GK-12 Formal Proposal: Down to Earth Science - Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education

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Experimentation and exploration - the way scientists create new knowledge - will be adopted as the cornerstone for learning and teaching science in Arizona State University's Down to Earth Science fellow/teacher/student partnership program. The activities are based on a strongly interdisciplinary, multiscalar approach to earth systems science in three important research domains that powerfully convey science content - Materials Science and Engineering, Ecology, and Planetary Studies.ASU is poised to launch, and sustain, new approaches to increasing scientific literacy. We will expand upon the strong infrastructure of successful K-12 educational outreach programs from large-scale science and engineering research projects as well as ongoing and extensive collaborations with K-12 education.This project will: 1) integrate research, education, and outreach in a meaningful way by incorporating instructional strategies consistent with the national science standards; 2) increase teachers'knowledge of science content and concepts, and provide them opportunities to engage their students in actual scientific research; 3) help revitalize science education from the use of abstract and obscure examples to the contextual and the relevant; and (4) instill fellows with the skills to communicate scientific concepts to a wider audience and prepare them to be mentors and role models for students.This award is co-supported by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.