PARENT SESSION
Symposium 12: Integrating Scientific Research and Ecology Education
Organized by: M Krasny, C Brewer, and D Ebert-May
Wednesday, August 6. 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM, SITCC Chatham Ballroom C.
Integrating K-12 Education with Scientific Research and Teaching.
Bohanan, Robert*,1, 2, Krasny, Marianne3, 1 Center for Biology Education, Madison, WI, US2 Center for Limnology, Madison, WI, US3 Graduate Studies, Ithaca, NY, US
ABSTRACT- Our goal is to integrate K-12 outreach with scientific research and the training of undergraduate and graduate students. The challenge is to develop and understand models for effectively integrating K-12 outreach and the hope is that the interactions will benefit all involved: K-12 students, their teachers, and university faculty and their graduate and undergraduate students. We describe the development, implementation, and assessment of several models including: K-12 teacher professional development, involvement of Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12), development of instructional materials for K-12 classrooms, informal science activities, and initiatives aimed at attracting diverse students to science. Underlying teaching and learning goals emphasize inquiry, updating content, and improving students understanding of the nature of scientific research. Using case studies focusing on urban ecology, biocomplexity, and community dynamics we have developed models that are robust in nature and include promising elements for replication and adaptation to other sites. Over the past 3 years, more than 50 graduate teaching fellows have participated in K-12 environmental sciences projects at 20 middle and high schools in New York and Wisconsin. In interviews, graduate teaching fellows reported that they learn more about teaching than they would through teaching assistantships. Similarly interviews with K-12 science teachers and curriculum coordinators, found that the graduate teaching fellows provided unique resources for connecting content and student research. This model of graduate teaching fellows and K-12 teachers working together has helped middle and high school students learn how to ask meaningful scientific questions and how to develop rigorous student inquiry projects modeled after ecological research. Our results suggest that programs such as GK-12 can create synergistic and mutually beneficial effects between universities (e.g. effectively leveraging faculty involvement in outreach, improving graduate training) and K-12 schools (e.g. improving student and teacher understanding of the nature and practice of science).
Key words: Environmental Education, Models of K-12 Integration, Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12