Stepping outside My Technology Classroom Box (My Summer RET Experience).

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As if sitting in the morning rush hour traffic was not bad enough, it was also the first Monday of my summer vacation. My commute to school is usually an uneventful fifteen minutes, but thinking of going into the city for six weeks was starting to make me feel like turning around in the median and heading back to bed. Luckily for me, I did not. A colleague of mine from another school had told me about an RET (Research Experience for Teachers) at Vanderbilt University's School of Engineering. What was I thinking? I am just a Foundations of Technology/Algebra I teacher at a middle school in the suburbs. Most of my formal training had been in business and education. However, I decided to take a leap of faith and try this experience not only for myself, but for the enrichment it could possibly provide for my students. I had been assigned to work in the optics lab doing research with lasers, mice, and who knows what else. Anxiety was overwhelming as I tried to make some sense of what it was I would be doing. Did I really think I could go into a lab full of specialists and get anything from this for my classroom? My knowledge of optics and lasers was pretty much limited to the laser pointer in my desk. As for the mice, my mouser of a cat would bring them to me when he was finished playing with them. I finally arrived at the campus, found the parking area, and exited my car. Despite the heat and relative humidity, the smell of academia hit me like a cool blast of air that refreshed my soul. How long had it been since I was on a college campus in search of new knowledge? Judging how the anxiety suddenly turned to excitement and anticipation, I would have to say it had probably been too long. Once in the meeting room with the other participants, I began to feel the camaraderie that forms when teachers come together. We came from different places but shared the common desire to enrich our students' experiences in our classrooms. Everyone would be in multiple labs doing various research assignments with different teams. Who would I get as teammates? I was told it would be Dr. Duco Jansen and graduate student Jerry Wilmink. To get us ready for the experience, Dr. Stacy Klein provided an example mosaic (a group of modules to solve a larger challenge) she had created that would be a template for the module we would create as a result of our experience. The module was an in-depth look at EKGs that included the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) involved. How could I create something this great with a limited knowledge of subject matter and experience? Anxiety once again appeared as I thought of what I would be asked to do. Sensing some of the group's discomfort, Dr. Klein masterfully eased our pain by telling us to enjoy the research and deal with the module part at the end. The three days of training passed in a flash, and it was time to enter the world of research. I finally met my graduate-student teammate, Jerry (now Dr. Wilmink). He was obviously excited about his research project and seemed happy to have a helper. After a thorough and interesting explanation by Jerry, I was able to grasp the gist of the project. What is HSP-70? What were the differences between C[O.sub.2], Free, Diode, and HeNe lasers? Did he say something about bioluminescence using luciferin and luciferase? What is a tensiometer and bioluminescence imagining? The questions came out faster than he could answer. However, he was very patient and eventually answered all my questions over the next five weeks. Working side by side with experts in a research facility was so much fun! Who would have thought it? I certainly would not have thought so beforehand. Participating in research that would have an impact on people was truly amazing. …