Connecting graduate students with secondary teachers to increase the math and science literacy of secondary students: Impact on teachers, fellows and students

Abstract

We conclude this paper by providing the highlights of the results of Project STEP. We find that when we connect Fellows with Secondary Teachers with the goal of increasing the math and science literacy of secondary students, the following is found: Graduate Fellows have: Gained direct teaching experience in secondary classrooms. Improved their teaching skills by continuing to design, develop, implement, and assess authentic learning and inquiry based activities. Applied their scientific and technical knowledge towards education. Developed, implemented and assessed standards-based, hands-on lessons activities. Practiced best teaching methods. Raised awareness of education as a career option for the future. Secondary students have: Interacted with their community while learning science and mathematics. Participated in higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills. Received mentoring from Fellows and university faculty. Teachers have: Interacted with university facilities and faculty. Constructed new knowledge and new educational pedagogy. Gained professional advancement through the presentation of results at professional conferences and through publishing papers. Improved their own teaching skills. Nurtured future educators through their involvement with the Fellows. Through each of these accomplishments, the efforts of the grant have encouraged secondary students to enter into engineering careers and have a more positive attitude about science and math. In addition, the fellows have learned a tremendous amount about education and teaching. The goals of this grant are to influence secondary science and math students and the above accomplishments are steps toward this goal. Formative and summative evaluation have been and will continue to be conducted to assess the project's effectiveness on Fellows' teaching skills and its impact on high school science and mathematics education, and to continually improve the program as it develops. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2006.