New, GK-12: Building Bridges: Integrating Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education on the South Plains

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GRADUATE TEACHING FELLOWS IN K-12 EDUCATIONABSTRACTPROPOSAL #: 0742402PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Dominick CasadonteINSTITUTION: Texas Tech UniversityTITLE: Building Bridges: Integrating Mathematics, Science and Engineering Education on the South PlainsThis program prepares forty experienced doctoral-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students and forty secondary STEM teachers to work in an interdisciplinary environment by developing novel Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Bridge Quartets (MESBQ), where a GK-12 Science or Engineering Fellow and a GK-12 Mathematics Fellow will partner with corresponding in-service science and mathematics teachers. The cohorts will form during a series of summer institutes, where the research knowledge of the Fellows will be disseminated to the teachers, training in pedagogy and learning theory will occur for the Fellows, and integrated STEM curriculum modules will be developed. The focus of the MESBQ project is to enrich the education of STEM doctoral students, to develop a novel curricular approach to mathematics and science instruction, to build integrated math/science communities within and between higher education and K-12 institutions, and to enhance the mathematics and science content knowledge of teacher participants. More broadly, the STEM graduate students will gain an appreciation for the interconnectedness of the STEM disciplines in research. The teachers will develop an enhanced understanding of the relationship of math and science in their teaching. The K-12 students will benefit through the development of new inquiry-based integrated curriculum modules. Fellows from underrepresented groups will be recruited and an emphasis will be placed on working with teachers from schools with underserved populations. Results will be disseminated nationally through a capstone conference and a model developed that can be replicated across the nation.