UNCW SCIENCE GRADUATE STUDENTS AS RESOURCES IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS, NSF GK-12 PROGRAM

One of the many challenges facing schools today is the need for community resources. A three-year National Science Foundation Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) grant to the University of North Carolina at Wilmington partners science graduate students (Fellows) with New Hanover County Middle School teachers. Fellows are placed in middle schools to serve as resources and role models to teachers and middle school students. Expected outcomes are to improve communication and teaching skills for Fellows, enrich learning by K-12 students, provide professional development opportunities for GK-12 Teachers, and to develop strong partnerships between institutions of higher education and local school districts. Challenges we face are bringing the expertise of the university’s research faculty to the middle school student, developing a university/public school partnership that involved the College of Arts and Sciences, the Watson School of Education and New Hanover County Public Schools, and managing an endeavor where these partnerships have previously been rare. The Science and Mathematics Education Center (SMEC) at UNCW provides the management hub for the project. During Year 1 graduate students from biology, chemistry, geology and marine science were partnered with 8th grade science teachers, and were phased into middle school classrooms with increasing levels of responsibility, starting with observation and ending with leading activities. Fellows used available activities to address the goals of the NC Standard Course of Study, but also developed inquiry-based activities emphasizing current issues in science related to their areas of expertise and research. During years 2 and 3, partnerships will be with 7th grade and 6th grade teachers. It is expected that the three-year project will impact over 5200 middle school students, and fulfill our primary objectives to develop a lifelong commitment in graduate students to serve as volunteers after entering their profession, to renew interest and enthusiasm in teachers, and to have a positive influence on middle school students' attitudes toward science.