NSF GK-12 Fellowships Enhancing

 Science Education In South Carolina Schools

College of Engineering and Information Technology

University of South Carolina

| Highlights | Eligibility | Applications | Targeted Science Standards |  Contact | More Programs |

Highlights

• Fellowships for Chemical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering Students at the University of South Carolina. 
• Graduate Students are paid a $27,500 per year Stipend.  Also, the project pays all tuition and provides a small cost of education allowance for books and supplies.
• Advanced Undergraduates who are in Plan-M or the Accelerated BS/MS program are paid a $13,750 per year Stipend and get a small cost of education allowance for books and supplies.
• GK-12 Fellowships are for one year and may be renewed.

Benefits

• Improve your science- and mathematics-related communication and teaching skills.
• Develop the ability to apply principles of cognitive processes that enhance student learning.
• Integrate your teaching and research activities.

 Activities

• Take a class from the College of Education (EDTE 701) that is designed specifically to prepare engineering graduate students to teach.
• Help grades 3-8 teachers develop, adapt and adopt science-learning materials that convey engineering concepts.  Spend 10 hrs/week with the teachers and 5 hrs/week in preparation during the school year. Our Guide to Shared Expectations will help you.
• During the summer, help the GK-12 Fellowship Team to organize and present a teacher recertification workshop called “The GK-12 Institute for Teachers”.

Narrative

The University of South Carolina was awarded over $1 Million from the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Program to support fellowships and associated training that will enable graduate students in engineering to serve as resources in K-12 schools. 

 

The primary objective of the GK-12 Engineering Fellowships project is to help prepare today's engineering graduate students to be the engineering faculty of tomorrow. To succeed, these graduate students must be prepared to teach to a generation of students that has grown up in a global, high-tech society. To teach these students, tomorrow's engineering faculty needs better communication and teaching skills, and greater knowledge of cognitive processes that enhance student learning, than today's faculty possesses.  This program will give them these abilities.

 

Another objective of the GK-12 Engineering Fellowships project is to improve science learning of students and assist in the professional development of teachers in grades 3-8. These groups are targeted because this is the time when most young people are either turned-on, or turned-off, to science.  Too often, science and mathematics are viewed by the students as facts and figures to memorize, with little significance to the world around them. Engineering (the art of applying scientific and mathematical principles, experience and judgment to make things that benefit people) can provide the applications that make science real to the novice learner.

 

These two complementary objectives are being addressed by an interdisciplinary project that involves graduate students from the five departments in the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of South Carolina. The graduate Fellows help teachers adopt, adapt and develop state-of-the art learning materials that situate science learning in design problem solving and other experiential learning activities, while benefiting from formal training on learning and teaching styles and working with expert teachers.  It is a win-win situation!

Eligibility Requirements

·       Citizen, national, or permanent resident alien of the United States.

·       Admission to a Graduate Program, Plan-M, or the Accelerated BS/MS Program in the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of South Carolina.  Preference will be given to qualified Ph.D. students. Apply Now

Applications

A complete GK-12 Fellowship Application must include the following items:

1. A letter of application, signed by the applicant.
2. A completed fellowship application form.  Download the Microsoft Word version (applyGK12.doc) or the Adobe Acrobat version (applyGK12.pdf) of the GK-12 Application Form. Please submit the printed copy.
3. A Statement of Interest.  The Statement of Interest should address your interest in science education and explains why you want to participate in the GK-12 fellowship program.  Describe any previous formal or informal teaching experience or experience working with children.  In addition, you must consult the list of targeted science standards and identify which ones you are most interested in facilitating.
4. A current resume that is no longer than two pages.

 

All application materials must be submitted in hard-copy.

 

Application Deadlines:  First round = March 18, 2003.  Second Round = April 10, 2003.

Selection Criteria

Selection of fellows will be based on the potential for a successful partnership between the student and participating teachers in grades 3-8 classrooms.   A fellow must be knowledgeable of his/her subject, have good inter-personal skills, be able to communicate effectively, and have the maturity and problem-solving skills to contribute to the partnership. Advanced standing as a graduate student, particularly as a Ph.D. candidate, is preferred.

Deliver all application materials, in hard-copy, to:

Jed S. Lyons, Ph.D., P.E.

Department of Mechanical Engineering

300 Main Street, Room A132

University of South Carolina

Columbia, SC  29208

(803) 777-9552

lyons@sc.edu

Targeted Science Standards

The following table lists the SC Science Standards that are being targeted by the GK-12 Engineering Fellowships project.  Also shown are potential relationships between the science standard topics and USC’s Engineering and Information Technology programs.

Grade Level	K-12 Science Standard	Allied Branch of Engineering
3	Earth Materials	Civil
	Heat & Changes of Matter	Chemical
	Machines & Motion	Mechanical
4	Sound & Light	Electrical, Mechanical
	Electricity & Magnetism	Electrical
5	Mixtures & Solutions	Chemical
	Motion, Force & Design	Mechanical
6	Physical Props. & Changes of Matter	Chemical
	Machines & Work	Mechanical
	Forces & Transfer of Energy	Mechanical
7	Ecology	Civil
	Chemical Nature of Matter	Chemical
8	Earth Processes	Civil
	Forces & Motion	Mechanical
	Light	Electrical

 

For More Information, Visit Our Home Page or Contact:

Jed S. Lyons, Associate Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering

University of South Carolina

Columbia, SC  29208

(803) 777-9552

lyons@sc.edu

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of the page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of South Carolina. Questions or comments email lyons@sc.edu.  This site copyright (c) 2001, The Board of Trustees of the University of South Carolina.  Updated on 03/11/2003.