The Partners in Discovery GK-12 project brings Washington State University Vancouver (WSUV) science graduate students and faculty together with Clark County, Washington, science teachers in a collaborative partnership. The central theme of this GK-12 project is ?Global Change in a Local Context,? with the Columbia River Watershed as the unifying environmental feature around which students connect science concepts from their classrooms to their own ?backyard.? Clark County is located on the southwest border of Washington State, along a 100-mile stretch of the lower Columbia River. The Columbia River Watershed, extending from the high Cascade glaciers to the estuary and river mouth, encompasses the entire county and is the defining feature of this region ? environmentally, economically and culturally. Clark County, with nearly 400,000 residents, is the fastest-growing county in Washington, and is experiencing dramatic changes in population, housing construction, land use, etc., that are directly impacting the watershed. Thus the watershed and the Global/Local theme provide a compelling and relevant context within which to explore science disciplinary content (Earth, Life and Physical Sciences) through inquiry, and in particular how change in nature is manifested in a local system and how those changes affect students as individuals and communities.
The Partners in Discovery GK-12 project is structured around year-long one-on-one partnerships between WSUV graduate student Fellows and grades 6th ? 9th science Teachers in four Clark County school districts. Fellows and Teachers will engage students in authentic scientific inquiry focused on the nature and impacts of change in the Columbia River Watershed. The Fellow-Teacher partnerships will utilize each district?s existing curriculum and revise or augment their science ?kits? by identifying questions and inquiry activities that link instructional modules to state and national science standards, and to the complementary expertise of WSUV research faculty and graduate students working in the Watershed. The program will support 6 to 10 Fellows-teacher partnerships per year for a total of five years.
