The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center's (GLBRC) Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program offers educators the opportunity to participate in both the research of the center and the corresponding development of educational materials around the topic of biofuels.
Teachers participating in the summer program will spend seven weeks (June 20 - August 5) working with scientists at UW-Madison and Kellogg Biological Station, MI involved in cutting-edge research. During the program, teachers will also work with colleagues to design classroom activities to contribute to the GLBRC education resource library.
Program participants receive a $7,000 stipend to create, test and pilot a comprehensive classroom activity in one of the identified topic areas.
Participants begin their experience by attending our five-day Bioenergy Institute for Educators (June 20-24) on the UW-Madison campus. RETs will be introduced to the suite of educational materials already available from GLBRC and will be provided with base knowledge on biofuel processing and sustainability issues. Participants will culminate their experience by presenting their research projects and education materials at a mini-symposium in early August.
The teachers will work with a GLBRC mentor and the Education and Outreach staff in one of the areas described below to develop an inquiry-based classroom activity to be piloted in the following school year. Participants will be provided with support to pilot their activity.