NSF Workshop Proposal to Develop a Summer Institute for STEM Teachers and Curriculum Development for a Novel 6-12 Grade STEM Program for a School of Environmental & Coastal Studies

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge LA

Investigators

Abstract

Louisiana State University's (LSU) will offer professional development to science teachers in a new school in East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS). EBRPSS is developing a “focus choice” grades 6-12 school that is analogous to the LSU College of the Coast and Environment (CC&E). The goal is to develop a pre-college curriculum that will articulate with CC&E’s interdisciplinary Coastal Environmental Science B.S. Program, which is heavily underpinned with rigorous STEM courses. CC&E, in partnership with LSU’s College of Human Sciences and Education, will help develop curriculum focused on hands-on, place-based learning and provide EBRPSS teachers with professional development opportunities that enable them to master the material that they will teach. The EBRPSS is fast-tracking this new environmental school and aims to begin with a first cohort of sixth grade students in the fall 2022 semester. LSU faculty will develop a two-week Summer Institute Workshop focusing on curriculum development and teacher professional development, as well as assistance leading up to the first day of classes in August. The new school is located 2.2 miles from the CC&E campus, and a neighboring school is 93% minority students. The new public school will educate a drastically underserved population, offer students a strong science foundation, and engage them in local environmental and geoscience topics. The overall aim of this “School of Environmental Studies and Coastal Studies” is to educate diverse cohorts of students who can matriculate directly to LSU, particularly in the College of the Coast and Environment’s Coastal Environmental Science B.S. degree, or in other LSU programs with an environmental focus. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.