A NOVEL LECTURE SERIES AND ASSOCIATED OUTREACH PROGRAM IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES

We have established a unique outreach program at the University of Texas at Austin centered around a monthly environmental and natural science lecture series. The lectures are given by UT-Austin faculty members and are open to the general public. In order to target K-12 science teachers and to maximize the transfer of scientific research results to their classrooms, we produce CD-ROMs that contain all of the lecture materials and additional resources for classroom exercises. Each teacher receives a CD-ROM for the lecture(s) that they attend. In addition to the formal lectures, there are exhibits and receptions before and after each lecture, allowing for a wide range of one-on-one interactions between faculty, graduate students, K-12 teachers and students, and the general public. The response to the lectures to date has been excellent, with large audiences, over 1000 subscribers to our monthly electronic newsletter, and the offering of professional development credit by area school districts. We have expanded the original lecture series focus, which was on geological sciences, by including other departments at UT-Austin that are associated with the environmental and natural sciences, and by introducing new interactive venues for scientists and teachers. We are now integrating the series into a new NSF GK-12 program that partners graduate students in the sciences with K-12 teachers, via workshops, field trips, and customized curricula that follow up on the lecture topics. We have also implemented webcasting of the lectures to make them available to all. The outcomes of the lecture series for K-12 education includes 1) increased engagement of K-12 teachers and students in science; 2) enhanced content for K-12 science teachers; 3) increased interaction between university researchers and the K-12 community as well as the general public; and 4) dissemination of the latest scientific breakthroughs years before they will appear in K-12 textbooks. The lecture series can be found at www.geo.utexas.edu/esi.