What is the KBS GK-12 Program? In 2010, we were awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation for a new GK-12 (Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education) Program called the KBS GK-12 Bioenergy Sustainability Project. You can find an overview and introduction to our project at https://www.msu.edu/user/getty/GK-12_introduction.pdf . This program is part of a national network of GK-12 sites funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the common goal of providing science graduate students with skills that will broadly prepare them for their future careers, particularly communicating science with varied audiences. Through interactions with teachers and students in K-12 schools, graduate students are expected to improve communication and teaching skills while enriching science instruction in K-12 schools. For more information about the GK-12 program and links to GK-12 projects in other states, visit the National GK-12 website.
Our GK-12 project has partnered with twelve rural school districts in SW Michigan, all of whom are part of the ongoing K-12 Partnership at Kellogg Biological Station. In fall of 2010 we established a network of schoolyard research plots (see the BEST Research Network tab) at 22 schools in these 12 districts. The plots mimic those used at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center to conduct experiments testing the sustainability of bioenergy crops like switchgrass and native prairie. Students and teachers at our partner schools will are asking the question “Can we grow our fuel and our flowers and butterflies too? Please contact program director Tom Getty (getty@msu.edu) or program manager Robin Tinghitella (hibbsr@msu.edu) for more information on the new KBS GK-12 Bioenergy Sustainability Project.
Tyler just finished up the first of his two years as a GK-12 Fellow. This year, he’s been working in Gull Lake Middle School with two teachers, Kim Clancy and Jennifer Boyle. Read up on some of his work, including work on our BEST plots research network, on page 7 of the district’s newsletter (below). This is the second time Tyler made the news in the Gull Lake Communicator- they must really like him over there!
Fellow Tomomi Suwa and Sandy Breitenbach’s AP Biology Students recently travelled to Grand Valley State University to present their 2011-2012 research projects. Here’s the scoop from Tomomi… April 25th was a big science day for 14 students from Plainwell high school. They each presented a poster on their independent project at the Michigan High School Math and Science Symposium at Grand Valley State University. Among 40 other presenters from Southwest Michigan schools, the students from Plainwell represented their school very well. These students are from Mrs. Sandy Breiteinbach’s AP Biology class and since last September, I’ve been working closely with them to go through the entire process of science including picking interesting questions, designing an experiment and analyzing the data. They each came up with creative projects such as the effects of spotted knapweed on native plant species, differences in [...]
By Guest Blogger and KBS GK-12 Friend Joelyn de Lima April 11, 2012 was a day loaded with fun at KBS. Our GK-12 Fellows outdid themselves developing interesting and informative lessons and games that addressed the topic for the day “Evolution and the Biodiversity of Life” from different viewpoints. Topics ranged from the evolution of beak shape to mimicry and invasiveness. The day began with Tom Getty giving a brief update we call “The State of the BEST Plots”. Most of our plots are in a good shape, but a few had to be visited by the Round-Up fairy! The speaker of the day, Jenny Boughman, took over from Tom and spoke on the topic “The Evolution of Complex Adaptations: The Eyes Have It!”. She talked about how evolution works by taking existing structures and changing them bit-by-bit. Since eyes [...]
Report from Tom: Nick, Marcia, Alycia, Tomomi, Robin and Liz presented and represented our GK-12 Project at the 2012 Annual Meeting for GK-12 Project Teams, held at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, March 16-18. I cheered them on, took pictures and took great pride in they way they represented all of us. Nick’s roundtable discussions about fostering quantitative reasoning skills were well-attended and well-received. Our BEST Team presentation on Building Long-Term Research Projects and Collaborations was a big hit, even though it was at the worst possible time (early Sunday morning) and location (a room hidden behind the bar). Participants were very enthusiastic about our presentation and activities and full of questions and suggestions. It was especially gratifying to learn that other projects are studying our website and adopting some of our innovations. There were 103 projects represented at [...]
We’re looking for a few good teachers! In 2012-2013 our GK-12 project will support 9 Graduate Student Fellows who will spend approximately 10 hours per week in one of our KBS K-12 Partnership school districts. Fellow-Teacher partnerships offer graduate students an opportunity to bring leading-edge research practices and findings to K-12 learning settings. Graduate Student Fellows are meant to serve as role models to K-12 students and help stimulate their interest in STEM disciplines. We are currently accepting applications for the role of “Partner Teacher”. Partner Teachers are paired with a Graduate Student Fellow and are responsible for managing project and fellow activities in their district for a given semester or year. The general expectations are that GK-12 Partner Teachers be active participants in the KBS K-12 Partnership, including workshops and institutes, and in research and educational activities associated with [...]
The KBS GK-12 Bioenergy Sustainability Project is accepting applications for graduate student fellowships for 2012-13. This graduate training project is funded by grant from the NSF Division of Graduate Education. The NSF GK-12 program is meant to advance the professional development of STEM graduate students while they continue to make good progress on their dissertation research. NSF stipulates that fellows will spend a maximum of 15 hours per week directly involved in GK-12 project activities, with approximately 10 of these hours devoted to activities in K-12 partner districts or at KBS. KBS activities will include a one-day orientation in May, an intensive summer science institute in late June, four one-day school year workshops and Friday fellows meetings associated with a course focused on the professional development of fellows. Stipend support is generous and includes benefits and tuition. The eight NSF [...]
A Brief Autumn Update on the BEST Plots Research Project from Tom Getty I want to share some information and my excitement about our progress on the GK-12 Bioenergy Sustainability Project. We have all put in a tremendous amount of work to design and establish the BEST Schoolyard Research Network and to develop lesson plans that capitalize on the inquiry opportunities the network creates. Now the data is beginning to come in. At our next workshop we will begin some quantitative analysis of the early results. Recall that our BEST research network is designed to mimic aspects of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) Sustainability Research Project. Our overarching question is “Can We Grow Our Fuel and Our Flowers and Butterflies Too?” Under this broad umbrella we can address many basic and applied issues in science and ecology. We [...]
In October, Robin Tinghitella, our Project Manager, gave a talk about our GK-12 project at the 2011 National Outreach Scholarship Conference, which took place in East Lansing this year. It was a joint presentation with the Lynn Sametz, Project Manager at UNC Greensboro’s GK-12 program. Both projects just finished their first year of funding. The two shared the goals of the National GK-12 Program, presented details about both GK-12 projects, and shared preliminary findings about the science communication skills of participating graduate students. We look forward to participating in NOSC in the future and to many more presentations about the success of our program. You can view the talk slides here.
Each year, our GK-12 Project co-leads a Summer Science Institute for the KBS K-12 Partnership teachers. This year the Institute took place from June 20-24th. 10 GK-12 Fellows conceived of, organized, and led (along with their Partner Teachers) concurrent sessions based on either the Fellow’s own research or research that our KBS K-12 Partnership teachers will conduct alongside their students as participants in the BEST (BioEnergy SusTainability) Research Network. The Summer Science Institute is the first opportunity for Fellows and their Partner Teachers to bond through the creation of concurrent sessions which they will lead all Partnership teachers through the following week – it’s a major team-building experience! Fellows new to our program this year designed sessions that bridged their own thesis or dissertation research with Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations and took teachers to visit their research sites at [...]
At the 2011 GK-12 Annual Meeting in Washington D.C., three of our current Fellows (Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Melissa Kjelvik, and Leila Desotelle) and two of our Partner Teachers (Connie High and Sandy Breitenbach), shared a presentation called “Preparing Fellows for the Classroom: What works and what doesn’t?” in which they highlighted lessons learned in the first year of our GK-12 Bioenergy Sustainability Project and over the course of an earlier GK-12 Project at Kellogg Biological Station. We also presented a project poster highlighting our BEST Schoolyard Research Network and ways in which we bring Fellow research to K-12 classrooms. Check out our project poster, powerpoint presentation, and a handout prepared by our fellows.