NSF grant provides CU students with teaching fellowships

By Esther Baker

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Cornell a three-year, $1.35 million grant to provide high-school teaching fellowships for college graduate students and advanced undergraduates in the sciences.

This first round of grants announced by the NSF on Oct. 25, totaling $13.4 million, will be distributed among 31 colleges and universities nationwide. Known as the NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) program, the fellowships awarded here will be administered through the Cornell Environmental Sciences Research Partnership (CERP), a part of Cornell's Environmental Inquiry program.

Over the next three years, CERP will provide fellowships for 27 graduate and 15 undergraduate students in the sciences, said Marianne Krasny, Cornell associate professor of natural resources and CERP project leader. The Cornell teaching fellows will work in high school classrooms for 10 hours a week, guiding students in environmental science research.

"The teaching fellows will gain valuable teaching experience while helping high schools meet new standards for science education," said Krasny. "The national science reform movement is calling for students in high school and earlier grades to become engaged in authentic research."

This effort helps create a beneficial educational atmosphere for participants.

"It gives graduate students an opportunity to set up original research projects and to get some teaching experience outside of 'T.A.-ing,'" said Christine Cunningham, Cornell research associate in the Department of Education and CERP co-leader. "Undergraduate students will get a sense of what hands-on research is like."

As for the high school students and teachers, Cunningham said having additional classroom instruction from people working in the sciences and offering different areas of expertise will expose them to new ideas.

Graduate students in the teaching fellows program will receive annual stipends of $18,000 plus a cost-of-education allowance. Undergraduate students will receive as much as $5,000 per academic year, plus up to an additional $5,000 for service during the summer.