Cascades To Coast GK-12: Enhancing STEM Education through Environmental Sustainability

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Cascades to Coast GK-12: Enhancing STEM Education through Environmental SustainabilityThe Cascades to Coast GK-12 project will establish partnerships between Portland State University?s School of the Environment (SOE) and three Oregon school districts toward the goals of enhancing middle, high school and graduate STEM education around the theme of environmental sustainability. The project will support fifty GK-12 PhD Fellowships for advanced graduate students to work directly with teachers to engage over 1500 sixth through ninth grade students in inquiry and field studies designed to increase understanding of key concepts in the physical and biological sciences and environmental sustainability. The project?s geographic breadth, from Oregon?s Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, will provide an opportunity to create a learning community across diverse school districts and ecosystems. Project activities include a summer training institute, the development of a required year long graduate seminar "Public Communication, Education and Careers", teacher professional development workshops, and end-of-year student poster conference. Project outcomes include: developing and improving Fellows? skills in teaching and public outreach to diverse audiences; institutionalizing K-12 activities and public outreach into SOE graduate curricula; increasing teachers? knowledge of current science content and their skills in creating engaging inquiry activities; increasing students? knowledge about the scientific principles underlying environmental sustainability and contributing to the STEM education knowledge base by sharing field-tested, theme-based science inquiry projects and related curricula. A website will be developed to share project ideas, environmental data acquired, and final tested and refined curriculum units. A robust evaluation will guide continuous improvement, disseminate findings, and support continuation of successful components.