This four year project led by The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) will continue fostering interactions among projects funded by the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)through a series of meetings that include one annual meeting and two special focus meetings every year. The annual meeting will be broad and will target all different GK-12 participants (PIs, Fellows, Teachers, Project Coordinators, Evaluators and Faculty Members). The special focus meetings will target a specific GK-12 group or will explore a theme or issue of special interest to the GK-12 program or GK-12 projects. AAAS also will update the current website and revise and expand its content to provide a resource to the GK-12 community. Some of the additions to the website will be: an e-newsletter, alumni directory, evaluation instruments, ready access to STEM activities and statistical data on projects.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE For more than a decade, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has provided support to participants in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 (GK-12) Education program through a series of national and special-focused meetings and a Web site, www.gk12.org. Through the NSF GK-12 program, graduate student researchers provided hands-on, inquiry-based STEM content to K-12 students and teachers in 49 states and Puerto Rico. AAAS expanded and enhanced the GK-12 community, which included university faculty, graduate students, K-12 teachers, project managers, and evaluators, through multi-day annual meetings held in Washington, DC. The meeting content and structure was informed by discussions with GK-12 project teams and NSF GK-12 program staff. Important themes included: developing and implementing partnerships between universities and schools and between teachers and STEM professionals; integrating research into K-12 classrooms; creating lessons/activities linked to graduate student research and that supported school curricula and national science standards; and sustaining and advancing GK-12 programs. The Web site, www.gk12.org, offered news about participating projects, meetings, resources, and descriptions of GK-12 graduate students and teacher partners. A GK-12 Alumni Center, www.gk12.org/alumni-center/ was developed as part of the Web site to build a database of project members so that GK-12 participants and others in the STEM community can search for people with GK-12 experience in their geographic area, discipline, or similar institution. To celebrate the success of this innovative program and to continue its legacy, AAAS, NSF, and 34 GK-12 faculty, graduate students, K-12 teachers, project managers, and evaluators wrote a publication to document the experiences, lessons learned, and successful models from the GK-12 projects. Topics include: creating partnerships (both institutional and between graduate students and teachers), integrating STEM content and research into the classroom, evaluating projects, and sustaining the GK-12 approach. The Power of Partnerships: A Guide From the NSF Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education Program is now available from AAAS by contacting bcalinge@aaas.org and online at www.gk12.org/2013/06/10/the-power-of-partnerships-a-guide-from-the-nsf-gk-12-program/.
