Track I, GK-12: Enriching Earth Science in Rural Tennessee Middle Schools Through Research-Based Activities on Climate and Environmental History

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This proposal describes a Track 1 project developed by the University of Tennessee Knoxville. This proposal focuses on the land, its distinctive features, the history and capitalizes on the Appalachian environment. The project's goal is to link earth science instruction with ongoing and new University research on climate and environmental history as reconstructed from natural earth archives including sediments, soils, tree rings, rocks, and fossils. The vehicle will be infusion of science discovery into the middle school curriculum by linking with ongoing research at the university. GK-12 fellows and their advisors will provide the links. Fellows and teachers will help students develop local research projects that give them a chance to experience all the steps of scientific research.The model holds promise of being effective in small rural schools where students who are not familiar with the work of scientists can get a real taste of discovery and analysis. Schools that have been identified for the project are all in very poor rural areas where there are few resources to encourage students to pursue STEM careers.