Forget the jokes about pocket protectors, tongue-tied engineers and mad scientists.
With the help of a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation and an innovative project plan, UMass Lowell graduate students in science and engineering will learn how to communicate with diverse audiences. The project, GK-12: Vibes and Waves in Action, connects graduate-level researchers to high-school teachers and students in school districts of Lowell and Lawrence.
“The NSF Division of Graduate Education is interested in improving the skills of prospective scientists and engineers, so they can better communicate and collaborate in a variety of settings, including the K-12 community,” says Prof. Kavitha Chandra of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and principal investigator. “We expect our participating fellows to discuss their own research projects, build experiments for the classroom, and become mentors and role models to students.”
The project theme is the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) of sound and electromagnetic vibrations and waves, and their interaction with the environment. This relates well to core high school physics and mathematics curricula.
“Working with acoustics, optics and radio wave communications makes the theoretical learning come alive for the students and teachers,” says Chandra. Developing a cyber infrastructure will be part of the project, both for the science learning involved and to promote social networking among the participants.
Each year of the project, eight graduate students already engaged in thesis-directed research will be recruited as GK-12 Fellows, drawing from all the engineering departments and computer science, mathematics and physics. The fellows receive $30,000 for the year and commit to an intensive program of training, classroom observations and orientation. During the school year, the fellows will spend 10 hours a week each in the classroom, working with 12 participating high school math and physics teachers. Besides teaching and talking about their own research, the fellows will guide high school students in doing research projects of their own.
“The projected outcomes are students who become researchers, scientists and policy-makers with understanding of and engagement with the community. If academics, they will become better professors,” says Dr. Judith Boccia, director of the Office of School Partnerships and a co-PI. “On the high school side, the teachers gain professional learning in new scientific issues and research. Instructional quality is improved and more real.”
An 18-month prototype project, directed by Chandra, contributed to a better understanding of the issues and the ultimate success of the grant proposal to NSF. Chandra is joined by co-PIs Boccia, Prof. Charles Thompson and Assoc. Prof. Xuejun Lu of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and Assoc. Prof. Fred Martin of the Computer Science Department.
Industry partners – Raytheon, MathWorks and MIT Lincoln Labs – will provide resources and professional guidance to the project, and a mentor network for the students.
- Sandra_Seitz
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