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GK-12 – Information from NSF
This NSF GK-12 Fellowship Program supports fellowships and associated training that enable graduate students in NSF- supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century. Through interactions with teachers in K-12 schools, graduate students can improve communication and teaching skills while enriching STEM instruction in K-12 schools. In addition, the GK-12 program provides institutions of higher education with an opportunity to make a permanent change in their graduate programs by including partnerships with K-12 schools in a manner that is of mutual benefit to their faculties and students. Expected outcomes include improved communication, teaching and team building skills for the Fellows; professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers; enriched learning for K-12 students; and strengthened partnerships between institutions of higher education and local school districts.
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CCBI – Project Description
Title: The Collaborative Classroom-based Inquiry Project
Narrative Summary: The Collaborative Classroom Based Inquiry (CCBI) project connects University of California-Davis (UCD) graduate and undergraduate students with K-12 grade mathematics and science teachers who are conducting classroom-based inquiry. The fellows deepen their understanding of the issues of teaching and learning by working side-by-side with expert teachers who research their own pedagogy. The subject matter expertise of the fellows contributes to the teacher-researchers' work by adding a different lens to their analysis of student learning. The K-12 grade students benefit from the collaboration as they receive research-based instruction, informed by systematic data collection on student learning as well as the latest results of research in the disciplines of mathematics and science.
Fellows and teachers work together in the summer to explore teacher-research techniques, the State Standards in their subject matter area, and curriculum design. During the school year they collect data in the K-12 classrooms about what K-12 students know and understand in specific mathematics or science content areas and design curriculum that reflect that data. Fellows apprentice with the mentor teacher-researcher taking up various instructional tasks such as facilitating group work or class discussions, presenting class demonstrations, teaching specially designed curriculum units using large group guided-inquiry techniques, and leading the students in lab work.
Evaluation of the project includes analysis of student learning, case studies of teacher-research groups as well as surveys of all participants on beliefs about the nature of science and mathematics as well as perceptions of sound pedagogical practices. The intellectual merits of this project include, for the Fellows, opportunities to experience an inquiry stance toward their teaching so that they strive to constantly improve their practice by focusing on student learning; K-12 teacher-researchers gain a deeper understanding of science or mathematics content areas; and the K-12 students gain an enriched understanding of mathematics and science. Through their research on the project, UCD faculty better understand how teacher-research contributes to teachers' learning and in particular how a subject matter focus enhances the teacher-research process. Findings from the teacher-research project will be shared with other teachers at conferences and publications.
