Science First!

East Tennessee State University, Johnson City TN

Investigators

Abstract

Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Abstract Proposal: 0742364 PI: Gordon Anderson Institution: East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Title: Science First! NSF supported STEM disciplines: Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education, Mathematical Sciences, Physics, and Technology. This project will build upon the existing partnership between ETSU and North Side Elementary, a school located within an older neighborhood in Johnson City, TN (population 57,000). North Side Elementary is a low-performing school with declining enrollment; approximately 95% of the students receive free or reduced price lunches, and was at risk of closure. Instead, the school has been classified as a signature school of science and mathematics, and has received school board approval to launch an exciting experiment to base the entire K-5 curriculum at North Side on Science. The Science First! GK-12 project seeks to strengthen and expand the partnership between ETSU and North Side Elementary leading to the following outcomes: fellows and teachers will create classroom materials for an entire, stand-alone K-5 curriculum that is standards-based, science-driven, and science-motivated; these materials will be class tested, assessed, published, and widely disseminated; and Johnson City?s unified Middle School and Junior High School administrators will work with the PIs, fellows and teachers to plan for similar curricular revision at the 6-9 grade levels This project?s Intellectual Merit is the potential to affect every student in a small school with an enrollment of 300. It is expected that about 500 children who are either in school or enter kindergarten during the life of the grant will be directly affected by the new curriculum. A complete set of curricular materials will be developed, leading to the potential to launch a curricular event of large national impact, since interdisciplinary education driven by science will be a model that others might wish to emulate, This projects will immerse students in an interdisciplinary curriculum that will enjoy local and national attention, involvement of parents, efforts to continue the project at the middle school level, and the potential for replication and adaptation, all oh which contribute to ?broader impact? of the project.