NSF Award
0139089
This GK-12 project is a collaboration between the Fort Worth Independent School District and the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC). The project will train and support biomedical science graduate students as resources for the district's high school biology students and teachers. The four participating schools serve predominantly minority students and the overall goal is to encourage entry of these students into science careers. The primary objectives of the project are to: 1) increase understanding of science and science processes in the Fort Worth educational system and 2) train biomedical science graduate students to function as resources for 9th and 10th grade biology classes. These goals will be met by: 1) adding to the science content of the District curriculum; 2) promoting understanding of science through age-appropriate inquiry-based experiences; 3) exposing students to science and science-related health and medical research careers relevant to specific topics in the districts' biology curriculum; 4) developing a science web-directory and promoting the use of the internet based materials relevant to the curriculum; 5) creating research teams of UNTHSC faculty mentors, teachers and fellows to work with the school districts on science fair and research projects; (6) enhancing teaching mentoring and communication skills of Fellows; 7) conducting training and professional teacher development workshops in learning, pedagogy, biotechnology and new scientific discoveries; and 8) strengthening existing partnerships of outreach and enrichment programs among UNTHSC faculty, Fellows and Fort Worth Teachers.
