Graduate Teaching Opportunities

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Abstract Proposal: # 0742551 PI: Maarten Chrispeels Institution: University of California San Diego Title: Graduate Teaching Opportunity Program (GTO) NSF-supported STEM Disciplines: biology, neurosciences, biomedical, marine biology, oceanography, seismology, computational science, bioengineering . The proposal describes a collaborative project between University of California- San Diego, 2 major secondary school districts, 9 high schools, and the Emory University (Atlanta, GA) PRISM program (a previously funded GK-12 project) to develop graduate / teacher partnerships which will transfer new, inspirational activities derived from ongoing research lab activity into mainstream high school science classrooms and after-school Science & Technology Clubs. Designed to reinvigorate science teachers and stimulate underrepresented students to enter STEM careers, these activities will be developed annually at a Graduate Teaching Opportunity (GTO). The GTO model is based upon the highly visible pilot program (BioBridge) and will involve many of the same partners and hopes to clearly demonstrate the potential efficacy of an up-scaled model based upon the interaction of graduate students and teachers of science. The program seeks to catalyze a permanent alteration of the graduate student training culture at UCSD to include experience with, and understandings of, the K-12 educational process; increasing K-12 teacher knowledge of leading-edge science, interest in research, and the inquiry-based research process; inspiring student interest in STEM educations and careers; and, establishing sustainable communications and collaborations between university researchers and school/districts to increase the flow of exciting science discoveries directly into K-12 classrooms in accordance with curricula/standards dictates. The project merit lies in its goal to establish productive, ongoing inter-institutional communities of teaching practice through collaborations among university researchers, their graduate students, and high school science teachers. GTO establishes a sustainable science education model to dramatically increase numbers of students entering STEM career pathways.