GK-12 was a NSF-funded program run by Michigan Technological University and the Copper Country Intermediate School District. This three-year program selected graduate and advanced undergraduate students from the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (88% of Techs enrollment) and matched them with local schools where they acted as resource consultants to K-12 teachers.
The goal of this program was to forge a closer, mutually beneficial relationship between the local schools and higher education. According to program director Beverly Baartmans, these non-education majors helped develop a cadre of professionals who, after they go to work for business and industry, will remain sensitive to the needs of their local schools and [stay] actively involved in them.
The immediate work of the program fellows, however, was to transform traditional math and science courses into state-of-the-art courses which brought technology into the classroom as a means for more active, holistic learning. Tech students spent ten hours per week in the classroom, helping tweak course content to include new, sometimes interdisciplinary topics, improved pedagogy by facilitating a more active, participatory style of learning, and utilized technology to enrich the classroom experience.
The activities of these students fell into four themes, suggested by teachers needs and Tech students interests. The first activity theme was to develop science and math experiments at the K-6 level, create and run family math, family science, and family computing programs, help teachers update their computer skills and found ways to use the tools of technology to enhance and enliven learning, and acted as resources for youth interested in fields of science, engineering, and technology by providing both content and career information to the students.
Michigan Tech's GK-12 fellows have kindly provided lesson plans supporting the first activity theme; lesson plans are indexed at left and are linked to this site.
"There is no group of people who should feel more responsible for science and math education in this nation than our scientists and scientists-to-be."
NSF Director Rita Colwell, DC Science
Writers Association, September 8, 1998
This site and all material contained herein is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No 9979572. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
