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Educational Outreach
GK-12
 The
National Science Foundation has awarded a grant that, with matching funds
from the University of Arkansas, provides $2.75 million to develop inquiry-based
science and engineering education in Arkansas middle schools over a six-year
period. Each year, 9 University of Arkansas Graduate Fellows and 9 to
12 local (Fayetteville, Springdale, and Winslow) teachers will participate
in the six-week summer program and related teaching activities during
the school year.
KIDS (K-12, I Do Science) is an interdisciplinary
program focused on electronics and optics that will initiate a new effort
to teach mathematics, science, and technology in middle schools in Arkansas.
It is based on the inquiry, or "learning through doing," paradigm.
This is the premise that students who explore their own curiosity, reach
for their own ideas, and engage in their own experiments, are experiencing
inquiry and innovation and are learning science. The project goal is to
develop inquiry-based physics education in Arkansas middle schools.
University of Arkansas Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Microelectronics
and Photonics graduate students will partner with middle school teachers
to teach 6th and 7th grade mathematics and science. Both graduate students
and teachers will undergo extensive training during which team building
will be actively developed. Then, as a team, the teachers and graduate
students will develop inquiry-based laboratory experiments, integrating
optics and photonics, with teachers providing the connection to the appropriate
state standards and curriculum. Graduate students will spend at least
10 hours per week in the classrooms during the academic year teaching
these modules with the teachers. In addition, graduate students will come
into the University laboratories twice a year to participate in workshops
in which they build and characterize a chip and a laser. Parents and school
administrators will be provided with programs that will help them to understand
inquiry-based learning and their role in supporting teachers and students
learning science.
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