Developing Science Graduate Students into Middle Grade Science Classroom Resources

University Of North Carolina At Wilmington, Wilmington NC

Investigators

Abstract

The University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) will conduct a three-year program with the New Hanover County School system to improve science education in the middle schools. A select group of science graduate students (GK-12 Fellows) from programs in chemistry, biology, earth sciences, and marine sciences will be prepared to serve as classroom resource persons for middle school teachers and students. The Science and Mathematics Education Center will serve as the management hub for the project and the liaison between UNCW and the New Hanover County School system. Other participants in the project include the Program in Environmental Studies and the Graduate School. For a three-year period, GK- 12 Fellows will be placed in all New Hanover County middle schools each year focusing on a different grade level. Year I of the project will focus on 8th grade classes, Year 2 on 7th grade classes and Year 3 on 6th grade classes. Through this partnership with New Hanover County Schools, this project will directly impact more than 5200 middle school students over the three years of which almost 2000 are minorities. In addition, over 60 middle school teachers will be directly or indirectly impacted by this project. The Science and Mathematics Education Center will maintain a website that provides a conduit between university science faculty, project staff and middle school science teachers and students. This website will provide a forum for questions and answers, the posting of project activities and a resource for database sharing. NSF fellows will receive special preparation in teaching science as inquiry and in using technology in instruction. Scientific instruction will be organized thematically for each grade level addressing the following four program strands: the nature of science, science as inquiry, science and technology, and science in social and personal perspectives. UNCW faculty will serve as the instructional staff for eight-day workshops each summer for GK-12 Fellows and selected middle school science teachers. These workshops will focus on policy regulations for working in K-12 schools, school safety, pedagogy instruction, and creation of a curriculum-sequencing guide that is aligned with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Middle Schools. Weekly seminars taught by UNCW science faculty will develop specific inquiry-based activities for each grade level according to the sequencing guide. Fellows will spend 10 hours per week over 36 weeks in middle school classrooms assisting classroom teachers with science lesson selection, setup, and demonstration. Participating middle school teachers will serve as resource persons to non-participant, in-service teachers within their schools, and along with GK-12 Fellows, develop and teach two, grade-specific day long workshops during the school year. In addition, program participants will develop a grade-specific activity book for distribution to all middle school teachers. Participating middle school teachers and selected GK-12 Fellows will also serve as workshop leaders each summer for new cohorts of Fellows and teachers.