Monday, April 08, 2002

By: Elissa Garriss, PR Intern

WILMINGTON, NC – The University of North Carolina at Wilmington announced a $1,066,000 grant from the National Science Foundation on Monday, April, 8 during a press conference at the Madeline Suite. The grant will go towards a proposal titled “Developing Science Graduate Students into Middle Grade Science Classroom Resources.” This grant places graduate students in middle school science classrooms all over New Hanover County for three years and will also put the UNCW Graduate School in a competitive market with other schools.

Dr. Bill Harris, associate dean of the graduate school and professor of geology at UNCW, and Mrs. Karen Shafer, director of the Science and Mathematics Education Center at UNCW, wrote the successful grant and will be principal investigators.

UNCW will conduct this program with the New Hanover County School system to improve science education in the middle schools. A select group of science graduate students (GK-12 Fellows) will be prepared to serve as classroom resource persons for middle school teachers and students. Fellows will spend 10 hours per week over 36 weeks in middle school classrooms assisting classroom teachers with science lesson selection, setup, and demonstration. The Science and Mathematics Education Center will serve as the management hub for the project and the liaison between UNCW and the New Hanover County School system.

During a three-year period, a different grade level will be focused on each year. Year one will focus on the eighth graders, year two on the seventh graders and year three on the sixth graders. Through the partnership with New Hanover County Schools, this project will directly impact more than 5200 middle school students, almost 2000 being minorities.

National Science Foundation fellows will receive special preparation in teaching science as inquiry and in using technology in instruction. UNCW faculty will serve as the instructional staff for eight-day workshops each summer for GK-12 Fellows and selected middle school science teachers. Weekly seminars taught by UNCW science faculty will develop specific inquiry-based activities for each grade level according to the sequencing guide.

Participating middle school teachers will serve as resource persons to non-participant, in-service teachers within their schools. Also, along with GK-12 Fellows, the participating teachers will develop and teach two, grade-specific, day long workshops during the school year. In addition, program participants will develop a grade-specific activity book for distribution to all middle school teachers.

Beginning in June 2002, funding will be provided for seven science graduate students for three years. Each student will be paid a stipend of $21,500 per year plus a cost-of-education allowance.

NOTE TO THE MEDIA: For more information, please contact Dr. Bill Harris, associate dean of graduate school, (910)-962-3492, or Mrs. Karen Shafer, director of the Science and Mathematical Education Center, (910) 962-3168.