Upcoming Field Trips:
FBISD, 6th Grade, 8:30 am - 1:00 pm, 19 May (Cliff Strain)

Outreach Lectures:
Port Aransas: see the UTMSI Web Site
Austin: see the ESI Web Site

Symposium Dates: UT-Austin GK-12 2007-2008 Symposium
Sunday, 8 June, 1:00-7:00 pm in Austin

Workshop Dates (2008-2009 Program Participants Only):
Austin: Friday-Sunday, 6-8 June
Port Aransas: Tuesday-Thursday, 9-12 June (participants must arrive in Port Aransas by
7 pm Monday, 8 June)

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Upcoming Meetings: http://www.gk12.org/meetings.php

Funded for 2007-2011

Title: Continuing, GK-12: From Aquifers to Estuaries - Tracing a Drop of Water via an Interactive Program Linking UT Scientists with K-12 Students and Teachers
Institution: The University of Texas at Austin

PI, Kenneth Dunton, Co-PI's Jay Banner, Jill Marshall, Chris Bell and Michael Marder

Eight graduate Fellows, 16 classrooms, at least 16 teachers per year, in the Austin, Flour Bluff, and Port Aransas school districts. The program targets grades 5-8. The schools draw students from a spectrum of urban to rural settings. NSF disciplines include marine science, geological sciences, physics, chemistry, environmental science, biology, geography, and mathematics.

Highlights of our project include: 1) Fellow-led field and classroom learning experiences for K-12 students; 2) a graduate-level summer field course for teachers; 3) joint summer teacher and Fellow training in partnership with a nationally recognized pre-service training program; 4) a new course on pedagogy for Fellows; 5) collaborative development and implementation of teacher in-service training days at under-performing schools; 6) dissemination of activities and lesson plans developed by teacher-Fellow teams via comprehensive websites, workshops, and publications; 7) innovative outreach lectures and workshops; 8) 8-year sustainability for GK-12 activities and; 9) a GK-12 associates program to involve larger populations of graduate students.

Intellectual Merit: The proposed program will build partnerships between scientists and the K-12 community by focusing on interdisciplinary environmental and watershed sciences. It will develop a solid framework for interdisciplinary teaching about water in the physical and human environments, making creative links between math, science, social science, and technology. Unique learning activities will integrate math, science, and GIS technology in the classroom with field experiences in order to address important societal issues in inland and coastal watersheds.