The National Science Foundation has granted $1.5 million to a team of CU-Boulder scientists and graduate students who are working with the Boulder Valley School district on a program designed to improve science, math and literacy in area schools.
The program, "Partners in Science Education: GK-12 Fellows at CU-Boulder" is led by Veronica Bierbaum, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, with Margaret Asirvatham, also of chemistry and biochemistry; Lesley Smith, research associate with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES; Andrew Martin, associate professor in environmental, population and organismic biology; and Frances Bagenal, professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.
Carol McLaren, director of the popular and highly acclaimed Science Discovery program at CU-Boulder, will lead graduate fellow and teacher training and Lynn Geiger, an academic adviser in the CU-Boulder chemistry and biochemistry department, will coordinate undergraduate and minority student participation.
"By partnering with the Boulder Valley School District, we hope to inspire middle and high school students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math," Asirvatham said.
The three-year grant begins in June 2003 and supports placement of nine graduate fellows in science classrooms who will help develop and implement middle and high school science education modules.
The modules will be designed to follow the Full Option Science System, or FOSS, developed with NSF support at the Lawrence Hall of Science at Berkeley.
Each module incorporates student readings, science journals, interactive projects and the use of mathematics to develop students' basic skills.
The project targets grades six through eight in two district middle schools, Angevine and Casey, and grades nine and 10 in Boulder and Centaurus high schools. These schools were selected to address the disparity in performance between underrepresented minorities and other students in the math and science Colorado State Assessment Program (CSAP) tests in 2000 and 2001.
Critical to the model's concept is the idea that students learn science by doing science. The Partners in Science Education program leverages the Sombrero Marsh Environmental Education Program initiated in 2001 by CIRES, the Boulder Valley School District, Thorne Ecological Institute and the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks.
In May, the EPA cited Sombrero Marsh as a "five star restoration site." So far, the Sombrero Marsh educational pilot has involved 10 teachers and 125 Boulder Valley School District students. Student scientists ranging from first and fourth graders to middle school and high school students, monitor the restoration of the marsh and measure the impacts of classroom groups on the health of the wetland.
"The Partners in Science Education program is particularly strong because the modules we use in the classroom are followed by a real-world experience in the Sombrero Marsh nature center," Smith said.
Project leader Bierbaum said the program "will enhance science education by bringing graduate fellows into the classroom and will provide new research opportunities for teachers and students.
"We hope the research and teaching experiences will encourage graduate fellows to consider careers in teaching secondary school science," she said.