Sustaining the Georgia Tech GK-12 Program

STEP: Student and Teacher Enhancement Partnership

Donna Llewellyn 5 March 2005

What are we doing?

Summer training course Teaching interns Established

partnerships with research labs

Summer Training Course -What are we doing?

Summer Training Course -How are we doing?

Quotes from Summer ’04 Training Journals:

…STEP Summer Training helped build relationships among the STEP Fellows that I think will be invaluable as we support one another during the school year.

The workshops on teaching strategies and learning styles were the most enjoyable…By the end of these sessions, I was pumped up and ready to enter the high school classroom.

I feel that those involved in the training sessions were doing their best to prepare me for the next year, to give me the best chance to succeed.

Summer Training Course – Why did we choose this?

Georgia Tech has no College of Education

There has never been a formal pedagogy-type course offered

Now, there is a formal course offered for our graduate students interested in education and teaching

Teaching Interns -What are we doing?

Sources of $ for Fellow Stipends

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

NSF GK-12Fellows

GT GK-12Fellows

NSF TeachingInterns

GT TeachingInterns

Types of Fellows

% o

f S

tip

end

NSF GT Provost GT Advisor

Teaching Interns -What are we doing?

Distribution of Types of Fellows

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Post-STEP

Years of Track 2 Grant

Nu

mb

er

of

Fe

llow

s

NSF GK-12 Fellows

GT GK-12 Fellows

NSF Teaching Interns

GT Teaching Interns

Teaching Interns -How are we doing?

Willingness of Finalists’ Advisors to Give Support

3

13 18

Year One

Year Two

Teaching Interns -Why did we choose this? “STEP administrators (and many NSF

administrators) anticipated that the Fellowship experience might be a partial substitute for the research in which Fellows engaged.  However, it became evident that Fellows intended to continue their research at the same pace they had been working prior to the Fellowship.  And, in fact, for most Fellows, their work in the laboratories did not slow up throughout their experience in the high schools.“

-2002 STEP Annual Report

Teaching Interns -Why did we choose this? "The STEP fellowship program allows students to

interact with the local community and contribute to the education of the next generation of potential researchers…Graduate students will have to explain to the high school students and their teachers what they’re doing in the lab. The ability to explain one's work at a basic level to a general audience is a valuable skill that I believe all scientists should strive to obtain. So, while involvement in the STEP fellowship program may not have an immediately obvious impact on a student's research program, the potential impact to a student's career development is unquestionable."

-Dr. Seth Marder, Advisor Reference

Partnerships with Research Labs -What are we doing?

Partnerships with Research Labs -How are we doing?

Partnerships with Research Labs –Why did we choose this? Georgia Tech faculty bring in a lot of

research money Criteria 2,

Educational Components of Research Grants

Win-Win Situation

Two caveats

1. In order to institutionalize the GK-12 program’s activities, it must be in the strategic interest of the institution

2. In the process of doing #1 above, you may have to sacrifice some of your own goals