowledge resulted in an exciting change in actions in many of our participants. School year follow-up In-classroom data are not available at this writing and will be included in the year 2 report, however one teacher wrote: Due to the influence of the [NBB] summer workshops, 13 of my 31 Advance Chemistry and Physics students are doing science fair projects involving Agricultural Science. Prior to this year, none of them did Ag Science projects. This particular educator teaches in a rural district.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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