Physical Scientists in K-14 Math and Science Education

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This award partially supports the Santa Fe Alliance For Science (SFAFS), an organization that utilizes the very large population of STEM professionals in New Mexico (third per capita among all states) to help improve K-14 math and science education in the Santa Fe area, and to raise the profile of math and science. SFAFS volunteers have created a program that brings greatly enriched math and science content to a large number of students, parents and teachers in Santa Fe. In 2013-14, these activities, involving over 5,000 student interactions, utilized over 4,300 volunteer hours. This project will solidify the very substantial gains that have been made and to add improvements that will make the program even stronger.The research questions underlying this work include (1) How this resource of STEM professionals can be utilized to make effective change happen; (2) How this group of highly-trained math and science experts can be molded into an effective pedagogical entity; (3) How existing educational modalities can be modified, or reshaped, to take advantage of this talent pool; (4) How these specially skilled individuals can help create greater student and public interest in the beauty, power and value of math and science, and bring these ideas to all segments of the community; and (5) How the social and political issues that will certainly arise can be dealt with most effectively.