The New GK-12 Innovating Graduate and K-12 Education in Biological Sciences project between the University of California Irvine and three urban school districts with predominantly underrepresented minority enrollment, focuses on life science for grades 7-12. The project's components include orientation sessions for fellows and teachers to learn about the project, a course for fellows on "Methods of Teaching Science in secondary Schools" offered by the UCI Department of Education, seminars for fellows to review and discuss new developments and experiences, workshops and summer institutes where faculty, fellows and teachers prepare inquiry-based lessons and laboratories to be presented to 7th-12th grade students, practical experience (10hrs/wk) for fellows in teaching these lessons and laboratory activities, presentations by fellows about their research, the development of a GK-12 manual on teaching practices, a handbook on mentoring and a web-based repository to disseminate practices, lessons and laboratories developed by fellows and teachers. In addition, there will be an annual symposium where fellows will present experiences. The intellectual merit of the project derives from the most current research on the incorporation of inquiry-based learning and real world connection for students. The broader impacts for this project include the integration of training and research, formative teaching experiences for UCI biology graduate students, assistance and intellectual stimulation of teachers and increasing K-12 students' performance and aptitude for science in minority-serving schools. The project proposes a sustainable relationship between the university and school districts after the life of the project by disseminating information through various media.
