New, GK-12: UCLA SEE-LA, Science and Engineering of the Environment of Los Angeles

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Science and Engineering of the Environment of Los Angeles (SEE-LA) is a GK-12 award to the University of California at Los Angeles. The scientific objective of this project is to support graduate Fellows working with renown faculty across diverse environmental problems including wildfires, urbanization, biodiversity, seismic hazards, regional climate change, ecological impacts, and upper atmospheric dynamics. The educational objectives are two-fold. First, the program will train a diverse cadre of graduate Fellows in SEE-LA in science education and communication. They will be resident scientists within the middle and high schools in two neighboring urban school districts, under the mentorship of master teachers. They will also participate in intensive summer workshops for developing inquiry-based science lessons. The close contact between SEE-LA Fellows and the local schools will also achieve the second educational objective: improving pre-college science education for students by including them in cutting edge science that is relevant to their local environment. This GK-12 program will train 50 Science and Engineering (STEM) graduate students to enhance their ability to connect their research across scientific disciplines, to communicate scientific research to non-scientists by developing and teaching inquiry-based lessons, and to participate in sustained science teacher professional development activities. The program will improve the communication skills of UCLA graduate students in STEM programs by requiring a non-technical description of their PhD research to be included in their dissertation. The program will enrich the learning experiences of over 6000 students in urban schools by involving graduate students as role models. This GK-12 program incorporates place-based science themes in both graduate student research and pre-college classroom activities.