STEM Teachers Converge on Otero College Campus for TRAILS Professional Development Program

Otero College hosted a group of educators from the local regions, New Mexico, and Kansas from June 5th to June 9th to participate in the Teachers and Researchers Advancing Integrated Lessons in STEM (TRAILS) program. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the TRAILS program is designed to bring together high school biology and agriculture (life science) and engineering/technology education teachers through integrated STEM professional development experiences.

TRAILS 2.0 aims to enhance underserved and underrepresented rural high school students’ interest and capacity to pursue STEM careers and prepare secondary teachers to provide technology-rich integrated STEM learning experiences. Leading the TRAILS project is Todd Kelley, Professor in the Engineering Technology Teacher Education Program at Purdue University, who trains future teachers to teach engineering concepts to high school students.

During the professional development program, participants were challenged to use 30 by 40 cm pieces of aluminum foil to create rafts that could hold up to 30 golf balls, the winning raft was able to carry 50. On day two, a group of instructors went to the La Junta City Park to take samples for their project. The end goal of this task is to mimic the insects that the fish in the pond prey on in order to create better fishing lures. They continued the week by bringing their findings to life with the 3D printers and then testing their products. These tasks contribute to developing skills in creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and computational thinking in the students they teach.

Rural high school teachers who participate in the program and do not have a 3D printer in their schools will receive one upon completing the program so they can implement these lesson plans with their students. Teachers participating in TRAILS will receive 70 hours of professional development credit.

In addition to the program content, guest speakers from local businesses came to share information and see how they might be able to collaborate to create real life experiences for students. Everett Ediger, a local high school student, shared his International Science Fair qualifying project on “How Qualities of Soil Affect Where Aphonopelma Hentzi Burrows in the Colorado Grassland”. Joe Pentlicki from Oliver Manufacturing, Dalton Garrett from DeBourgh, Michael Hirakata from Hirakata Farms, and Steve Keefer, retired wildlife officer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife shared information with the group. Next week, presentations from Innovative Water Technologies and Hollar Seeds will be presented virtually to the participants.

Warren McClure and Allan Nolan, Otero Science Faculty members, were instrumental in bringing this project to the valley. McClure stated that the program intends to build a community of practice, to give teachers the information needed to partner with local businesses, such as Oliver Manufacturing or Hollar Seeds, where they can see their lessons being applied in real-life settings. The hope is that these lessons will increase students’ interest for careers in STEM fields.

The TRAILS project involves partnerships between Otero College and Purdue University. Also involved, the University of Maryland – Eastern Shore, who hosted the program last summer and the University of Hawai’i at Manoa who will host in 2024. More information about TRAILS can be found on their website, https://www.purdue.edu/trails/. For questions about Otero’s participation, contact Warren McClure at warren.mcclure@otero.edu.