Graduate students to teach in schools with $1.9m NSF grant

By Robert Emro, CEPS

Thanks to a $1.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), a UNH graduate student is coming to a high school near you to help teach mathematics and science, and maybe even interest students in a career.

The NSF’s GK-12 program will place 10 UNH graduate students from the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics in high schools throughout New Hampshire, including those in Rochester, Salem and Goffstown.

Starting next summer, these fellows will work with teachers to develop hands-on, inquiry-based projects.
Once school starts in the fall, they will spend two days a week assisting local teachers.

The GK-12 program is the first major grant initiative for UNH’s Joan and James Leitzel Center for Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education and director Karen Graham said schools have been glad to get the help.

“We’re not preparing enough teachers with backgrounds in science and mathematics,” she explained. “That is a critical need.”
The three-year grant will benefit all involved, according to Barbara Hopkins, who will direct UNH’s GK-12 program.

“Everybody wins,” she said. “The high school teachers and programs gain assistance with high quality resources and cutting-edge research, the students gain mentoring for science careers and projects, and the graduate students gain science teaching and communication skills.”

The long-term goal of the GK-12 initiative is recruiting more high school students into careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

NSF Director Rita Colwell said the enthusiasm and expertise of graduate researchers is the key.

“Linking local schools with colleges and universities builds a more seamless educational web,” Colwell said. “The enhanced learning experiences students receive come at a time in their lives when they are eager to learn, explore and think about forming career choices based on their experiences.”

Congress is concerned that the United States, despite being recognized around the world as having some of the best institutions of higher learning for science and technology, could be poised to lose its economic advantage over other countries in these areas. While international students have swelled enrollments in graduate programs, the number of U.S. students is near an all-time low.

“Fewer and fewer graduate students from this country are coming into the sciences,” said Barrett Rock, a UNH professor of natural resources who is involved with the GK-12 program. “Enrollments at UNH’s College of Life Sciences and Agriculture are down at this point.”

Begun with a pilot project in 1999, the GK-12 program is now in 43 states and Puerto Rico and may already be turning that trend around.

According to the latest NSF surveys, the number of students from the United States entering graduate programs in the sciences has leveled off, and is even increasing slightly in engineering and computer science fields.

“My feeling is that the way you get pre-college students excited about math and science is bringing it to them and making it real,” said Rock. “We really need to develop outreach alongside the ‘pure’ research. The day of just doing the pure science, I think that’s over and there has to be a ‘so what’ behind it now.”

Students or departments interested in participating in the GK-12 program should contact Barbara Hopkins, Parsons Hall, at 2-2684 or Barbara.Hopkins@unh.edu.