Work in progress — Developing elementary science teacher training modules based on doctoral research in engineering

With the objective of addressing the need for reinforcing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in the education system, authorities have encouraged the creation of partnerships between universities, school districts, and other entities to attract and develop science teachers. STARS, a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded GK-12 program, and The School District of Hillsborough County (Florida) is an example of such partnership, which consists of the joint preparation of bi-monthly teacher training workshops. In this paper, we describe the experience and analyze the results of the STARS engineering graduate fellows developing original and innovative research-driven lesson modules for K-5 teachers in the workshops.