Integration of medicine and robotics - An online teacher professional development program for STEM education

The goal of this project is to create and implement a web-based professional development program that teachers can access and, as a result of the training, are able to implement, in their classroom. This program is an extension of a previously developed face-to-face program, in which robotics and information technology are applied to solve biomedical problems. The program was designed to enhance student knowledge in biology, medicine, physics, mathematics, engineering, and information technology, and become part of a standard STEM course curriculum. As a result of the original program, face to face workshops for sixty in-state middle and high school teachers were held, and it is estimated that over 3,000 students have been exposed to the concepts of robotic surgery, the engineering design process, and enhanced learning through use of the original program. In addition, six teachers have developed courses within their schools based on the original program, and another teacher developed and taught a summer enrichment program for 8th grade students with the focus on the integration of medicine and robotics to enhance STEM education. The current program seeks to expand the reach of the original program to teachers outside our immediate geographical area. This project was started in 2010 to create a web-based version of the original professional development program. The utilization of a web-based approach to this type of program allows the use of both asynchronous and synchronous delivery options that can accommodate the range of activities to be undertaken: readings of resource material, teacher contributions to discussion, as well as submission of assignments by teachers. This paper describes the process, as well as the assessments from the first cohort.