PARENT SESSION
Poster Session # 3: Ecological Education.

Monday, August 4 Presentation from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM. SITCC Exhibit Hall B.

Ecological education enrichment in grades 5-10 of West Virginia schools by NSF GK-12 teaching fellows.

Wennerberg, Sarah^*,1, Klugh, Katrina¹, Springer, Clint¹, Pyle, Eric^*,1, ¹ West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

ABSTRACT- Teams of interdisciplinary graduate fellows in science, mathematics, and engineering make up the TIGERS project at West Virginia University (WVU). The TIGERS project is part of the National Science Foundation's GK-12 program. Middle and high school (5-10) math and science teachers work cooperatively with teams of graduate fellows to co-plan and co-teach science and math topics throughout the school year. During this co-planning and co-teaching, graduate fellows provide real world scientific expertise while the teachers help guide the fellows in preparing a series of hands-on inquiry based lessons to present to the students. The TIGERS Humans and the Environment team is comprised of graduate students from the departments of biology and physics at WVU. The developed lessons cover many ecological themes such as nutrient dynamics of plants in disturbed ecosystems, plant identification, and forest succession. Experimental design and data collection in field and laboratory settings along with computerized data analysis are emphasized in most lessons. Student mastery of the intended objectives is determined using multiple assessment strategies. The results of student assessments show that West Virginia middle and high school students display an increase in knowledge of human and environmental interactions as well as a greater understanding of humans' role as stewards of Earth's ecosystems.

Key words: K-12 education, graduate education, ecology education, NSF GK-12