ENHANCING URBAN GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION THROUGH “SCIENCE FOR OUR SCHOOLS”, A GK-12 PROGRAM AT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES

The Science For Our Schools (SFOS) program is an NSF-funded GK-12 partnership between the Departments of Geology, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology at California State University, Los Angeles and local school districts. The goals of SFOS are to enhance science education for the predominantly underrepresented students in Los Angeles' urban high schools, and to improve the communication skills of science graduate students at CSULA. Seven of the 21 SFOS Fellows supported by the 3-year program (2003-06) have been graduate students in CSULA's M.S. Geology or M.S. Environmental Hydrogeology programs. Of those 7, two have completed their M.S. degrees and successfully embarked on Ph.D. programs, one is teaching at a local college, and the remaining four are continuing their graduate studies with plans to enter Ph.D. programs or pursue careers in industry. SFOS Geology Fellows at CSULA created and implemented standards-based classroom lessons and activities, gave talks about their research, judged science fairs, spoke at ‘Ask-a-Scientist' nights and ‘Career Days', and led field trips to the San Andreas fault, the San Gabriel Mountains, the southern California coast, and wetlands in the Los Angeles Basin. Many of these activities are documented on the SFOS web site: http://sfos.calstatela.edu. Partner teachers report that the SFOS Fellows make their classrooms more energetic, stimulate their students' curiosity, and even inspire some to consider careers in the geosciences.