Selling Your Soul for Science

Notes on Being an NSF GK-12 Fellow

By Ted PavlicWednesday, May 30, 2007

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Agenda

About: Definitions, Mission, Topics

Fellowship Benefits and Requirements

Conclusions: Reflections, Pros, and Cons

Questions

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Some Definitions

NSF: National Science Foundation GK-12: Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12

Education GRFP: Graduate Research Fellowship Program STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, and

Mathematics CPS: Columbus Public Schools NCLB: No Child Left Behind (“nickel-be”)* EOY: End Of Year PI: Principal Investigator PC: Program Coordinator

*Reference to Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens novel & 2002 Douglas McGrath movie (see also: Hard Times).

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Synopsis from NSF*

Provides funding to STEM graduate students to . . . acquire additional skills to prepare for 21st century

careers improve communication, teaching, collaboration, and

team building skills enrich STEM learning and instruction in K-12 schools gain a deeper understanding of own STEM research

Encourages universities to add inquiry-based learning to STEM graduate programs

Strengthened and sustained partnerships in STEM between universities and local school districts

*Summarized from http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5472.

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Scientific Inquiry*

Repackaging of scientificmethod for use in teaching

1. Motivate students to ask a question

2. Develop hypotheses3. Test them4. Draw conclusions5. Show that process

should continue possibly forever

*Image taken from http://acept.asu.edu/courses/phs110/si/chapter1/main.html.

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OSU GK-12

Collaboration with CPS Focus on 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students 9-11 year old students

Each fellow paired with two teachers Usually different schools Usually different grades

Huge testing pressures NCLB NSF reporting

Job is NOT to teach students!

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Topics to Teach Grade 3

Earth Science: Properties/composition of rocks and soils Life Science: Animal life cycles, morphological classification, habitat,

adaptations Grade 4

Matter: Physical and chemical properties Life Science: Plant life cycle, parts, adaptations, habitat Earth Science: Water, weather, geological processes

Grade 5 Earth Science: Solar system Life Science: Food chains, webs Physical Science: Electricity, energy, light/sound waves Design Process: positive and negative impacts of technology

Common Elements Observation, Measuring, Classification Communication Technology and Careers

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Concrete Fellowship Benefits Bona fide NSF fellowship

Looks great on a CV 12-month NSF GRFP level stipend (e.g., $2500/month) 12-month tuition

Administered by OSU Fewer applicants = Better award chances Delivery via OSU payroll = Funded graduate student health

insurance subsidy (note: after tax deduction) 1099 Income

No social security or PERS (+?) File estimated taxes quarterly (-)

Easy to milk/exploit social service aspect Looks great on CV Social do-gooders attract public attention (for personal gain)

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Fellowship Time Requirements

Time Requirements 10 hours per week in classroom 5+ hours per week for lesson planning and

development 1 hour biweekly meeting of fellows and PI’s 2 half-day focus meetings (January and May) 1 hour EOY summary of experience (e.g., right now) ~4 half-day training meetings as trainees (June) ~2 half-day training meetings as trainers (June)

Adviser requirements Adviser must visit classroom once per semester Adviser must meet with PC at EOY

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Fellowship Deliverables

On-line Course: Human Research(once for 2-3 hours)

On-line NSF EOY survey(once for 0.5 hour)

Pre-test and post-test data (one per quarter) Lesson plans: MS Word chemistry-lab format

(one per week (ish)) Biweekly reports: one page form

(one every two weeks) Presentations: focus meetings and EOY summary

(three total) Possible additional tracking information

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Heart of Educational Darkness* Classroom control NCLB always an obstacle (spinning out of control)

Testing pressures are huge Schedules/resources frequently change Teacher expertise in wrong areas

Homework not an option Schools serve as foster parents Cannot count on parent involvement

Inquiry-based teaching incompatible with testing requirements Program mission: avoid teaching to test Program performance measures: test

NSF reporting (contradictory) NCLB requires high test scores

How to teach vocabulary and inquiry?

*Reference to Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness (see also F. F. Coppola’s 1979 Apocalypse Now).

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Pros and Cons

Pros Interface with graduate students from other fields Financially attractive Learn about inner-city public schools Expand content knowledge to surprising extent

Cons Can be a major time burden Can lead to an attenuated sense of personal efficacy

Future Continuously improving fellowship experience Web resources getting better PI’s and PC sincerely want to make program a success

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Conclusions (“Selling Your Soul for Science”) Investment

Time Energy

Returns Cash / CV Expanded content knowledge Expanded awareness Impact on teachers’ future lessons Hopefully plant seeds of citizen scientists

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Questions?

For more information . . . NSF GK-12 Website: http://www.nsfgk12.org/

OSU GK-12 Website: http://gk-12.osu.edu/ OSU GK-12 Program Coordinator

Mary Allison Timby (“Mary Allison”) (614) 688-0501 mtimby@chemistry.ohio-state.edu

Ted Pavlic: pavlic.3@osu.edu