For nearly 30 years, LLNL has offered Teacher Research Academy (TRA) to middle school, high school and community college teachers looking for unique professional development experiences. At no cost to educators, TRA workshops offer classroom-focused applications of LLNL's groundbreaking science and technology.
Over two weeks this summer, four different TRAs were offered as two-day workshops: Understanding Energy Technology, Drone Design & Application, Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Classroom and Data Analytics for STEM Labs using AI.
Understanding energy technology
This session provided an immersive experience into cutting-edge energy technologies and their practical applications, guided by LLNL scientists at the forefront of this research. Hands-on activities, lesson plans and interactive demonstrations highlighted energy storage and transport and sustainable power solutions.
Patrick Poole, workforce and outreach lead for the Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology (LIFT), served as an organizer for the Understanding Energy Technology workshop.
"LLNL sits at a unique juncture in the national lab space where we're doing something that's very important for the nation and our defense mission is paramount, but the promise of fusion energy, or battery technology, or the upgrades to wind and solar that the Lab is working on has real impact on people's everyday life," said Poole. It's important to encourage teachers to share that knowledge with the workforce of the future, since the TRA program is a big piece of LLNL's outreach-to-recruitment pipeline."
Drone design & application
In this TRA, participants explored drone development for engineering, science and computer science classes. Hands-on sessions covered drone design, programming and real-world applications with practical tools and lesson plans to integrate drones into upcoming curricula. A demonstration of LLNL's autonomous vehicle research highlighted the interdisciplinary expertise required to develop and apply drone technology.
Brian Wihl, associate program leader of Autonomous Sectors, served as a workshop organizer.
"Given the nature of our work, we've built a team capable of everything from integrating drones and sensing technology to designing and building drones from scratch," said Wihl. "That range lets us explain how drones work at any level - from deep technical detail down to a high-level overview - along with their real-world mission applications. Educationally, drones are a great example of a cross-disciplinary concept, since so many different engineering disciplines come together in building and operating them."
Artificial intelligence (AI) for the classroom
This TRA was designed to help STEM educators become more knowledgeable about AI by highlighting its underlying principles, how LLNL researchers are applying AI to complex problems and how the technology impacts different fields. Attendees gained familiarity and built general literacy with generative AI tools as they learned how AI can be applied to improve their own subject matter knowledge, create content for lessons and design assessments.
Michael Porter, an AP World History teacher at College Park High School, was intrigued to apply TRA lessons to his humanities courses.
"TRA answers questions people have, such as 'What is AI really being used for?' It gives the common person, the non-scientifically oriented, a chance to understand deeper questions at a very approachable, accessible level," said Porter. With AI adoption, I'm trying to avoid cheating and trying to use this as a way of asking, 'How can we teach kids to use this as an effective tool?' Because it's not going anywhere. I don't want them to just use it as a crutch, per se, where they don't just use it as a search engine, but actually use it as an effective tool for learning."
Stan Hitomi, faculty scholar at LLNL, has spent decades working with students, educators and researchers and sees AI as a new frontier for educators.
"[AI] just keeps getting more exciting and more relevant for the teachers," said Hitomi. "I personally feel like it's so important for it to happen here at the Lab. This is where AI was being used extensively very early on, and new AI applications are being grown out of that foundational LLNL work. I'll hear a lot of people coming and saying, 'I was kind of resistant to AI. I was kind of a naysayer. I wasn't sold on it.' But they say, 'Now I'm really going to have to give this a lot of thought,' because they see the importance of being able to translate what they learned here back to their students."
Data analytics for STEM labs using AI
In this workshop, participants used AI tools to explore computational analysis methods and work with sample data collected using their own smartphones. Attendees examined biological datasets relevant to life sciences, interpreted physical measurements in physics and chemistry and addressed engineering scenarios. Participants also learned approaches for managing complex data analysis tasks that have traditionally required programming skills.
Hitomi said that a large piece of TRA's continued success was the leadership of Joanna Albala and Dave Rakestraw in the Academic Engagement Office.
"I know what teachers have the capability of doing, and their resources, and their backgrounds, but the Science Education Program views outreach with a different lens," said Hitomi. "Dave Rakestraw is so unique because he's practiced science at such a high level and worked on national problems at such a high level, and he approaches science education with that same rigor. He really is a national treasure for science education."
You can learn more about TRA and find future opportunities for STEM education here.
-Stephanie Turza
