Impact Of A Gk 12 Program On The Development Of University Students Academic And Professional Skills
- Conference
- Location
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Honolulu, Hawaii
- Publication Date
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June 24, 2007
- Start Date
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June 24, 2007
- End Date
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June 27, 2007
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Educational Research and Methods
- Page Count
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16
- Page Numbers
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12.825.1 - 12.825.16
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--2801
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/2801
- Download Count
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406
Paper Authors
Jamie Medoff University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Mrs. Jamie Gurganus is a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at UMBC. As an undergraduate student, she was involved in the UMBC TEPP program. Currently, Jamie serves as the Associate Director for Project Lead the Way and develops curriculum for K-12 engineering education.
Anne Spence University of Maryland-Baltimore County
ANNE M. SPENCE is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UMBC and holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering. During her ten years as an engineering educator, she has developed curricula, directed programs to increase the recruitment and retention of women in engineering, and developed hands on engineering programs designed to foster an interest in engineering among elementary, middle and high school students. She manages a number of NSF grants related to engineering education.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Impact of a GK-12 program on the development of University students academic and professional skills
Introduction
In recent years, improving STEM education has particularly been encouraged in the K-12 classroom. The benefit of having partnerships between Universities and their local schools is looked at as a possible positive contributor to enhance STEM education within the classroom. Several outreach programs have been established including a well known National Science Foundation (NSF) funded program that involves students in college establishing a relationship with a teacher through a school year by helping them in the classroom encourage students to excel in STEM education.
The NSF Graduate Teaching fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) “provides funding to graduate students in NSF- supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to acquire additional skills that will broadly prepare them for professional and scientific careers in the 21st century.”3
In 2002-2006, The National Science Foundation supported a GK-12 fellows program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County called the Teaching Enhancement Partnership Program (TEPP). It was run out of UMBC’s Shirver Center. Designed to improve classroom instruction of mathematics and science in the nation’s primary and secondary schools, the program placed both graduate and undergraduate science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors in five high-needs middle schools within the Baltimore Metropolitan Area. A project evaluation was designed to assess the extent to which TEPP met the following National Science Foundation expectations regarding outcomes.3
1) Improved communication skills and teaching skills for graduate and undergraduate fellows;
2) Enriched learning by K-12 students;
3) Professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers;
4) Strengthened partnerships between institutions of higher education and local school districts.
The program at the University of Maryland Baltimore County could be compared to other NSF granted GK-12 programs such as the STOMP program at Tufts university2. Though, the program distinguished itself from other GK-12 programs through its use of undergraduates. TEPP consisted of 5 graduate and 20 undergraduates’ students enrolled at the university each year. Each graduate student was place in one of the five local high needs middle schools along with four undergraduates. Both the undergraduates and the
Medoff, J., & Spence, A. (2007, June), Impact Of A Gk 12 Program On The Development Of University Students Academic And Professional Skills Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2801
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