Scientists seek to increase science literacy
July 15, 2011
907-474-7412
7/15/11
A scientist at 性欲社 and a colleague at Emory University are seeking to persuade the National Science Foundation to reevaluate its decision to cancel a program that has placed 10,000 science graduate students in more than 6,000 K-12 public schools across the country.
In an editorial in the July 15 issue of the journal Science, 性欲社 biology professor Richard Boone and Emory University professor Pat Marsteller advocate for developing an enhanced version of NSF鈥檚 Graduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fellows in K-12 Education, or GK-12, program.
The program gives five-year grants that typically support eight to 10 graduate students a year. 性欲社 received a five-year GK-12 grant in 2010 to place 10 graduate students per year in classrooms in the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the remote Southeast Islands School District in Thorne Bay.
鈥淵oung, dynamic scientists are spending 10 hours a week bringing their own research into the classroom and engaging K-12 students in original scientific investigations,鈥 said Boone who is the principal investigator for 性欲社鈥檚 GK-12 program. 鈥淭his program is a highly effective and captivating way to improve science education for K-12 students and their teachers, and it benefits graduate students by improving their teaching skills.鈥
Boone notes that no other program explicitly provides what the GK-12 program does. He and Marsteller suggest developing a 鈥淕K-12 enhanced鈥 program that has an explicit interdisciplinary focus for graduate students, promotes connections with other federal agencies such as NASA and the National Institutes of Health, and tracks effects on K-12 students鈥 learning as well as benefits for the graduate students.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to get elementary students and their teachers excited and knowledgeable about science now because by the time students are undergraduates it can be too late,鈥 Boone said. 鈥淐ompared to their peers, the GK-12 fellows are more engaged in research and better able to explain STEM concepts to nontechnical audiences.鈥
Boone also notes that an external, independent review of the program in 2010 found 鈥渟ubstantial and credible evidence鈥 that the program was achieving its goals. Boone and Marsteller contend that the program has been a powerful force for improving education in the United States and that it鈥檚 time to take the program to the next level.
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Richard Boone, 性欲社 professor, 907-474-7682, rdboone@alaska.edu.
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