Establishing a Partnership Laboratory

San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this PFSMETE Start-Up Grant proposal is to establish a Partnership Laboratory within the framework of the UCSF SEP that will make discoveries and build knowledge about how collaborations between the scientific and education communities can improve and articulate K-20+ science education. This Partnership Laboratory will not be a separate, independent entity, but rather a scholarly research and evaluation effort integrated with SEP's existing professional development and partnership programs in science education, thereby institutionalizing partnership research efforts. The two major goals of establishing a Partnership Laboratory are: To build knowledge of scientist-teacher partnership by expanding and transforming PFSMETE-initiated partnership research by I) analyzing the correlation between scientist- teacher partnership outcomes and different programmatic models of partnership, 2) beginning an investigation of K-12 student outcomes that result from scientist-teacher partnerships, and 3) examining the influence of partnership experiences on the career trajectories of scientists and teachers. To cultivate a partnership research community by 1) founding a Partnership Collaborative Inquiry Group of veteran SEP scientists and teachers who engage in on-going partnership action research, 2) involving scholars and practitioners from the fields of science and education research as Partnership Research Advisors, and 3) convening Partnership Collaborative Inquiry Group members, Partnership Research Advisors, and the SEP Staff semi- annually at Research Retreats to analyze research questions, methodological strategies, data analysis, and interpretation of fmdings. The effort will not only result in the establishment of a Partnership Laboratory, but also begin to build an academic discipline ofK-20+ Education Partnership, the study of collaboration between teachers and practitioners to increase the quality and authenticity of subject area education for all students. In addition, although the proposed efforts are focused on science education partnerships specifically, they have the potential for informing and promoting the development of partnerships in many disciplines. As such, these studies of scientist-teacher partnership will be of national interest, and documentation of these efforts and synthesis of fmdings will be disseminated through presentation at scientific and educational conferences, with the eventual goal of publication in journal articles and compilation into a partnership handbook.