b. Institution: Duke University Marine Laboratory c. Principal Investigator: Celia Bonaventura, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical School and Nicholas School of The Environment and Earth Sciences Co-Principal Investigator: Michael K. Orbach, PhD, Professor of the Practice of Marine Affairs and Policy, Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences d. Number of Fellows: Nine NSF Teaching Fellows, including 3 undergraduate students, 3 masters students, and 3 pre-doctoral students e. Target Audience: The Program will focus on high school and middle school grade levels, with some activities that attract students of all ages. f. NSF-supported disciplines: Within the broad context of Coastal and Marine Environments, topics of instruction will include disciplinary and interdisciplinary aspects of biology, chemistry, physical science, earth science, ecology, environmental social sciences, mathematics, statistics and technology. Throughout all aspects of the Program, covering many scientific disciplines, we will encourage development of communication skills, including written, spoken, and graphic communications. g. Brief description of project and benefits: This proposal is submitted in response to the NSF's solicitation for Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education. The overall goal of the proposed project is to team some of the best students from Duke University's Marine Laboratory (as undergraduate and graduate Teaching Fellows) with high school and middle school students from neighboring rural public schools. This effort will be strongly supported by the Dean of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, as well as an enthusiastic group of Duke faculty members and local school administrators and educators. The Duke University Marine Laboratory, staffed by Faculty of the School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, provides an outstanding setting for teacher and student training. Our program focus, Coastal and Marine Environments, includes a number of key domains that are relevant to NSF-supported science disciplines. Our project team has a broad, interdisciplinary nature, including expertise in biochemistry, marine ecology and zoology, environmental social science, integrated earth/biological/physical science and science education. We thus offer both a unique setting for science education and an excellent faculty and student support base for broad coverage of NSF-supported disciplines. The high-quality Duke students who will serve as Teaching Fellows are undoubtedly our best assets with regard to this program. Their talents and enthusiasm will be augmented by Duke faculty participants who have consistently demonstrated an exceptional interest in working with the public schools and in facilitating public school outreach for Marine Laboratory undergraduate and graduate students as a key component of their Duke experience. All of these participants will work with the Teaching Fellows and K-12 students to focus on the educational disciplines listed above. We believe one of the strongest aspects of the proposed project is the opportunity for students to pursue the in situ exploration of marine/coastal environments to which the Marine Laboratory has direct access. This unique opportunity will prove to be exciting and fun for the students who live in and near these environments. Our program will provide the inquiry-based opportunity for K-12 students in coastal areas to integrate the knowledge they have acquired about their own "backyard" into a more complete picture of the complex functioning of coastal and marine ecosystems. Our previous experience in working with the public school students in Carteret County, North Carolina, confirms this to be an approach
