The GK-12 program at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro partners Fellows from several departmental graduate programs with teachers and students at three Guilford County Schools (one elementary, middle and high school in the same neighborhood) to form discovery teams to scientifically investigate the biological, health-related, and socioeconomic effects of changing land use patterns in the region. The research questions of the Fellows are linked to local neighborhood issues and larger historical changes in land use patterns. Although the research questions are focused on neighborhood and regional environmental issues, the scientific literacy skills acquired by program participants will enable them to critically and quantitatively address any scientific question or environmentally-related problem, ranging from local to global scales. Fellows and teachers will work in school-based teams on three primary tasks: the development and delivery of inquiry-based lesson plans, greater quality and quantity of differentiated instruction, and the creation of K-12 student teams to teach others science concepts and methods. Fellows will learn to communicate research to a wide variety of audiences, develop lesson plans, develop leadership skills, enhance their teaching capability, and engage in research activities with students. Teachers will integrate new research into their teaching and learning and take part in professional development on inquiry-based science instruction and working with diverse student groups. K-12 students will become engaged in new forms of science learning and research and will be exposed to a variety of STEM careers.
